I added up what preventive maintenance actually costs me…
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I added up what preventive maintenance actually costs me per year vs. what skipping it cost. Sharing the numbers.
I got curious after a rough couple of years of surprise repairs, so I went back through my records and put real numbers on both sides. Posting in case it helps someone who keeps deferring the boring stuff (which was me).
**What a year of preventive maintenance actually costs me:**
\* HVAC filters (every 3 months): \~$40/year
\* Annual HVAC tune-up: $120
\* Gutter cleaning (twice a year, DIY): $0, or \~$150-300 if you hire it out
\* Water heater flush + anode rod check: \~$25 DIY, $150 if a plumber does it
\* Dryer vent cleaning: $25 kit, or $100-150 pro
\* Caulk, weatherstripping, misc sealants: \~$50
\* Smoke/CO detector batteries: \~$20
**Total: roughly $300-800/year** depending on how much you DIY.
**What skipping it cost me (or nearly cost me), from my own records:**
\* AC compressor failure after years of never rinsing the condenser coils: $2,400 replacement. The tech told me straight up that annual cleaning likely would have prevented it.
\* Small roof leak that sat unnoticed for one winter: $1,800 in drywall, insulation, and repair vs. the \~$150 flashing fix it started as.
\* Water heater that failed at year 9 with zero maintenance ever: $1,600 installed. Flushed and maintained units routinely go 12+ years.
That's roughly **$5,800 in reactive repairs** that a few hundred a year in prevention would mostly have avoided. The industry rule of thumb is that reactive repairs run 3-10x the cost of prevention, and my personal numbers land right in that band.
The unlock for me wasn't motivation, it was just writing things down: what got serviced, when, and what's due next. Half of my failures happened because I genuinely believed "I did that recently" when it had been three years.
Anyone else ever added up their own numbers? Curious whether other people's ratios look similar or if I'm just unlucky.
#home
source
I got curious after a rough couple of years of surprise repairs, so I went back through my records and put real numbers on both sides. Posting in case it helps someone who keeps deferring the boring stuff (which was me).
**What a year of preventive maintenance actually costs me:**
\* HVAC filters (every 3 months): \~$40/year
\* Annual HVAC tune-up: $120
\* Gutter cleaning (twice a year, DIY): $0, or \~$150-300 if you hire it out
\* Water heater flush + anode rod check: \~$25 DIY, $150 if a plumber does it
\* Dryer vent cleaning: $25 kit, or $100-150 pro
\* Caulk, weatherstripping, misc sealants: \~$50
\* Smoke/CO detector batteries: \~$20
**Total: roughly $300-800/year** depending on how much you DIY.
**What skipping it cost me (or nearly cost me), from my own records:**
\* AC compressor failure after years of never rinsing the condenser coils: $2,400 replacement. The tech told me straight up that annual cleaning likely would have prevented it.
\* Small roof leak that sat unnoticed for one winter: $1,800 in drywall, insulation, and repair vs. the \~$150 flashing fix it started as.
\* Water heater that failed at year 9 with zero maintenance ever: $1,600 installed. Flushed and maintained units routinely go 12+ years.
That's roughly **$5,800 in reactive repairs** that a few hundred a year in prevention would mostly have avoided. The industry rule of thumb is that reactive repairs run 3-10x the cost of prevention, and my personal numbers land right in that band.
The unlock for me wasn't motivation, it was just writing things down: what got serviced, when, and what's due next. Half of my failures happened because I genuinely believed "I did that recently" when it had been three years.
Anyone else ever added up their own numbers? Curious whether other people's ratios look similar or if I'm just unlucky.
#home
source
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