By now we have all become aware of the rapidly rising cost of living. From the cost of mortgage payments, energy bills and even our weekly shop, we’re now paying far more for the essential costs of running our homes. This is no different when it comes to the cost of repairing, maintaining or improving our properties – whether that be in our own homes or our property businesses – which is thought to have climbed by 3.9% on average in 2022. Even simple and commonly required jobs around the home have risen as much as £60 over the period. For rental properties, this in turn has an obvious and unavoidable knock-on effect to rental prices.
Here are a few examples of typical cost increases:
- At the top of the list is decorating. Data shows that a decorating makeover has increased in price by the largest margin. A year ago, the cost of painting a typical room would have cost £400 to decorate. Today, this cost has climbed to £459.
- Gutter cleaning and repair has also risen by a considerable amount, with the cost of this job up £34 to £264 today.
- Essential annual boiler service has increased by £20 in the last year,
- The cost of replacing or changing a lock is up by £17.
- Replacing a leaky tap will now cost you £126 on average, £16 more than it would have done a year ago,
- The cost to replace a window is now £12 more expensive.
- Installing a new plug socket has gone up £10
- Repointing a section of brickwork will cost you £8 more today than it did a year ago.
So, as a property owner, what is the best way to keep these costs down?
As an owner occupier, obviously a decision has to be made whether you tackle the job yourself. This will depend largely on your available time and skill level. There are online tutorials and videos available offering advice and tips for most of simple jobs.
For landlords however it is often impractical to manage their rental properties in this way. Not only is available time a limiting factor, but maintenance has to be done to a certain standard and in a relatively quick timeframe – you can’t spend three months redecorating a bedroom. There is also the compliance issue to consider for some jobs.
The more complex jobs are often beyond the skillsets of both the owner occupier and landlord. It is ill advisable – or possibly even illegal – to attempt to tackle major electrical jobs for instance. Also, jobs at height – such as fixing a roof – are best left to the professionals, unless you are a very competent DIYer with the appropriate safety and specialist equipment.
At The Property Lifeboat and our sister company Lifeboat Lettings, we have taken a bigger picture holistic view of the issue. In response to rising costs, this year we have taken on additional full-time staff – in addition to using outside contractors – to cover maintenance across our own and our managed landlord’s portfolios. The result of this, is our ‘handyman service’ which has recently been launched under the brand ‘Lifeboat Maintenance’ and is now also available to non-managed clients as well – whether they are owner occupiers or landlords.
Are you in need of help keeping up with maintenance in your properties?
We understand that keeping up with maintenance around your properties is not always easy and is very time consuming to try and find the right people at the right time for the right price.
Our aim is to help landlord save time and money by offering an all-round handyman service to come in half days (4hrs) or full days (8hrs) and get all the jobs done in one go.
All you need to do is make a list of all the jobs you would like us to do, then phone 07593 196760 to discuss your needs and book your time with Lifeboat Maintenance.
