How to save money on home repairs​

Unexpected expenses like home repairs are a sure-fire way to derail your household budget. Long story short, aiming to have at least 3 months’ worth of basic living expenses socked away will help you ride out a lot of unfortunate bumps in your financial road. You don’t have to save it all up at once, obviously. In fact, you’ll probably have much more consistent and long-term saving success if you get into more of a “little and often” mindset. Either way, the point is to get through a tough period without unavoidable one-off costs like home repair bills chewing through your basic living expenses.

• Getting organised

  It really does pay to keep your finances tidy, especially if you’re trying to cram major costs like home repair bills into your budget. If you’re used to using spreadsheet software to organise your household finances, then this tip should feel like second nature by now. Use your spreadsheet to separate out all the various costs that make up your home repairs. That includes hours of labour, of course, but you’re also going to want to look at the cost of the fittings and materials you need. Listing out the costs like this puts you in a good position to spot ways to bring the overall bill down, like an opportunity to go with a slightly cheaper material. Click on the video below to watch our guide on how to make a budget.

• Expect the unexpected

  This is crucial. Don’t assume you’ve anticipated every cost or problem you’re going to run into. When you’re building a budget around home repair bills, you’ve got to expect that you’ll hit snags or delays along the way. Sometimes, all they’ll end up costing you is time – but you can’t afford to count on that. If you find yourself needing to add work-hours or extra materials to the job, you’ll feel the pain of them in your wallet – and you’ll be glad you allowed some breathing space in your budget just in case.

• Cash in hand

  Unless you’re actually running a business yourself, you’ll probably tend to assume that all payment methods are the same. The thing is, you might actually find yourself getting a slightly better deal from your labourers by coughing up in cash instead of plastic. It might sound slightly old-fashioned these days, but there’s actually a real benefit to cash payments for many people. When you take a payment by credit or debit card, you end up paying fees for the transactions. Obviously enough, people faced with these fees will tend to pass them on to their customers in the form of a higher quote. If you pay in cash you eliminate those fees, and might see the benefit in a lower quote as a result.

• Doing it yourself

  If you’ve got the skills, taking the DIY route is absolutely the best way to cut down the cost of your home repairs. In fact, the longer the job takes, the more you’ll end up saving over the span of the work. That cost reduction frees up more of your overall budget to go into things like better materials – or simply back into your pocket. Keep in mind that you do need to be up to the task if you’re planning on doing all the work yourself. The UK is a nation of have-a-go heroes when it comes to DIY, and over 60,000 of us end up in hospital in an average year as a result. A single typical botched home repair ends up costing an extra £200 to fix, meaning a lot of us are paying more in the end than if we’d called in the professionals in the first place.

  Don’t worry if you’re not an expert, though. You can still cut down your labour costs with a little advance preparation. Labourers charge hourly rates, and not all the time you’re paying for is spent on the most technical parts of the work. Even just tidying up and prepping the workspace ahead of time can save you money.

• Waste not, want not

  If this isn’t your first time getting home repairs or renovations done, you might still have some useful materials knocking around in a shed or garage somewhere. If anything rings a bell when you’re listing out what you need in your spreadsheet, stop and think about whether you actually need to buy your materials new.

• Shop around

  Labour cost estimates for home repairs can vary quite a lot, so it’s worth scouting around a bit instead of blindly accepting the first quote anyone throws at you. You’ve got a few things to weigh up here while you’re pricing out your job. Yes, finding someone who’ll work cheaper is a good move in general – but you’ve also got to consider the quality of the work you’ll be getting for your cash. Testimonials from other customers, whether they’re glowing or damning, are always worth taking seriously. Also, a glance through the Check a Trade website will help you do a proper price and service comparison.

• Word of mouth

  Speaking of testimonials, ask around your mates and family to see if they’ve had any experience of getting repair work done. If you get lucky, you might even find that you get a discount by picking your tradespeople from referrals or recommendations. If nothing else, reports from happy customers are still worth their weight in gold – doubly so when the recommendations come from a trusted source. Once the work’s all done, you’ll be much more likely to be happy with the quality and cost.

• Check the sales

  The usual suspects like B&Q, Wickes and Selco will often put on sales, so it’s a good idea to stock up on supplies when you spot a good deal. If your job ends up requiring large amounts of any given material or item, grabbing them when they’re cheaper can bring down your overall costs quite a lot – even if you weren’t planning on getting the repairs or renovations done immediately.

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