New homeowner, how much to stash for maintenance etc

ThePants999

LandyAndy wrote: »

This. 1-2 % per annum is a sensible provision.

I've lived here 12 years and based on the purchase price that would be somewhere between 40 and 80 thousand. My spend in that time has been between those two figures.

You have surely been very unlucky. For the average £350K house, I feel that £40,000 of maintenance over 12 years is the top end of what's likely, not the bottom end.

jamesperrett

We've been in our current house for around 10 years and have probably spent around 12 thousand on maintenance (which included having the roof stripped and refelted). However, over the years, we've also spent nearly 30 thousand on improvements and changes.

TheGardener

I have a 'house repair/maintenance fund' of £150 per month. Its been about right for a 3 bed, mid 1950's semi. I generally increase the amount we save up by about £10 per month annually.

Davesnave

I may have missed it, but maybe no one has addressed how being handy with practical tasks affects maintenance spending over time.

Perhaps not everyone ought to fit a kitchen, but just being able to carry out fairly routine painting, decorating and mending jobs will save a large amount. There are so many helpful You Tube videos out there to assist.

There's the initial cost of tools to consider of course, but if cared-for, many will last a long time. For example, I'm still using ladders purchased 40 years ago, my cement mixer's almost 30 and some of the best garden tools I have are older than I am!

LandyAndy

ThePants999 wrote: »

You have surely been very unlucky. For the average £350K house, I feel that £40,000 of maintenance over 12 years is the top end of what's likely, not the bottom end.

Unlucky? Most of the expenditure has been elective upgrading.

maisie_cat

There will be big ticket items that may or may not have been identified in the survey. They can be planned. The % thing doesn't really work, many trades are not that dissimilar geographically. I spent £15k in 8 years in my last house and around £60k in 12 years in this house. That did include £20k windows and 2 boilers because the first was installed incorrectly and subsequently condemned. We have rewired and replaced plumbed/heating, new bathrooms (3) and kitchen. Most people wouldn't not do that lot in 12 years I suspect

walwyn1978

LandyAndy wrote: »

Unlucky? Most of the expenditure has been elective upgrading.

Exactly that, which is the other point of running a savings pot - as and when something breaks you can not just replace like for like but get better (e.g. our main bathroom fixtures are leaking and the tile work needs redoing - at the same time as sorting that to minimise disruption we'll put a freestanding shower unit in that we've wanted to have since we moved in.)

And big yes to what Davesnave said about DIY, can really keep costs down - even on bigger projects there's plenty of information out there to help and guide.

FWIW we try to save about 2K a year to cover maintenance and upgrading, although the upgrading can add to that. Largish detached house.

daver9

Amazing tips and insight, thanks. I'm new to all this so great to get a range of perspectives. For info, it's a mid 50's end terrace (ex-council) in pretty good shape costing 165k. I think separating elective work and maintenance fund is something we should do and the figures being kicked around in here seem achievable. You've put me at ease, thank you!

Grenage

We have a simple emergency fund for such things; enough to cover the roof needing a complete replacement, or the boiler exploding and setting fire to the parrot. It's never been needed, and has been sitting in an investment ISA for years.

Ongoing maintenance we simply save for things as we want to do the work.

ThePants999

LandyAndy wrote: »

Unlucky? Most of the expenditure has been elective upgrading.

Right - that's different then. The OP asked about "general upkeep, repair work, maintenance" - I consider upgrading to be separate, and it looks like the OP does too. And yes, I agree, my spend on upgrading has dwarfed my spend on maintenance.