Home Maintenance Services

When our children were younger, we enrolled them in quite a few extracurricular activities. It was nice to have them playing softball, soccer, swimming, dance, and everything they seemed to enjoy.  But what I noticed was that our leisurely weekends of taking care of chores and projects around the house were put on the back burner.  Or, my husband would not attend a soccer game or other activity, because he was busy mowing the lawn during game time.  Well, we decided to hire a lawn care service so that we could both attend and cheer them on.  In addition to the lawn service, we also engaged a few other services so our quality time could be spent together as a family instead of working all week and then having to work again at home on various home projects and the  miscellaneous responsibilities required to keep our house in ship shape condition. 

There are also companies that handle all of the various maintenance needs of homeowners.  From the garage to the attic, through quarterly visits and inspections, they stay on top of all the necessary areas in your home that require routine maintenance and upkeep including appliances, HVAC systems, plumbing, electrical, etc.  A friend of mine has been using such a service to manage her house, and she said it has provided her piece of mind and freed up her schedule.  That company is called PreFix.  PreFix is a one-stop shop for home care.  They have a membership that has a reliable team to coordinate and deliver all your home maintenance needs.  You get a dedicated home manager who will work directly with you to oversee all the things in your home that need to be cared for. They are home experts and can even handle complex issues by connecting you directly with their network of vetted contractors for negotiated rates.  Their mission is: We make home maintenance easy so you can spend your time on what matters.  PreFix members own their houses, not the other way around.

I also found a similar company, HomePoint, and spoke with their marketing director.  Interestingly, when I was driving out of the neighborhood recently, I saw one of their trucks driving through the neighborhood, so the word is already out regarding their business.  They were founded due to frustration with home maintenance and the traditional “break-fix” model.  They offer an annual subscription covering all home needs, from preventative maintenance to major projects and emergencies. Homeowners benefit from a single point of contact.  They exclusively serve higher-end homes or those requiring special attention. They have W-2 employees who don’t rely on commissions.

The right maintenance partner will perform periodic and seasonal assessments of your home and its systems to ensure that everything is functioning at peak performance when it should be, think furnace in the winter and A/C in the summer. Each of these companies, among others, takes away the unknown of maintaining your house and takes care of one of your largest investments.  We all take our car to get it serviced, and routinely wash it to keep it ship-shape.  Our homes should be no different.  Using a home maintenance company can take the frustration of home upkeep off your plate to let you do the things you enjoy.  I understand that some people are great at keeping their house in the best shape possible, and I applaud you. But for those that are perhaps not so handy, or those that simply need more personal time, a home maintenance company may be just the ticket.