Proactive Home Stewardship
Marin Home Resource Guide
2020-2021
PROACTIVE HOME STEWARDSHIP YIELDS HIGH ROI By Guest Contributor: Alex Stadtner Healthy Building Science, Inc. healthybuildingscience.com
Our home is one of our greatest assets, but for many of us, it is more than a financial investment. We pour sweat equity and emotion into creating a safe and healthy place for our families to shelter and rest. We build a sanctuary.
There are chronic and acute threats to every building, yet very few devote the necessary budget or planning for the proper maintenance of a home. To stay ahead of expensive and stressful setbacks, there are significant benefits to regular inspections, proactive home maintenance, and emergency preparedness. A good home stewardship program covers hundreds of items that should be inspected and serviced every year. A rule of thumb for budgeting is to allocate between 1–4% of the home’s value for annual home maintenance. For a $1 million house that is $10-40K/year on maintenance. This percentage may sound exorbitant, but this also considers the cumulative impacts of big projects like deck replacements, painting and new roofs (not to mention the unexpected). ››
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