Understanding the value of preventive maintenance
Say you’ve been putting off rotating your car’s tires. Without any immediate threat, it’s an easy task to ignore — right up until you end up stranded on the highway with a flat. While you can always hit snooze on routine maintenance, you’ll eventually end up dumping a whole lot more money into a repair that could’ve been avoided altogether.
A little TLC for your appliances goes a long way toward preventing expensive repairs in the future.
Your home is the same way. You’ve heard the old Benjamin Franklin quote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” And although Franklin didn’t have a refrigerator or washing machine, the adage has proved timeless: A little TLC for your appliances goes a long way toward preventing expensive repairs in the future.
Home maintenance can feel like a daunting chore — particularly for a new homeowner who’s never seen a water heater up close, let alone drained one. That’s where PreFix comes in. Twice a year, your Home Manager team will visit your house to complete a 30-point check on all appliances and systems, free with membership. From flushing sediment from the water heater to cleaning the AC unit’s condenser coils, removing lint from the dryer duct, and cleaning the dishwasher filter, our professionals do all the things you may not know how to (or just plain don’t want to).
After this comprehensive bi-annual visit, you’ll enjoy cleaner and more efficient appliances, heating and cooling, plumbing, security, and electrical systems. We’ll email over a detailed summary of our findings and, if your technician notes any concerns, coordinate with your Home Manager to come check it out as soon as possible.
A look at the numbers
The value of preventive maintenance cannot be overstated: maximizing the lives of your appliances, improving your home’s efficiency, and lowering your energy costs, for starters. Routine care saves you time, money, and headaches by identifying little issues before they become big problems. In fact, experts say every $1 spent on preventive maintenance around the home saves you approximately $100 in future repairs. Let’s put that number into perspective with just one aspect: the HVAC unit.
Angie’s List reports 75% of “no-heat” calls in the winter are because homeowners didn’t do preventive maintenance. We’re not just talking about having to bundle up next to the fireplace, either — when it comes to the “H” part of HVAC, heat can mean fire.
Even something as little as not changing your air filters regularly can cause your HVAC system to overheat and ultimately fail. Suddenly, you need a whole new unit. That’s going to run you between $5,000 and $10,000, according to HomeAdvisor. And what of other major appliances? Taking into consideration everything from a budget dryer to a high-end refrigerator, you’re generally looking at a replacement between $400 and $8,000.
Preventive maintenance is probably seeming like the better option right about now, but you still could be shelling out more than necessary. Without PreFix, a routine annual checkup on your HVAC system alone will cost between $80 and $150, HomeAdvisor estimates. So by servicing all of your appliances individually, you’re looking at hundreds of dollars a year spread across a throng of contractors.
As a PreFix member, preventive maintenance is zero dollars. Free. Included with membership.
As a PreFix member, preventive maintenance is zero dollars. Free. Included with membership. In fact, the cost of an entire year of PreFix membership runs up the same tab as just one appliance replacement. Oh, and did we mention? We provide all the filters, batteries, and supplies needed to complete our maintenance checklist.
A regular preventive maintenance schedule can thwart a host of expensive problems down the road and keep your house in tip-top condition. By simply opening your home to us, you’ve done your part in preventing breakdowns, saving money, and keeping your home looking and feeling its best. And you’ve done it at no additional cost to you.
PreFix members are scheduling their spring preventive maintenance visits now — you can book yours immediately after enrolling. Join thousands of Austinites keeping their homes drama-free year ’round.