patrick.net

EastCoastBubbleBoy says

To follow on to the rent vs. buy tread by FloridaBill – how much should one allot for “maintenance” – I’ve heard anywhere from 1% to as high as 5% of the homes value, per year. Assuming a $250,000 house it makes a big difference. Granted it depends on the age of the home, etc. But for me its one of the toughest numbers to come up with when it comes to the dollars and cents.

A generic answer isn't possible. In places where $250,000 actually buys a house you could be looking at anything from a 500 square foot one bedroom cottage to a 5000 square foot Victorian mansion with 4X the roof area and 10X the floor to deal with. On top of that a nice shake roof may cost 5X as much per square (100 square feet) as a serviceable composition roof.

Other material lifespans and costs vary. Carpet might last 15 years; hardwood floors over 100 with periodic refinishing. The last carpet I bought ran $10/square foot (although I think we spent $2/square foot on the three properties we sold), the last hardwood floor I had refinished cost $1/square foot.

Labor costs vary radically even for the same project on the same property.

I had one property spray painted by a college student who did that summers for $1500. A reputable painting company quoted me $4500 to do the same job with brushes and rollers.

I had a handy-couple charge me $700 to hang three pieces of Hardie Panel siding with some cut-outs for things like a door and the electrical panel. The high quote was $2500.

Labor can be _much_ less expensive if you're a bit handy. I just rebuilt 120 square feet of redwood deck (the previous owners had built it around trees which we cut down, leaving big holes with some missing joists) for $300 in materials. Many places even allow home owners to do permitted work like plumbing and electrical which isn't as scary as it sounds - there are basic rules for things like how many wires you can connect in an electrical box and the work is usually looked over by city inspectors.