Have you ever wondered why your neighbour never complains about his water bills and never seems to be undertaking expensive repair work around his home?
The answer might be his investment in a local handyman. Booking a handyman regularly, to help keep things in better working order, can actually save you money.
Here are five examples as to how:
1. Repairing Or Replacing Leaky Faucets and Water Pipes
Just a tiny leak from a single faucet can waste 40 litres of water a day! That’s 280 litres of water wasted a week and 14,560 litres a year. By the time you hear that annoying drip, drip, drip sound while lying in bed at night, your dripping faucet probably has a large leak and you could be losing 100+ litres of water a day! That is a significant amount of water (and money) quite literally going down the drain.
By hiring a handyman to fix your leaky faucets, a job that usually takes less than an hour, you could save a lot of money annually on your water bill alone. Leaking pipes may take a bit longer for a handyman or plumber to fix, but by having him or her fix the leaks, you are preventing water from causing structural damage to your home’s cabinets and walls which can be very costly to fix later.
2. Cleaning Out Gutters
If gutters stay clogged, water can be trapped in areas on your roof that could slowly start to cause damage to your home. Likewise, water may pour onto areas of your home where it shouldn’t such as behind your siding and wall cladding, which can leave even more damage.
Hiring a handyman once or twice a year to clean out your gutters can save your home costly water damage – as well as rid your home of this common fire hazard.
3. Repairing Roof Tiles
Some homeowners don’t bother to repair or replace broken or missing roof tiles unless they literally see water dropping from the ceiling onto the floor inside their home. However, by the time this happens, you could have extensive damage to the structure of your home and you may even have a significant mould problem.
That’s why having a handyman regularly check your roof (perhaps when he’s cleaning out your gutters) can save you a lot of money in the long run.
4. Cleaning and Treating the Deck
Australia’s harsh sun and unpredictable storms can certainly take their toll on your deck. If you hire a handyman to thoroughly wash and then reseal your deck every few years can add decades to the life of these expensive outdoor extensions of your home.
A good handyman can also check and fix loose planks and railings before they cause unexpected accidents and injuries.
5. Caulking Around Windows and Siding
Caulking eventually dries out and becomes brittle. When this happens, spaces develop and this allows the cool air and the heat from your home to escape – wasting energy and money.
Hiring a handyman to remove the old caulking and replace it with new caulking might actually save you money each year on your energy bill.
Final Thoughts
In short, hiring a handyman for small home improvement projects can end up saving you more money (on water bills, energy bills and expensive repairs) than the amount you invest in your local handyman. Food for thought!