Dealing with major home repairs is rarely a picnic for homeowners. However, if you are not prepared for the costs of those repairs, you could be setting yourself up for a major nightmare. Home repairs — especially emergency ones — can be an expensive surprise for homeowners to work through. Luckily, you can curb that stress by using these tips to keep yourself, your budget, and your home protected when addressing any problems.
Start Saving for Future Rainy Days
Figuring out a budget-friendly solution to resolve emergency home repairs is vital for homeowners. But if you want to save yourself the time and headache in the future, you have to set up your own emergency maintenance fund. How much you invest in your emergency fund will depend on your home’s value, as well as the kind of projects you most anticipate having to take on in the future, like buying new appliances or replacing an old roof. Start with the goal of saving 1 percent of your home’s worth, but also look for small ways to add to your emergency savings fund. Around the home, that could mean finally breaking up with your costly cable subscription or reducing expenses in other ways.
Performing routine home maintenance is also a good way to cut down on costs while preventing future emergency home issues. A commonly overlooked task that can cost you thousands is taking proper care of your HVAC system and understanding how it works. Of course, this isn’t a task you should jump into blindly; consult online guides to ensure you know what you’re doing.
Factor in Time and Costs for Clean Up
Among the things that many homeowners forget to budget for are the cleanup efforts that need to take place after home repairs. Things can get pretty messy inside your home and you may be left with a lot of potentially harmful dust in the air. Make sure you pick up some replacement air filters so you will be ready to swap them out after all the work is done.
Emergency issues that involve water damage can also be tricky to deal with since there are bound to be extra expenses. For one, you can’t wait until after necessary repairs are done to begin cleaning up. You have to be proactive about getting any remaining water out of your home and taking care of any damage, as failing to attend to even a small spot of moisture in your home can lead to mold. Since mold is one of the most common home issues that insurance will not cover, you could be looking at paying any resulting repair or cleanup costs completely out of your own pocket. So, make sure you make proper cleaning a project priority.
Accidents happen. Weather shows up. Life’s challenges aren’t always predictable. However, if you spend some time thinking about and planning for future challenges, it is possible to be prepared for even the most unexpected major home repairs.
