Over the New Year’s weekend the furnace in our office stopped working and it was 37 degrees when I arrived this morning. I knew it was on its last leg because it shut down last week and I had to do some emergency repairs to get it running again. The sad fact is I didn’t want to spend the money on a new one; just yet.
It got me to thinking about our clients and what they must feel about the improvements they are making on their homes. Most of what we do here at RIGGS Company & Design is work with homeowners on voluntary improvements to upgrade their home life and environment but there are a significant number of clients who call us because of something that has to be done. Things like new shingles on the roof or an HVAC system that is so old they have concerns about it lasting through the winter. Other concerns we run across are moisture infiltration and rotten exterior trim (sometimes one in the same). These owners have to spend their hard earned dollars on something that we call, “the un-fun stuff” as opposed to a new bath, kitchen or master suite that they can truly enjoy day after day.
Some of those expensive “un-fun” repairs could have been avoided with a more aggressive maintenance program but life expectancy on shingles, mechanical equipment and other building products have to be taken into account when doing a yearly home budget. I mentioned earlier that I didn’t want to replace the furnace just yet. Our year ends January 31st and since I didn’t have a new furnace in this year’s budget, I was trying to prolong its life just one more month. I didn’t do what I say to do and it caught me rather flat footed and red in the face!
We offer a maintenance program to many of our clients that includes a checklist of things we do every six months. Some are simple, like checking all the caulking around the house and walking the roof for possible damage to shingles and flashing. Some are more complex like having the mechanical systems serviced but they are all geared toward preventing the “un-fun stuff” and keeping those products with life expectancies in top notch condition to stretch that life as far as possible. The clients we do this maintenance program with feel that the small cost of yearly checkups is much better than what can happen if the roof leaks or the furnace goes out when it’s 4 degrees outside.
As I write this, our space heaters aren’t working very well to warm up our offices and Schraut Heating & Cooling is downstairs replacing the furnace. I’m going to print out a copy of the spring and fall checklists that I insist our project managers take with them when they perform the maintenance program on our client’s homes. Before I finish the 2010 budget, I’ll be going over that checklist on both my office and my home!
