Most homeowners recognize the importance of maintaining their homes. It’s often the largest investment people make in their lifetimes. As it’s also where they raise their family and spend time with friends, they want it to be comfortable, valuable, and in good condition.
Can you relate? While home maintenance is essential, it can also be one of the biggest hurdles for many. What if a handyman subscription service could turn things around and make it easier to get everything done?
If you look at the routine home maintenance you need to do, it is easy to see just how overwhelming the process can be. If you have children, a job, or other responsibilities, it may be difficult to fit in everything you need to do to keep your home in its best shape.
What All Can a Handyman Subscription Service Do?
You may be looking around your home, wondering what needs to be done. Aside from chores like keeping the home clean, there are numerous small to large tasks that homeowners need to complete on a routine basis to ensure the property remains in its best shape (or, in some cases, to improve it).
These tasks may be related to structural integrity, safety, comfort, and value. Take a look at some of the big and small tasks that you should be doing on a routine basis – all things a handyman subscription service can do for you:
- Air Conditioner Filters: These need to be removed and replaced every two to three months, depending on how much you use your air conditioner, your environment, and the type of filter you use. If you don’t replace them as recommended, debris and dirt can clog your HVAC and shorten its lifespan, as well as spread all over your home.
- Water Heater Maintenance: Did you know you need to maintain your home’s water heater? For example, most water heaters require the sediment that builds up at the bottom of the tank to be drained. Not doing so causes a shortened lifespan for the system. It’s also good to check the heater for overall efficiency, leaks, and electrical or gas function.
- Smoke and Fire Alarms: We all know how we need smoke and fire alarms throughout our home, but most people forget to change the batteries every six months. If your smoke or fire alarms (as well as carbon monoxide alarms) fail to work, it could be catastrophic for the family. And no one likes to be awakened in the middle of the night by a chirping low battery signal (why do they always seem to go off at night?).
- Managing Home Drains: Every sink or appliance that drains water needs to have its drain cleaned and maintained. That includes your kitchen and bathroom faucets but also the ones in the laundry room, refrigerator, and dishwasher. These should be appropriately cleaned to remove debris that could lead to leaks and a backup.
- Main Line Cleaning: Like the other drains in the home, the main line often needs to be cleaned every two years or more often, depending on risks. Main line cleaning requires jetting the line to help flush away debris, caked-on grease, and even tree roots.
- Fixing Leaks: Many homes have small leaks or drips that are easy to overlook. That may include sinks or faucets as well as leaks from the toilets or drains. Even a minimal amount of moisture creates the risk of mold and mildew growing in the home and damage to the structural integrity of the home. The USGS has an interesting calculator to help you determine how much water a dripping faucet wastes over time.
- Dryer Ducts: Another commonly forgotten maintenance task is to clean the dryer ducts in the home. This is where the air from the dryer travels out of the home. It typically gets backed up with lint and debris that can clog it. Consumer Reports says 27% of household fires are caused by an accumulation of dryer lint, making this task one that needs to be done monthly or more often.
And, there’s much more. If you want to prolong the life of your appliances, you’ll want to keep the AC condenser and refrigerator coils clean, replace the water filter in your refrigerator, and clean out the drain line in your AC. You’ll also want to replace burnt-out appliance lights, keep the garbage disposal and dishwasher sanitary, and clean out faucet aerators. There is a lot to do, which is why having a handyman subscription service is so valuable.
Related: An Ounce of Prevention, a Pound of Cure
Why a Handyman Subscription Service Is a Valuable Investment
There’s plenty of work to do around the home to keep it looking its best and functioning well. The question is, why is using a handyman subscription service the way to go?
Some of these tasks may be things you know you can do on your own. Yet, others may require a bit of extra time, some education, and even the investment in tools or equipment. Take a look at some of the reasons why hiring a professional to do this type of work is so important.
Home Improvements Can Be Expensive When Done Alone
Some projects are far more expensive than others, of course. Yet, when it comes time to do the work, you have to factor in the cost of doing the repairs yourself. In 2020, three in five homeowners, or about 61 percent, took on home improvement projects on their own, according to NerdWallet. They spent on average $6,438 on those projects.
