Why you should invest in house maintenance

Scrubbing your roof tiles will give your house a fresh look. File photo

Constructing a dream house is a lifelong achievement that is attained through patience with ones’ hard earned savings and a lot of sacrifices; therefore it should be given as much attention as any other investment.
A home owner should not end at the satisfaction of a finished product and consider it a done deal, ownership comes with its related responsibilities of ensuring that a house performs the functions for which it was designed.
This can only be achieved by giving it the due attention it deserves through proper monitoring.
The technical term is property maintenance which means work that is carried out to ensure that the building doesn’t deteriorate towards serviceability and collapse. This is achieved through regular inspection of your home and all its related services.
Simple things such as water pipes, firefighting equipment, electrical cables and wires; all these have to be checked to ensure that they are in a functional state.
Poor maintenance is visible through slippery surfaces such as floors, breakdown in electrical services, plumbing defects, cracks, fading paint, missing glass panes and roof leakages.
Simple things such as accumulation of cobweb, dusty floors, dirty walls and unkempt lawn all reflect poor maintenance.
This results into a situation where the home is no longer appealing to its occupants and other intended users.

Importance of maintenance
Preserves aesthetics
A well maintained home plays a crucial role in beautifying the environment. It creates a good and conducive environment for one to perform their day to day activities; it helps in stress relief and general outlook of a particular area. Since first impressions are lasting impressions, it’s also true for homes.

Value preservation
Usually a lot of money is injected in a home project hence the need to preserve both beauty and value.
One of the factors that affect the value of your home is its physical appearance since it says a million words about it and its dwellers.

Prestige
A house in good physical condition is a source of prestige to its owners. Good maintenance is a display of how much love you attach to it and sends a clear message to all its users to follow suit. It brings a sense of satisfaction for a remarkable and memorable investment that a house is.

How to maintain your home.
Good home maintenance is through regular inspection and early detection of flaws and defects for quick repairs. A home owner needs to do a periodic condition report that gives an overview of the building condition. This can be done by considering it part by part such as the roof, walls, doors, windows and floor. In case flaws are identified, this helps to arrest them before they grow to unmanageable levels. Decays and failures should be countered at early stages so as to maintain the value of the home and extend its physical life.
Just like a car needs regular servicing to maintain its road worthiness, a home also needs periodical maintenance to maintain its aesthetics, value and functionality. Maintenance is a worthy expense to a reasonable home owner who values their investment; it’s a responsibility that comes with property ownership.

Businge Henry
[email protected]
The writer works with Katuramu and Company Consulting Surveyors