Do you recall the 1950’s song which was a hit for that very clever and funny duo called Flanders and Swann. It actually made the idea of home repair costs funny? The title was ‘The gasman commeth’ and it told of a simple household repair job that turned into a week long nightmare of mistakes in which needed the daily attendance of various tradesmen to correct the mistakes made by the previous repair man. Sound familiar? Home repair costs are every home owner’s nightmare and a continuing drain on the budget. Keeping the fabric of your house up to standard is an essential task and the depressing thought is that it never ends.
It does help if you are a craftsman your self or have skills that mean that you can undertake some of the home repairs that will certainly come your way. However no specialist can manage everything so the home repair costs for those other technical jobs will hit us all in the end. Most of us learn how to do the simple things and providing we are careful and don’t end up making the problem worse we can manage most of the uncomplicated tasks with calling for specialist help. Problem being that the not so simple problems rarely affect just aspect one of the house so the knock on effects can be really expensive. That leaking shower is rarely an isolated issue that can be dealt with by a quick sealant job. Chances are that you will find that water has seeped into the wood timbers soaking the plaster on the floor below and presenting you with an expensive replastering job.
So you are left with 3 choices, call in the tradesman and wait with trepidation while he gives you the quote, call in the estate agent and sell as quickly as possible or have a go at it yourself. Many people have been trapped by this last option known as the – ‘can’t be that difficult’ option. Wrong! Like taking on the repair of your computer or your car when you have no experience, the have a go option can make a bad situation worse and involve you in greater expense than calling out the tradesman in the first place. Also by the time you have bought/hired the special tools and materials and costed your time and effort the sums rarely add up to a saving on that quote which perhaps now does not seem large.
So what is the best course of action when it comes to the cost of home repairs. Here are some suggestions. Be vigilant and keep your eyes open for small problems that may turn into big ones if not addressed. Try to budget for a small rolling savings fund which will mean you are better prepared to act quickly and last but not least encourage your children to be specialist tradesman so those house expenses will eventually be a thing of the past.