What is a home manager, and how can having one improve your life and your home? Let’s step back a moment and consider what life is like today, especially post-pandemic. How busy is daily life today? Consider how many things you have to do in a given day and how many tasks are left on that to-do list at the end of it.

The pandemic has created a lot of changes in the way people spend their time. Suddenly, there’s more importance on valuing life. According to reports, people are more interested in living life than working endless hours or attending to lists of time-consuming tasks that they can avoid.

There have been some big revelations. People are realizing that they want to spend more of their time doing meaningful things. Perhaps they’ve lost a great deal in the last few years. Or, they may have simply found that working so hard isn’t worth the cost.

That’s a great thing, but that doesn’t mean all of the things you were doing aren’t important, including taking care of your home. Despite the many changes in perspective, our homes still require a great degree of attention and upkeep to stay safe and in good condition.

What Is a Home Manager’s Job?

A home manager is the answer to this dilemma. Here’s what’s most important to remember. Your home needs constant attention and upkeep, not only to keep you safe and comfortable but also to keep its value high. That means completing more than just simple chores but also keeping up with the seasons, changes to conditions, and handling repair needs. It’s taxing work even for those who have time on their hands. A home manager provides a solution for this.

So, what is a home manager?

A home manager is a professional who can help oversee the tasks that need to be completed within a home. Home managers are professionally trained to know how to take care of residential property efficiently and thoroughly. That includes handling routine but important maintenance tasks such as plumbing and HVAC services.

These individuals learn about your home, the specific needs it has, and any special requirements. They then work to create a schedule to make sure everything is taken care of long before it becomes a problem. This is about preventive maintenance rather than repairs, though repairs can also be a big factor.

Consider what a home manager may mean for your life on a day-to-day basis. Consider all of those tasks right now that have not been completed in the last few months. You probably have very good reasons for not getting them done.

Perhaps you spent some time with the kids on a Saturday playing ball or going to a show instead of working on maintenance.
Maybe you took some downtime to focus on yourself instead of dealing with that plumbing task.
You may have spent the last month bogged down with other responsibilities or feeling ill.

No matter why you could not get to those maintenance tasks, it’s okay. With the help of a home manager, you don’t have to think twice about the process. These professionals can get the work done for you well in advance of when it needs to be done.

A dedicated home manager is your trusted partner when it comes to maintaining your home. The right home management service offers expertly trained, dedicated professionals who have expertise in managing home maintenance tasks – whether repairs or maintenance.

Related: An Ounce of Prevention, a Pound of Care

Your home manager takes charge of the seemingly endless tasks that need to be completed to keep up with your home. They do it for you, so you can focus on the big game, the family picnic, or that project you’ve been hoping to do.

What Types of Maintenance Tasks Can a Home Manager Do?

What is a home manager going to be able to tackle off of your to-do list? That really depends on what’s needed at any given time. Did you know that homeowners spent $522 billion on home improvement projects from 2017 to 2019, accomplishing some 115 million projects?

A home manager may be able to help you with several different tasks. Consider a few examples of how having one may help you today.

Water Heater Maintenance: Did you know you need to flush the sediment from your hot water heater on a regular basis? Doing so helps reduce your energy costs while increasing the lifespan of your heater. Your home manager can schedule this and make sure it’s done correctly. Also, if your water heater stops working properly, your home manager can make sure it gets repaired right away.
AC and Heating Filters: Your home’s HVAC system requires routine maintenance, including the replacement of air conditioning and heating filters. Without replacing these, your system has to work much harder to operate properly, and that means higher energy costs and more wear and tear on the system. Your home manager can make sure that’s done.
Electrical Problems: Most homes need an electrical inspection on a routine basis, but electrical repairs are also common. You may have a need to repair an outlet or install a new ceiling fan in your living room.
Plumbing Problems: It is not uncommon for homeowners to deal with plumbing problems from time to time. When the toilet is overflowing, or there is a slow drain that’s dripping all night long, you don’t want to wait a long time to find someone to help you make those repairs.
Handyman Services: One of the biggest drains on your time may be that you have a lack of help for smaller tasks. It could be things like caulking the shower or replacing a lock on a door. These tasks add up and can take up a lot of your time, but a pro may be able to get it done efficiently while tracking everything that’s being done.
Washer and Dryer Maintenance: There are a number of tasks that you need to do to maintain your home’s washer and dryer. Both need to be sanitized on a routine basis. The dryer vents need to be cleaned to prevent a backup of dangerous gasses in your home. A pro can handle each one of these needs for you.
Irrigation: Home managers can also help with outdoor maintenance tasks. This may include adjusting the sprinkler heads before the season starts or even doing a full tune-up on your irrigations system to ensure it is ready for the big season.
Painting and Carpentry: You may need some help from a pro for painting or carpentry services. This may include things like small paint touch ups, but it may also include bigger jobs like adding interior trim to your home.