If you have more extensive repair needs in your home, paying out of pocket for those repairs is not just about buying the materials. It is also about purchasing the equipment or tools you need to do the job. Then, you may have to take time off to do the work. On top of that, if there is a problem, you may need to call a professional anyway. In other words, sometimes it is easier and far less expensive to just let a professional do the work for you instead.
Finding a Contractor Is Hard to Do
Let’s say you need to have a project completed, such as getting your hot water tank to work properly. It may need some maintenance to get it back into good condition.
When the time comes to hire a professional, you may have to wait. Due to a lack of help, many companies simply do not have a lot of people to send out to handle repairs. That means a simple fix to your hot water tank could take a few weeks to get taken care of, if you are lucky.
Because you don’t have a working relationship with that contractor, they may not be able to schedule your service needs right away. That could mean cold showers for some time before a pro is available.
Paying Emergency Repair Fees Isn’t Affordable
One of the best things about having a reliable handyman subscription service available to you is avoiding those costly emergency fees. If the toilet is overflowing, you need a plumber quickly, which may mean paying extra for that service since it is a rush. No one wants to pay more than they have to for a repair, especially if it could have been avoided with routine maintenance.
You Need to Trust Your Contractor
A contractor is a professional you welcome into your home to handle repairs or maintenance for you. Having a professional you trust to do the work is important for your own peace of mind. You want someone who can greet you by name and knows your pets well enough that they don’t bark the whole time. You also want to trust in the level and type of workmanship they provide to you.
When you use a handyman subscription service like this, you get to know the company and the pros. That means you don’t have to wonder exactly who is coming into your home and spending time there. For many families, that is critical for peace of mind.
Your Time Is Valuable
How much time do you have to wait around for a repair person to show up or to have time to answer your questions or needs? Your time is valuable to you. Many times, even if you could do all of the work of maintaining your home and systems, you simply don’t have the time to do so. Or, if you do have the time, do you want to spend that working on appliances or spending time with family or enjoying your life?
Also, consider the importance of knowing what to do and when. To do the work yourself, you need to maintain a schedule of what services each appliance or system in your home needs and how often. That takes a lot of time to manage as well, and let’s face it – it’s easy to procrastinate on preventative maintenance because you don’t see the urgency until something goes wrong.
Proper Maintenance of Appliances Extends Their Lifetime
A handyman subscription service aims to reduce the frequency and need for emergency and repair services overall. By maintaining your appliances and many of your home’s systems routinely, it is less likely that they will break down – or at least they are more likely to be slower in breaking down.
That’s important to your time and your wallet. Routine maintenance is typically less expensive than having to do major repairs. More so, when appliances are maintained according to the manufacturer’s preventative maintenance schedule, they are likely to last longer.
Related: How to Extend the Lives of Your Appliances
Why a Subscription Service Works So Well
Think about all of the other types of subscription services you are using right now. You pay a subscription for TV streaming, for makeup or gadget boxes that come to your home, and for fitness centers you don’t always make it to as often as you’d planned. What if you could have the same concept – pay for it and forget it – for a handyman?
That means you can go about your day and life without having to wonder about finding the right air filter for your home’s furnace or wonder if you ever took care of that leak in the basement well enough that you don’t have a mold issue happening under the carpet.
Imagine the amount of time you’ll save by not having to read owner manuals to find out where the reset switch is for an appliance that shuts down. Consider the cost savings of not having to call an emergency professional out to fix your home’s heat when it stops working in the middle of the winter months. When you think about all of these benefits, it’s clear that using a service like this accomplishes several key goals:
- It keeps your home in the best possible condition on an ongoing basis. You don’t have to worry all of the time or have that nagging feeling that you should stop procrastinating and just spend a day marking maintenance off your to-do list.
- It aids in maintaining your home’s value. Whether you use the company for common repairs or just preventative maintenance, a home in good condition is more valuable than one that is not.
- It saves you time. That’s time you can do something more meaningful on a routine schedule.
- It saves you money. Handyman subscription services can be significantly less expensive than paying individual contractors to come out.
- It gives you peace of mind. You know who is doing the work and that it is being done well.
It is worth investing to know that your home is being taken care of, so it can provide the protection necessary for your family.
Hiring the Right Handyman for Your Home Matters
There’s never been a better time than right now to get the help you need in maintaining your home using a handyman subscription service. PreFix offers the subscription service you need. Take a few minutes to call our team now or fill out our form online to learn more about what we can do for you.