Homeowners of OzBargain: How Much Do Spend on Home Maintenance / Repairs Per Year?

mboy on 28/10/2022 - 16:44
Last edited 28/10/2022 - 16:45

As a recent first home buyer, I've found myself having to slug out (what seems like to me) quite a lot of money on various house maintenance items over the last couple of years. First it was some creaky floors, then leaking gutters staining my ceiling and now some floorboards have started to buckle as a result of the crazy rain we've been getting - and there's more. I might just be unlucky - also it's a fairly new build so it might be a case of "they don't build them like they used to", but let's avoid that debate for now, if you can help it.

I'm curious to know from the homeowners of OzBargain (sorry renters, I'm excluding you in this one): In an average year, approximately how much do you spend on home maintenance / repairs in your primary residence? Also include any repairs / maintenance to anything that's a 'fixture' of your home (ie. anything you wouldn't take with you if you sold the property - dishwasher, aircon, heating, security systems, etc).

I understand that larger and more expensive properties will (on average) spend more on maintenance than smaller and less expensive properties, and this poll won't take that into account. I'm just trying to get some idea of what's roughly considered 'normal'.

Poll Options

  • 17
    Less than $1,000
  • 8
    Between $1,000 and $2,000
  • 21
    Between $2,000 and $4,000
  • 7
    Between $4,000 and $6,000
  • 1
    Between $6,000 and $8,000
  • 9
    More than $8,000
Home & Garden

Comments

  • FirstWizard on 28/10/2022 - 16:54
    +1

    Do we include strata fees? because part of that goes into maintaining common property too :D

    • mboy on 28/10/2022 - 17:00

      Ah good point. Maybe exclude strata fees / insurance. I'm more interested in the total spend for individual instances of maintenance / repair items to private property.

  • boomramada on 28/10/2022 - 16:57
    +1

    Probably $200/year per maintenance but $5k plus for improvements lol

  • AndyC1 on 28/10/2022 - 17:00
    +1

    The first few years it was $3K to $5K and then less until about $1K / year after about 5 years.

    The big items over the years were blocked drains, new TV antenna, replace cloths line, new lawn, update garden, paint inside and outside and window glazing after repainting/fixing the windows myself (broke 2 out of 10 windows and 2 were allready cracked, so had to reglaze 4. I took the windows without the glass the a glazier and they cut it to size).

  • 0FoxGiven on 28/10/2022 - 17:00
    +1

    Living in a relatively new home (built and moved into in 2019). Havent had to spend even a dollar on any sort of fixes etc yet. Some minor paint and cracks in plasterboard issues were fixed by the builder in the first year at no extra cost to me.

    This is not counting minor enhancements and upgrades around the house (like caulking the concrete envelope, covering weep holes, etc).

    • Muzeeb on 28/10/2022 - 17:06

      covering weep holes

      Whaaaaaat?

      • 0FoxGiven on 28/10/2022 - 17:08

        well not covering weep holes completely, just meshed so insects and the sort dont get in

        • Muzeeb on 28/10/2022 - 17:09
          +1

          That makes sense. Cheers

      • SBOB on 28/10/2022 - 17:09

        Future maintenance creator ;)

  • Muzeeb on 28/10/2022 - 17:02
    +3

    DIY, YouTube and shopping around for prices (bunnings might be convenient but not always the cheapest option) it can cost you bugger all.

    Yes there is your time but it can be quite satisfying to complete a maintenance item by yourself.

    As soon as you involve professional trades your home maintenance expenses can be huge. Obviously no choice with electrical matters.

    • mboy on 28/10/2022 - 17:10

      That's true. I've certainly become more 'handy' since I've bought the property and I've carried out a few DIY fixes where I thought I was capable.
      But then there are other things (pulling up carpet, removing skirting boards, cutting into ceiling / re-plastering) that I feel I need to leave to professionals.

  • geek001 on 28/10/2022 - 17:16
    +3

    My favourite shop after becoming a home owner is Bunnings. Mind you, my house is more than 20 years old.

    Maintenance issues include minor accidents with the walls, curtains and blinds(I am becoming quite good at plastering). I am also getting quite good at caulking, painting from cracks randomly appearing from the ground settling over time and don't forget lawnmowing.

