How to estimate your home's upkeep costs

A house has upkeep costs every year even when nothing breaks, and a large bill every several years when something wears out. An estimate built from the equipment in your own house, and the age of each piece, puts a number on both.

Two kinds of cost

Yearly upkeep is the work that comes around on a schedule. It includes a heating and cooling check-up each spring and fall, plus filters, gutters and alarm batteries. A past invoice or a quote gives each one's price.

Replacements come every several years, and they are the large bills. A tank water heater lasts about 10 years, so its replacement goes in the budget from then. Smoke alarms are replaced 10 years from their manufacture date. For the roof, the furnace and the rest, use the age from your records and a quote for the replacement.

How the estimate works

For each yearly job, add up what it costs in a year. For each replacement, divide its quoted price by the years left before you expect to replace it. That gives a yearly amount to set aside. Add the two totals and divide by 12 for a monthly line in your budget.

If you don't know when something was installed, look for the date on the unit's label, or in the inspection report from when you bought the house. A water heater's manufacture date is sometimes printed on the same label as its serial number.

A replacement made in a hurry after a failure can cost more than one planned ahead, and it often leaves fewer models to choose from.

An annotated example

What to do next

List the equipment in your house with its install year. Add a quote for each replacement and the price of each yearly job, then work out the monthly line.

Keep the upkeep money apart from an emergency fund. An emergency fund is for unplanned expenses, and a water heater past 10 years is a planned one.