If you want to make a saving on your property’s upkeep this year, it’s always worth investigating when the work required will be cheapest and saving your call until then.
Of course, it’s important to note that any contractor you hire for a job will have their own pricing. It’s also possible that, in your area, the prices for maintenance work don’t rise or fall by very much over the year.
But in general, trends show that the seven home maintenance jobs below tend to be more affordable when they’re carried out in spring time. If they’re on your task list for the year ahead, it’s usually best to schedule them after February and before June.
Replacing the Roof
Replacing a roof is going to be a costly job, no matter the time of year in which you have it done. Roofs are the main insulation that protects your house, so without a properly sealed and insulated roof, you can say goodbye to a temperate, clean, and dry home.
If a storm has ripped some of the shingle away, for example, or you’ve discovered a hole in the attic that peaks right out into the air, you’re going to need to fork out for a repair at the very minimum.
Thankfully, roofs are designed with longevity in mind. You won’t need to replace one really all that often at all, but sometimes things happen that are out of our control.
Getting your roof inspected at least once every couple of years is essential to saving, but if it turns out your roof is in supremely bad shape, the spring light and weather will keep the price down.
Renovating the Kitchen
Kitchen renovations always carry a hefty price tag with them. When you’re ripping out and replacing such an essential room in your home, you need the work done quickly, and with as little disruption as possible. That already puts the cost up, and then we have to talk about the actual cost of the material and labor required as well.
But the ROI is usually more than enough to justify this. Renovating a kitchen adds a lot more value to a home, and it’s one of the best home improvement projects to carry out. You’ll still need to budget carefully for it, even in the spring, but once again, the work can be cheaper at this time of year.
Very few people tend to renovate their kitchen just after Christmas. Personal finances tend to be in a recovery stage at this time of year, and even then, there’s a lot of leftover food to get through. Not being able to use the kitchen right now would be a disaster for some families!
If you’re willing to go through this kind of renovation at this time of year, you could score a pretty good saving. Contractors can put their prices down, and offer a lot of discounts to local area customers, to try and bridge the gap during this slow period. See if you can take advantage of this, especially if you’ve been saving for work like this for a while.
Fixing the Plumbing
Pipes, drains, and bathroom fixtures alike can all suffer from the colder, damper weather. As such, the prices to inspect and fix plumbing can be much higher during the colder months of year. Autumn can be a particularly bad season for getting your external drains seen to, and if you experience a burst pipe in the winter, you’ll be far from the only person to do so!
The cold makes the water inside the pipes freeze up, and when that happens, the pipes tend to crack and go boom. You don’t want that to happen inside your home, as water and sludge ice is going to spill out and flood you, meaning callout rates can be put up to a premium in December.
But if you take preventative action here, and ensure a plumber has given the pipes a once over in a warmer time of year, there won’t be any issues ahead for you to worry about. They’ll even be able to advise you on the best ways to keep the pipes warm and working, and all for a much lower fee.
Repairing the Air Conditioner
Most people don’t spare their air conditioner a second thought when it’s the winter time, and for good reason. When the air outside is so bracing you can only spend a couple of minutes out there, even with a coat on, pumping cool air around your home will be the last thing on your mind!
But springtime is the best time for anything to do with your air conditioner. If you’ve not had a chance to focus on it during the winter, and you’re kicking yourself for that decision right now, don’t delay any longer.
Whether you need the filters replaced or a full air conditioner tune up, call out a repair person skilled in AC or HVAC care. They’re likely to have a lower cost per hour for these calls at the moment, because many customers are still focusing on other maintenance jobs in the home. Get ahead of the crowd and save some money; indeed, you could save upwards of $100 in doing so.
Installing a New Fence
Fencing can be quite expensive to purchase when we’re well into summer, but the end of spring tends to be a pretty pricey time too. That being said, if you act fast once February is drawing to a close and March is just beginning, you’re likely to still get a good deal on new panels.
You can even hire someone to come and fit the new fence for you, and that’ll be a whole lot cheaper than you expect it to be. Most people are focusing on just keeping the garden clean at this time of year, as winter can completely ravage the ground, and you can swoop in for a great quote because of it.
Painting the Exterior
Like we mentioned earlier, spring is the time of year when we’re moving out of cold and wet weather into dry and warm weather. The sun’s out, and the weather tends to be quite stable, with brief showers being the only real reason to still take a hooded jacket out with you.
That’s why this is a prime time to get your home’s exterior painted as well.
When the weather is dry, and we’re not in the height of summer when it’s boiling hot and probably pretty humid, the job won’t take anywhere near as long. That means, when hiring a decorator, you won’t need to pay their day rate over a protracted period.
After all, if a summer job would have taken four days at $250 a piece, but a spring job will only take a couple days, you’ve slashed the price in half! Plus, if you can buy all the materials required yourself, you can save money on those costs too.
Clearing the Gutters
You don’t want to leave gutter clearance until the autumn rolls back around! That’s when everyone calls up for someone to grab a ladder to remove the lumps of soggy, and even rotten, leaves that have collected.
And this is a big problem. After all, gutter cleaning takes a lot longer than you expect it to. If you’re doing it yourself, you need to ensure the worksite is safe and you’ve got the right ladder, and even then you may need to move the ladder all over the house.
Setting it up at different points means you can access anything that’s gotten stuck along the way, and as a result, you may need a day or more to properly address this kind of issue. Who’s got that kind of spare time just lying around?
So call out a professional to do it for you. In fact, you could get this job done at the same time you have any roofing work carried out – the same contractor may even be able to tick both tasks off. They might even offer to bundle the price into one as they go, and that could save you a good wad of cash. Either way, spring is cheapest!
Get Your Home Maintenance Done Early in the Year
Home maintenance will zap your budget dry when you don’t get it done in time. Little and often is key to keeping the price of some TLC as low as possible. On top of that, timing the work just right will bring lower costs your way, and the spring season is great for jobs like these.
Get your roof seen to, make sure your gutters are clear, repaint your exterior, renovate the kitchen (if you want to), have your plumbing assessed, retune the AC, and get your new fence set up. You don’t have to do all of these things in the same year, but make sure they’re top of the list when the winter comes to an end!
