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When it comes to buying a house, you find out fairly quickly that there are additional costs associated with home repairs and home improvement. These projects can add thousands of dollars to the cost of owning a home. If not well planned out, home repairs can mean trouble for your finances. In this post, I’m going to cover some tips when it comes to saving money on home improvement and how you can better plan for home repairs.
Recently, my husband and I were forced into replacing our air conditioning and furnace units in our house. I say forced because the heater was making strange “boom” sounds that didn’t sound safe. When we had a repair man check it, part of the unit crumbled in his hand. He called it a “dinosaur,” which I guess means it was past it’s prime. We were also warned about holes in the structure of the unit. It was likely we were inhaling toxic fumes! And so, we decided it was time to hire a repair man to come replace the failing units.
We started with getting bids, and soon found out the cost of the repairs was going to add up quickly. We discovered the water heater also needed to be moved which led to discussions about replacing it with a tankless water heater. Of course in the process of replacing the water heater, we discovered our water pressure was low, and later found out the water main to our house needed to be replaced. As you can imagine, all of these repairs added up into the five figures right around Christmas time. Merry Christmas to us!!!
My husband and I joked, “If you get me an AC unit for Christmas, I’ll get you a water heater.”
Joking aside, we began to scramble for the funds to cover all of the home improvements within a one month time frame. Luckily, we had savings for situations like this. But this scenario got me thinking… what happens for people who don’t have money saved for home repairs?
I thought this would be a great financial topic to explore. Home improvement is not something your real estate agent tends to bring up when you are looking at potential homes. But it should be something to think about during the home buying process. Especially since major home improvements can cost in the thousands of dollars a year.
According to Home Advisor’s 2018 True Cost Report, homeowner’s spend an average of $6,649 a year on home improvements. The study also found that while baby boomers spent the most on home improvement, millennials completed the most home improvement projects. Millennials are opting to upgrade their homes because as they try to find bigger houses, they are either priced out of the market or have trouble finding available inventory.
Like my husband and I, many people are opting to stay in their existing home because of appreciating equity. And in the meantime, we continue to make improvements and repairs as needed.
Our recent surprise in expenses has us re-evaluating how we are saving and budgeting for home improvements. We are taking a closer look at what things we can be doing financially to make sure we can afford living in our current home.
How do you know when it’s best to hire a repair man or do it yourself?
One of the decisions we had to make about spending money on home improvement was whether we were going to do some of the repairs ourselves or hire expert repair people.
My husband is fairly handy, which saves us lots of money when it comes to home repairs. He can do wiring, most types of plumbing jobs, and can even lay tile. But the problem with this particular job was timing. He works a full time job in IT and did not have the time or energy to crawl under the house and solder pipes together. We had a very tough discussion about what to “let go of” and allow someone else to do for us.
This meant we were going to be paying an expert to come in, which always means more money spent.
Our decision came down to, “Do we want hot running water quickly, or can we hold out for a few weeks?”
These projects all happened during winter time. While we could have done a lot of it ourselves, we decided to get quotes to have someone come in to do the work.
If you are trying to decide if it’s best to do it yourself or hire someone, I would advise you to first assess your own skill-set and abilities. If you are fairly handy, then doing it yourself is a possibility. But make sure to do a reality check and ask yourself if the job is too much for your own sanity. Feelings of overwhelm can mean it’s time to reach out for help.
How do you save money on household repairs?
If you are aiming for saving money on home improvement, creating a plan can help. There are some home improvement projects that you can plan out properly and even prepare for by watching videos on YouTube. We recently saved a couple hundred dollars repairing our washing machine by simply learning from YouTube videos.
Google and YouTube are your best friends when it comes to DIY (do-it-yourself) home improvement projects. We installed sprinklers in the front and back yards all on our own. This saved us thousands of dollars in landscaper costs. We were able to spread this project out over time and work at a reasonable pace. The benefit to having more time for a project is you can spread out the cost over many months.
Being frugal when it comes to home improvement
There is a time and place for being frugal when it comes to home improvement. For example, we have two dogs, and they sometimes make potty mistakes inside if we have to leave them home for a few hours. Because of this, we are not investing money in new floors at the moment. Instead, we opted for hardy laminate flooring that can withstand moisture. At some point down the road, we would love to have the wood floors redone, but with our current situation, it would just be a waste of money.
On this more recent home improvement project, we got three bids from air conditioning repair experts. One of them suggested we leave in the current duct work which was older and made of asbestos. Both my husband and I suffer with allergies and are prone to respiratory issues. In our case, not replacing the duct work could cost us way more down the line in medical bills.
Pick and choose where you will be frugal when it comes to home improvement. If you are having a hard time deciding whether to spend more on a project or not, I suggest getting a few bids from experts and listen to all of their suggestions. Take into account your own family situation and make your decision accordingly. Changes can always be made when you opt to sell or rent out the home.
Related articles:
11 Ways to Be More Frugal and Save Thousands of Dollars
Buy a House to Rent Out- The Top 5 Things to Look For
Tips for saving money on home improvement and repair
- Research and get multiple quotes- ask for quotes in writing so you can compare
- Search for rebates- many utility companies offer rebates if you install energy efficient appliances. This can help a ton with saving money on home improvement.
- Shop for discounted and sale items- even consider Craig’s list. We found our washer and dryer for $300 for the pair!
- Opt for simple appliances- you can either pay $1000 for a dishwasher with all the bells and whistles, or pay $200. Either way, they both accomplish the same task…
- Use recycled, reclaimed or salvaged materials- this “look” is actually “in” right now, so it’s a great way to save money
- Do what you can handle yourself- Look at YouTube, Google or Pinterest for tips and inspiration.
- Ask a friend for help- have a friend come over for a “paint” day at your place. Then ask them what project they would like to tackle. You could also work on one yard together the first part of the day, share a lunch, and then head to the other yard. Friends can make projects more fun!
- Plan and Budget ahead- have a savings account specifically for home improvement and repair. Automatically save money into it each month. Click here for some tips about saving automatically. People are spending an average of $6000 a year, so consider saving $500 a month if you can. If this is way out of your budget, then just start with $100. Here are some ideas for side hustles to make a little extra income. Then when it comes time to make a repair, the money is available.
What are your tips for saving money on home improvement projects? Share your experiences with home repairs below!
