The 12 home-maintenance jobs you actually need to do

I built Kempt because I could not keep all of this in my head.

A house has maybe a dozen jobs that actually matter. Not the cosmetic stuff. The handful where doing the small, cheap version this year is the only thing standing between you and the big, expensive version later. None of them are hard. Every one is easy to forget, because they come due on different clocks and not one of them makes a sound until it is too late.

So here is the list I keep for my own house. Twelve jobs, what each one costs to stay ahead of, and the repair it quietly prevents. The dollar figures are industry averages, sourced at the bottom. They are not Kempt numbers.

1. Change the furnace and AC filter. The $20 filter versus the $560 blower. A clogged filter chokes the airflow and makes the blower work harder until the motor gives out. DOE has long put the dirty-filter energy penalty around 5 to 15 percent. A blower motor averages about $560 to replace. (Angi, 2026)

2. Get the HVAC a yearly tune-up. $250 once a year versus a $7,500 system. A pro visit, about $250 per HomeAdvisor, catches low refrigerant or a worn part before it takes the whole system down on the hottest day. ENERGY STAR calls dirt and neglect the top causes of system failure, and a full furnace-and-AC replacement averages about $7,500. (Angi, 2026)

3. Flush the water heater. A $75 flush versus a $4,444 claim. Sediment settles in the tank and cooks the bottom out. Flushing it once a year, about $75 with a pro or free if you do it yourself, buys years of life. The average water-heater failure claim is $4,444, and most tanks are gone by year twelve. (IBHS)

4. Replace the washing-machine hoses. A $30 hose versus a $15,400 flood. The rubber hoses behind the washer give out with age. IBHS says swap them every three to five years and go to braided stainless steel. It is a $30 part and fifteen minutes. A burst one is the kind of damage behind the average $15,400 home water claim. (IBHS; Triple-I)

5. Clean the dryer vent. $145 a year versus a house fire. Lint packs the vent and it becomes the leading cause of dryer fires. A cleaning runs about $145. The NFPA counts roughly 12,700 dryer fires a year, and failure to clean is the number-one cause. (HomeAdvisor; NFPA)

6. Clean the gutters. $200 of cleaning versus a $5,200 foundation. Clogged gutters dump water against the house instead of away from it. Two cleanings a year run about $200 to $470. Water pooling at the foundation is what turns into repairs averaging $5,200, and far more when it goes structural. (HomeAdvisor)

7. Get the roof looked at. A $200 look versus a $15,400 roof. A little lifted flashing or a few loose shingles are cheap to fix when someone catches them early. An inspection runs about $125 to $375. A full asphalt-roof replacement averages around $15,400. (This Old House, 2026)

8. Brush the refrigerator coils. A free brushing versus 35 percent on the power bill. The coils behind or under the fridge cake with dust and the compressor runs hot. DOE says dirty coils can cost up to 35 percent more to run. Brushing them every six to twelve months costs nothing. A new compressor is $300 to $450. (DOE; Angi)

9. Winterize the outdoor spigots. A $2 cover versus a burst pipe. Water left in an outdoor spigot freezes, expands, and splits the pipe inside the wall. Disconnecting the hose before the first hard freeze is free, and a foam cover is a couple of dollars. A frozen burst is exactly the winter water damage insurers see, where the average claim runs about $15,400. (Triple-I)

10. Test the sump pump. A free test versus a flooded basement. Pour a bucket of water in the pit and make sure the pump kicks on, especially before the wet season. Catching a dead one costs nothing. Drying out a flooded basement averages about $3,864. (HomeAdvisor)

11. Test the smoke and CO alarms. Two minutes versus the thing you cannot put a price on. Hit the test button on the smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms and change the tired batteries. This is the one item here that is not about money. It is the cheapest life-safety insurance in the house.

12. Test the GFCI outlets. A button push versus a shock. The outlets near water, in the kitchen, bath, garage, and outside, have a test button for a reason. Push it. If it does not cut power and reset, it is not protecting you, and a dead one is a few dollars to swap.

The catch

That is twelve jobs on six different clocks, scattered across the year. Nobody keeps all of that in their head, which is exactly why most of these get skipped until the bill arrives.

That is the whole reason I built Kempt. It learns your house, keeps the calendar, and tells you the one specific thing on the one specific Saturday, down to the part above the return vent: “Air filter due Saturday. The 16×25×1 above the return vent.” You do not look it up. You do not keep the list. The app keeps the list.

Keeping up with the house is what saves the money. Kempt is how you keep up. Beta launch coming soon.

Want the one-page version, the kind you tape inside the utility-closet door? Here it is, ready to print.

And if you would rather the house just kept this list for you:

Figures are industry averages from DOE Energy Saver, ENERGY STAR, NFPA, IBHS, the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), Angi, HomeAdvisor, and This Old House. They are industry data, not Kempt data.