Owning a home is an incredible responsibility, and it’s one that is seen as a huge step toward independent adulthood. Especially with the current home-buying generation, though, this is a milestone that’s easier dreamed about than achieved. But, whether because of cultural influences like the game of life (which demands that you buy a house before completing gameplay) or because they really do want to be homeowners, sixty-five percent of American adults own a house.
This means that sixty-five percent of American adults signed up for way more of a headache than they’d planned.
Home ownership is about so much more than paying a mortgage and bickering about who used the most hot water that month. Home repairs like drain cleaning services and boiler repairs can drain your resources in a startling amount of time if you’re not prepared. But it’s not all bad! If you give your home repairs the proper respect they deserve.
Let’s look at a couple fictional hypotheticals and see how a sticky situation can be made so much better with the right preparation.
SITUATION 1: Such a Drain
Betty and George have been married for almost three months now, and their new home is just now starting to feel a little bit cluttered. Betty will trip over George’s running shoes, and George will trip over Betty’s mural painting supplies, and both of them will simultaneously trip over the fluffy, high-maintenance puppy that they thought would be a great idea. It’s getting a little bit difficult to establish a routine, and for some reason, everyone got them the same wedding presents. So they have about 4,000 air fryers.
To make it worse, George has decided that he’s going to grow out his hair. Betty hasn’t said anything, because it’s his hair, after all, but now that it’s reached shoulder length, there’s more than an aesthetic issue. For one, George doesn’t know how to use shampoo. For another, the amount of hair that is falling from George’s head and into the shower drain is monumental. Betty explains hair care to him, but by then it’s too late. They need to find drain cleaning services in West Jordan. Because they did not anticipate the amount of work that home repairs would involve, they don’t have a list of plumbers and other services ready at hand. They haven’t done any research, and the first time that they are looking into this is two days after the shower stopped draining, so everyone’s a little bit smelly. After checking the first couple options and seeing negative reviews or exorbitant prices, George decides to shave his head and Betty decides to buy a drain cleaner. The drain cleaner helps, but not perfectly, and the couple ends up with the same problem. Betty and George have no choice but to call the very expensive plumber, who fixes the problem, but does so in a way that leaves them unable to afford the brand new doghouse they wanted to build to get the not-so-cute-anymore puppy out of their house and into the backyard. But about a week after the plumber has done his work and the giant hairball has been removed, George is trying on different beanies ruefully only to hear Betty say she just found a plumber that could have done it for a lesser price and guaranteed them better results. Having learned their lesson, they write down the name and give the drain cleaning service a call to see what other services they provide. That way, when the faucet won’t stop leaking a month later, they won’t end up in the same sorry situation that they did with the drain cleaning services. West Jordan is a big area, and there are plenty of services available. Betty and George don’t have to compromise. They can find the best of the best if only they plan ahead. Now, they know that being a homeowner involves a lot of work and, sometimes, some learning through error. George never grows his hair long again, but just in case he wants to, Betty buys a hair catcher to put in their drain, and it comes in handy a couple months later when the dog needs a bath after getting skunked.
SITUATION 2: Summer Smarts
It’s summer, but Eloise and Denver still schedule a boiler maintenance check. Nothing’s gone wrong. Their boiler has only been used for warm showers, washing dishes, and other daily necessities, but they know that it’s about time for a maintenance check. Since they have a list of service providers and boiler repair companies already researched and vetted, they don’t need to scramble through Google search results to find the best for the repair options. There’s no “boiler repair near me” search. Instead, they pull up the business that they worked with for smaller repairs and schedule a maintenance check for their boiler repair that will end in the repairman finding something minor, fixing it quickly, and avoiding a large-scale repair that would have been needed when the boiler was put into greater use that winter. The process is easy and painless, and Eloise and Denver don’t miss a step and their daily life. Since they have an organized list of all of the elements of their house that might need maintenance or repairs and roughly when would be a good time to schedule said maintenance and repairs, they’re able to manage upkeep without any overwhelm or sudden surprises, and when something unexpected does happen, like a sudden burst pipe or clogged toilet, they know exactly who to call, how much it will cost, and what to expect as far as timeline and payment plans.
I think we would all rather be Eloise in Denver than George and Betty. Although George and Betty learned their lesson, Eloise and Denver proactively prepared to be homeowners and saved themselves trouble by staying organized and finding boiler repair services and plumbing services in their area before they ever needed to look up something like “boiler repair near me”.
