Home Maintenance Cost Breakdown
Everything you need to know about the ongoing maintenance costs of homeownership in Canada.
Home Maintenance Cost Calculator
1 year15 years50+ years
Turning a maintenance estimate into a real plan
A maintenance figure is only as good as what you know about the specific building. The calculator works from the numbers you enter; the work below is what makes those numbers mean something for your house.
Gather these inputs first
- Year the house was built, and the year of any major system replacement you can document
- Roof covering type and the date of the last replacement or major repair
- Heating and cooling equipment: type, model, install date, and whether it is under contract
- Water heater type, age and ownership (owned or rental)
- Exterior cladding, window type, and the age of the driveway and decking
- For condos and stratas: what the corporation maintains versus what falls to you
Documents and bills to have open
- The home inspection report, including the inspector's remaining-life notes
- Invoices and warranties for previous roof, furnace, water heater or window work
- Service records or maintenance contracts for heating, cooling and fireplaces
- For condos: the reserve fund study, current budget, and recent board minutes
- Insurance policy wording, which often names maintenance conditions you must meet
What this estimate can establish
- A structured list of the systems that will eventually need money in your specific home
- A side-by-side view of the annual figures you chose to budget
- Which items you have documentation for and which are unknown
- A set of questions worth putting to an inspector, contractor or condo board
What it cannot establish
- What any particular repair will cost in your municipality this year
- How long a component in your home will actually last
- Whether a defect exists — only an inspection of the building can show that
- What your condo corporation will levy, which depends on its own reserve planning
- Whether a repair is covered by your insurer or warranty
Questions to ask an inspector or licensed contractor
- What condition is each major system in today, and what did you base that on?
- Which items would you address first, and why that order?
- What would a written quote for this specific work include and exclude?
- Does this work require a permit in this municipality?
- Are you licensed and insured for this trade, and can I see proof?
- What maintenance does the manufacturer's warranty require me to keep records of?
Official sources to verify against
- CMHC — Maintaining a home — Canada Mortgage and Housing CorporationFederal guidance on home maintenance and homeowner responsibilities.
- Energy efficiency for homes — Natural Resources CanadaEquipment guidance and current federal programs, which change.
- CAHPI — find an inspector — Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors
- Health Canada — radon in homes — Government of Canada
Related Resources
Checking a figure on this page? Open the home cost source ledger for every primary source we cite, when its link was last checked, and what it does not establish.