These are just some examples of the numerous tasks these professionals can offer you. There are both preventative maintenance tasks as well as repair services these pros may be able to provide.

How Do You Find a Home Manager That You Can Trust?

One of the most important decisions you can make when using a home manager is choosing someone you can trust to do the work.

Experience, familiarity, and trust matters when it comes to knowing what types of tasks need to be done around the home and relying on someone to get them done. When choosing a home manager, be sure to look for a pro that offers these characteristics and can handle what you need.

Do they have experience working with most major home systems such as the HVAC, refrigerator, washer and dryer, and plumbing? Do they have electrical system skills?
What type of training do they have? It helps to know that the professional you hire has ample experience but also that that experience comes from exceptional training and industry-level expertise.
What is their track record? A proven track record is important. Do they have references they can offer to you? What have they done in the past?

Sometimes, it’s best to work with a company that specifically offers home managers who can help you. That way, you know there is an organization overseeing who is working in your home.

What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Home Manager Now?

Think about your home, your biggest investment, and how much work it may need. What types of repairs do you think you’ll have to make this year? What types of maintenance didn’t get done in the last year? What will a home manager do to make things different this year? Some of the benefits include:

Lower Overall Costs: When you hire a home manager to work with you, they do the work for you at a fixed rate in most cases. Often, that is a fraction of the cost of what you would pay if you had to find and hire a contractor to do individual jobs for you instead.
Someone to Go To: Today, well-trained professionals who could help you handle your home are not as readily available as they used to be. It can be hard to find a contractor to handle a problem, especially with so few available in some areas. You may not know who to trust. With a home manager, you have the same professional assigned to your home consistently, who learns about your home and understands what it needs.
Vetted, Trained Professionals: Another concern is who is doing the work for you. If you need to make repairs, you need to be sure that the person doing the work is qualified to do so. That means you wanted a vetted, trained, and licensed technician doing the work on your home. The right company offers home manager that meets those requirements, and you can trust that they’ll handle those big tasks with confidence.
Preventative Maintenance: Many people think of a home manager as just a person who fixes problems. However, they also do the basic hard work for you, helping you get your home’s maintenance tasks completed on time and ahead of schedule. This includes all the things you’ve been meaning to get to, like all of those recommended maintenance tasks your home and home appliance manufacturers (heating, cooling, water heater, and others) require.
Stay on Top of Your Home’s Needs: It’s also nice to have a pro that can help monitor conditions in your home over time. You may be able to learn about systems that are aging and may need upgrading in the coming months or years, so that you can have a plan in place and be prepared. You’ll learn ways to update your home efficiently, too.

The key thing to understand here is that your home is in better condition for a lower cost, and more of your personal time is your own to use as you wish. It’s a big win for both you and your home.

Related: How to Extend the Lives of Your Appliances

Invest in Your Home and Your Quality of Life with a Home Manager

Making the decision to invest in a home manager just makes sense. You know the value of your time, and you may be ready to stop putting all of your extra time into your home’s tasks.

That’s where PreFix can help you. You can turn to us and our team of home managers to put your home first so you can focus your attention where it matters most. We stand out when it comes to professional service and have ample experience and training to accommodate your needs, no matter what size or type of home you have.

With a PreFix member subscription, you get a dedicated home manager who works closely with you to complete 80% of all of the home repairs you need, often at a fraction of the cost of what you would pay for other providers. Additionally, you get twice-a-year preventative maintenance included–work that keeps your home in good condition, so you don’t need to have to worry about repairs later. Now is the time to see the value PreFix can offer you. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you.

What Is a Home Manager?