Frequently Asked Questions

What is included in the HomeCare Maintenance Plan?

HomeCare Maintenance Services has put together a comprehensive maintenance plan for residential homes that entails over 500 work items covering structural components, mechanical/electrical systems, appliances, utilities, and more. The maintenance plan has been crafted from extensive research into appliance, component, and equipment manufacturers' maintenance recommendations, consumer agency safety guidelines, and years of professional experience in the field of maintenance and reliability engineering. The HomeCare Plan is designed to completely ‘maintain' a home from top-to-bottom, inside-and-out. It covers all home maintenance which is defined as the observation, reporting, adjusting, cleaning, lubricating, tightening, and general servicing that is needed to keep functional home items operating according to their intended use.

Give us a call, or contact us through our website and we'd by happy to send you more information describing exactly what is covered by the HomeCare Maintenance Program.

Who are typical users of the HomeCare Maintenance Plan?

Many of our customers fall into one of the following categories:

• Busy individuals / professionals who do not have the time, interest, or skills to maintain their home, or would simply rather be doing other more enjoyable things in life. HomeCare Maintenance Services provides an option that has never before existed… the option to outsource home maintenance to professionals who are solely dedicated to the single competency of residential maintenance. The HomeCare Program is a way to hand over much of your ‘To-do’ list to professionals who are happy to do it for you.
• Seniors who would like to stay in their own home but are at a point in life where they’re ready to let someone else deal with physical demands of maintaining their home.
• Children of Aging Parents will often purchase the HomeCare Maintenance Program for their parents. The HomeCare Maintenance Plan is a way to ensure that the home is being properly maintained while providing a healthy and safe environment for aging parents. What a great way to give back to your parents for all they have done for you! And the care- giving children don’t have to give up their time evenings and weekends maintaining their parent’s home. HomeCare provides a much needed solution for aging seniors, especially in those situations where the care-giving children have relocated to different parts of the country, or world, and their parents need some help taking care of their home.
• Single Parent Households and Surviving Spouses are also common users of the HomeCare Maintenance Program for many of the same reasons mentioned above. The time, physical ability, skills, and tools needed to properly maintain a home can be daunting for many. This can be especially true for single parents and surviving spouses.
• Builders, Realtors, and other Home-sellers use the HomeCare Maintenance Program as a ‘sales incentive’ tool to help differentiate their properties and promote sales. Only a home maintained by HCMS comes with professionals to maintain the home for the next year.
• The HomeCare Plan makes a great gift for that busy spouse who is well-intended but never seems to be able to find the time to keep up with the home ‘to-do list. Just about everybody would be thrilled to get a year or two off from the home maintenance chores.

Being able to provide our customers that most precious gift of extra time or a solution to a difficult problem in life are some of the greatest joys we receive at HomeCare Maintenance Services.

What is the advantage of preventive maintenance over repairing items as needed?

Studies have shown that preventive maintenance is many times more cost effective than reactive maintenance after something has failed. Not only do you greatly reduce the likelihood of a catastrophic failure causing major damage to your home and possible harm to a loved one, but everything is kept working as it should and trouble free for as long as possible. We truly believe that the HomeCare preventive maintenance program lowers the total cost of home ownership. Identifying, and dealing with, a problem when it is small and simple to correct provides tremendous dividends compared to the alternative of dealing with a much larger expense once systems and components have completely failed. One goal of the HomeCare Program is to push off ‘repair and replacement’ as long as possible, which in turn lowers the overall cost of home ownership for our customers.

From the Jones Lang LaSalle study Determining the Economic Value of Preventive Maintenance: “The results of the analysis were overwhelmingly positive for performing preventive maintenance (PM). The analysis shows that an investment in preventive maintenance produces a huge return on the investment.” One sample analysis in the study resulted in a Return On Investment of 545%. This greater than $5 return for every $1 spent on Preventive Maintenance is not unusual. “Maintaining all the equipment produces the significant returns identified by the analysis and offers a powerful argument for the value of preventive maintenance and the dramatic impact preventive maintenance can have on real estate.”

From C. Idhammar, President of IDCON, a reliability and maintenance management consulting firm, commenting on preventive maintenance programs: “In the last year we have verified the Return on Investment to be between 5 to 10 times the initial investment, and after that, 10 to 30 times the cost to run the program.”

If you find a need for a major repair, do you perform the repair work?

No, HCMS will not perform major repairs to your home. We have no financial interest in the repair work we recommend. In this way, we avoid any conflict of interest and you can be assured that the recommended repairs are truly needed. One of our goals at HCMS is to act as your trusted advisor on all matters concerning the maintenance of your home. Eliminating this conflict of interest eliminates all motive to recommend unneeded repairs for HCMS' financial gain. Our customers gain confidence and trust in the repairs recommended by HCMS, and HCMS gets to operate in a manner that is truly in the best interest of our customers.

I own a new home, why would I need your service?

Owning a new home is even more of a reason to take advantage of the HomeCare Maintenance Plan. A new home is one of the largest investments people make in their lifetime. The HCMS plan will keep all of the new components of your home working smoothly and safely thereby maintaining that new home feel for as long as possible. By utilizing proper maintenance now, you will avoid any nasty home inspection surprises should you decide to sell your home in the future. There is no better time to begin maintaining your home's value, safety, and appearance than when new.

The maintenance needs of a new home are the same as the maintenance needs of an older home. The difference in the condition of a new home and an older home is usually the amount of deferred maintenance that has not been done in many older homes. A good maintenance program implemented as soon as possible when a home is new should maintain a like-new condition for many years to come.

Does someone need to be home during the service call?

No. It is not necessary for anyone to be at home during a quarterly service call. HCMS will contact you to set up appointment times and method of access in advance. An HCMS representative will always confirm the visit 48 hours before the scheduled appointment.

How much does the service cost?

Plan prices usually start at a few thousand dollars per year as a general guideline. The price is based on size and complexity of the home. The HomeCare Maintenance Plan is customized for each home and exact pricing will be provided at the time of the free home evaluation and in-home visit.

The American Society of Home Inspectors advises homeowners to budget .75% of a home's value for annual maintenance for homes less than 10 years old. That jumps to 1.5% for homes in their second decade and 3.0% for homes in the third decade. For a $1 million home, that is $7,500 a year set aside for maintenance if it is new, $15,000 if it is greater than 10 years old, and $30,000 if it is over 20 years old. The HomeCare Maintenance Program will help the homeowner keep these significant maintenance costs under control and under budget.

What is the HomeCare Kit?

The HomeCare Kit is a supply kit designed specifically for your home. It contains a selection of light bulbs, filters, and other special consumable items needed to maintain your home. These items are owned by you and are available for use either by you between visits or by HCMS technicians during a visit. The HomeCare Kit will be inventoried and restocked during each visit to your home.