House Maintenance Costs - What to Consider?

There is no homeowner who would be pleased with the large administrative and maintenance costs associated with their home. It is especially unpleasant when high maintenance costs start appearing on bills shortly after a newly completed home. How should one account for this and what should be known before starting construction?

What affects home maintenance costs?

Usually, when discussing home maintenance costs, the focus is primarily on heating costs and greater attention is paid to the thermal insulation of the building envelope. However, in summary, the fixed costs associated with a home are influenced by several other factors, we highlight some of them:

House size / plot size

Larger homes generally always have larger maintenance costs. If you already have a plan to build your own home, no one wants an extremely small home, but you should not fall for the allure of an overly large home either, as it inevitably comes with greater costs.

Do not forget that in addition, you must also pay an annual land tax for plots over 1500 m².

Costs related to home cleaning

There are people who enjoy cleaning and do it willingly. More often, however, it is done reluctantly, and maintaining daily cleanliness in the home entails considerable time investment, to which is added the cost of necessary tools and equipment for this purpose.

A well-thought-out floor plan of the home helps save both the size of the house and the time spent on cleaning, in which key importance is placed on various storage areas and functional furniture. Their well-planned placement and use significantly reduce the likelihood of disorder occurring in your home. When everything has its own place where all necessary items can be stored, the home remains much better organized and in summary, life is also more comfortable.

Technical systems and other home maintenance work

Modern homes are becoming increasingly technically complex. Comfortable fully automatic heating equipment, ventilation systems, garage door openers, motorized gates, water filters, smart home functionality, rain gutters, doors, windows and other systems require continuous and regular maintenance. The costs of technical home maintenance seem insignificant at first glance and are often not done until something breaks. Generally, when something does break, the repair costs are even greater than they would have been with systematic maintenance. Therefore, with each technical solution choice, it is worth immediately assessing the maintenance requirements and clarifying the maintenance interval and associated costs, taking this into account when selecting the technical solution.

Home main circuit breaker amperage

The size of the home's main circuit breaker depends on which electrical appliances, heating systems, household appliances, lighting you wish to use in your home. Usually the circuit breaker size is calculated in the project, but the customer always has the possibility to influence the choice as well. However, you should know that you should not choose an amperage that exceeds consumption, as this brings both a larger connection fee and a larger monthly fixed fee, which affects costs even when electricity consumption is minimal.

Source: Finnlog.ee