    I have also built up a sizeable collection of power tools, mainly Ozito branded ones.

    I think some maintenance work needs to be completed to prevent future headaches, like clearing out your gutters for example. Some maintenance work cannot be avoided like storm damage, etc. We recently had some high humidity weather came through and mould started growing on our walls in some areas, it just needs to be cleaned asap to prevent more mould growing.

  • Stopback on 28/10/2022 - 17:53
    +1

    A lot of weekends

  • c64 on 28/10/2022 - 17:56
    +1

    $0

  • Benoffie on 28/10/2022 - 20:19
    +1

    Spent a lot in the beginning to fix the problems. Now it's general maintenance. Currently replacing handles in the kitchen ($150), bathroom wastes ($50-70), shower screen repair ($20), garden maintenance ($100-200) etc etc.

    It's just part and parcel of home ownership.

  • ozbargainsam on 28/10/2022 - 21:07
    +1

    I recently decided to actually (get someone to) fix the stuff I've been putting off for, say, 10 years. So while it wasn't cheap, you could say it was amortised over all those years.

    I do all the gardening myself. So the cost of buying the tools.

    Improvements? Replaced the entire reverse cycle system, swapped out all halogens via the NSW scheme, replaced my rusted floodlights.

    Future stuff? The house itself has settled, so it needs a lot of interior plastering/rendering/painting. Driveway needs paving. De-creakify floorboards.

    All that spread out over 10 years? 2-4k feels right.

    • mboy on 28/10/2022 - 21:25

      When you say the house has settled, do you mean the foundation/structure? Is it unusual for a house to be settling over 10 years?

      • ozbargainsam on 28/10/2022 - 21:32
        +1

        Yes, but I'd say the settling took a few years (now a 17 year old house, give or take), but I didn't keep track of when it appeared. We had a piled foundation, too, that was meant to reduce the amount of settling.

        There are a few non-trivial cracks on the first floor (1-3mm wide), but they stopped growing. We'll fix it when the time comes to renovate, and call in an engineer to check the big ones, and probably just re-render.

        We have hairline/normal concrete render cracks all over. That'll just be a paint job.

        No rush.

  • payless69 on 28/10/2022 - 22:30
    +1

    Rent and learn all the perks out there, enjoy life to the fullest and shift every problem to your landlord!

    • mboy on 28/10/2022 - 23:48

      I’ve worked towards owning my own home for the better part of the last 10-15 years, but I reckon there are a fair few like me who didn’t consider or budget for the ongoing maintenance and repair costs of owning a property.

      I don’t regret buying, but a bit of a slap in the face nonetheless.

      • payless69 on 29/10/2022 - 03:18
        -3

        I was the same back in 1984. Paid up to 16% interest and believe or not 29% our mortgage in fees. To be exact $9480 for a 30k loan.
        It was all because of a well celebrated man with a drug addict kid. If I tell the truth here I get locked out of this forum.
        Right now in left run QLD it is actually cheaper to rent, pretty legal to skip many rents and with zero maintenance bills a much happier life.
        All because the real truth is no longer of any real value.

  • ForkSnorter on 29/10/2022 - 08:58

    If you're not a DIY genius, and not spending ~$5-10k per year maintaining your house, it will require a complete renovation (kitchen and bathrooms, carpet and painting, and repairs) after 15-25 years, and a complete refit (new walls and floor tiles, potentially new roof etc.) after 30-50 years. And that's assuming it was new/newly renovated when you bought it.

  • FujiFruit on 29/10/2022 - 14:18

    well i have neglected the house a lot the last 10 years so i decided to do renovations this year, painted the house, gutters, roof leaking, balcony leaks, silicone etc, water proof etc, i think about $10000 . I still have to do more renovations . This is using tradies and not fixing anything myself.

  • Euphemistic on 29/10/2022 - 15:28

    No idea what is average for my place. I mostly DIY. If I just go on routine, minor maintenance, it’s not that much. Maybe $1k?

    typically I’ll have a summer project that costs anywhere between $1-5k depending on materials. Eg Last summer replaced rotten decking boards, summer before installed a new deck and pergola, previously replaced about 15m of fence. If I’d paid someone to do it likely would have cost 3x as much.

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 29/10/2022 - 15:38

    couple grand at least

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