Average Home Maintenance Costs (2024)

FAQs

Average Home Maintenance Costs? ›

A rule of thumb is to set aside 1%-4% of your home's value for a home maintenance fund. For example, for a home valued at $200,000, you would budget $2,000 to $8,000 per year to spend on annual upkeep.

Bottom line on home maintenance costs

State Farm recommends between 1 to 4 percent of your home's value. The median American home sold for $436,800 in Q1 2023 so the median homeowner is going to want to set aside between $4,368 to $17,472 per year for maintenance costs.

This rule states you should save 1% of the property purchase price for maintenance issues. Using the same example from above, if you purchase a property for $250,000, you should budget $2,500 a year for maintenance and upkeep. There are pros and cons to this rule when it comes to property value..

Californians spend an average of $16,957 per year on home maintenance, the seventh most in the country and the highest of any Western state.

This is known as “cost of ownership”, which follows the formula below: Cost of labour + Cost of materials + Suppliers (outsourcing) + Energy + Other Expenses. Please note that this formula only considers routine maintenance activities, minor repairs, and the cost of parts.

Whether you're a hardware store regular or not, home maintenance is important for every homeowner to keep their property in good working order. Preventative maintenance can also be cost-effective, mitigating the need for more expensive repairs prematurely!

1% Rule: Maintenance will cost about 1% of the property value per year. So, if a unit is valued at $250,000, then maintenance will cost around $2,500. Square Footage Rule: Set aside $1 per square foot for annual maintenance costs. A 2,000 square-foot rental will need $2,000 in maintenance costs per year.

The guidance is that for every 6 preventive maintenance (PM) measures completed by your building's technical staff and maintenance vendors, one corrective maintenance (CM) measure should be completed.

How much does it cost to maintain a 10,000 sq ft house? ›

What much does it cost to maintain a house per year? While maintenance costs will vary based on locale, a good rule is you'll spend about $1 per square foot per year in maintenance costs. If you have higher-end finishes, you'll likely end up spending more.

The 1% rule

You take the value of a home and calculate 1% of that figure. For example, if your home's appraised value is $250,000, the 1% rule says you need to set aside at least $2,500 for home maintenance every year. There's nothing else to it, but keep in mind these pros and cons.

Several factors contribute to rising home maintenance costs. “Inflation has increased the overall cost of goods and services, while ongoing labor and material shortages have also driven up the price,” Erb says.

The term maintenance expense refers to any cost incurred by an individual or business to keep their assets in good working condition. These costs may be spent for the general maintenance of items like running anti-virus software on computer systems or they may be used for repairs such as fixing a car or machinery.

A rule of thumb is to set aside 1%-4% of your home's value for a home maintenance fund. For example, for a home valued at $200,000, you would budget $2,000 to $8,000 per year to spend on annual upkeep.

Examples of maintenance costs include simple electrical repairs, bulb replacement, paint touch-ups, pool cleaning, lawn care, etc. Capital expenditures, on the other hand, involve major repairs, replacements, and upgrading of components, and such activities require time, effort, and money to achieve.

The idea here is to budget 1% of the purchase price of your home each year to cover repairs and maintenance. For example, if you bought your home for $500,000 you would budget $5,000 per year for repairs.

1% rule. First up is the so-called “1% rule," which, unsurprisingly, says that homeowners should set aside 1% of your home's purchase price annually for home maintenance. * For example, if you paid $500,000 for your home, you'd budget $5,000 per year for maintenance.

For starters, a general replacement asset value percentage (%RAV) for most industries is anywhere from 2-5%, meaning that the cost of maintenance at a facility shouldn't exceed 2-5% of the facility's replacement value every year.

The 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that the average American household's monthly expenses total approximately $6,081, equating to $72,967 annually. This amount includes costs for housing, transportation, food and other essential categories​​.