Once you have made the deposit, procured a home loan and have moved into your new home, you will soon realise the costs of upkeep. Besides the property taxes, water and energy bills, the repairs or the upgrades, the general upkeep or maintenance will also cause a dent in your wallet.
The cost of maintenance of a property depends on many factors. The total size, the available space, the type of property it is, the fixtures spread across the indoor living spaces and outdoors, the gardens and landscaping demands along with all the utilitarian installations, from the roof to the driveway.
Aussies love gardens, landscaped surroundings, lawns, sprawling living spaces, well decked kitchens and resourcefully decorated indoors. The more you indulge in, the higher would be your maintenance cost. Hence, if you want a low maintenance home, you need to have a firm checklist that will do away with the staggering expenses.
- You should always choose durable materials for any and every installation at your home. Many homeowners think of the immediate savings and end up compromising on the quality of materials. This in hindsight becomes a very poor decision. Homeowners must always think long term and thus should always try to make pragmatic choices. For instance, roofs should be made of durable materials like metal or rubber or clay or concrete and not asphalt or cedar. Everything from the insulation to the driveway, the garage doors to the furniture, everything should be of top notch quality.
- You should always choose materials that are very easy to clean. For that purpose, the materials must be nonporous, they must be hard, if they are soft then you should be able to throw them in a washing machine and whatever fabrics you have must be compatible with vacuuming. Cleaning and general upkeep of a house can be a tiresome chore. It may cost you a lot of money and you may even end up damaging some of the materials. Hence, opt for materials that can be cleaned easily.
- Don’t opt for any elaborate setup that is too hard to maintain. Don’t go for a garden that will require a lot of your time, money and effort for optimum maintenance. Choose plants or herbs that require little attention, choose designs that don’t interfere with usability and access, have realistic desires with landscaping and always have a long term plan pertaining to the maintenance of a garden.
