Thumbtack Relaunches Home Care Price Index to Provide Deeper Insights Into Home Maintenance Trends
Jack Erb•Thumbtack's Economist •Last updated Jul 31, 2024
Last updated Jul 31, 2024
Table of Contents
- Annual Home Maintenance Costs Rise, Reaching High of $10,147 Despite Slowing Inflation
- Summer Heats Up the Cost of Home Maintenance
- Home Care Costs Impact Cities Across the Country
- As Temperatures Rise, Cities Are Completing More Home Maintenance Projects
- Stay Cool and Conquer Summer Projects With Thumbtack
- Methodology:
Following the launch of our new all-in-one personalized home app this past spring, we revamped our Home Care Price Index to provide a more comprehensive look at the cost of caring for your home in cities across the country. We received advice from Thumbtack home experts as well as local service businesses, and drew on new insights from our platform.
Like any good index, we evolved our methodology as we received new data — adding additional maintenance projects and broadening our pricing inputs to inform project costs. We also updated the frequency at which projects need to be completed, sometimes monthly, sometimes every few years, to create a more in-depth picture of best practices for home maintenance.
We are excited to provide homeowners with an even more thorough look at what it costs annually to stay on top of home upkeep and repairs, so that they can proactively keep their homes running smoothly, avoid costly emergencies and maximize value.
Annual Home Maintenance Costs Rise, Reaching High of $10,147 Despite Slowing Inflation
Our new report examined home maintenance costs and trends for Q2 2024, finding that despite slowing inflation, the average annual cost of home care in the U.S. has continued to rise. With housing costs still being a major driver of inflation, homeowners have yet to feel reprieve.
This past quarter (Q2 ’24) the annual cost of home maintenance for a single family home hit $10,147, a 4.69% increase year over year (YoY) and a slight increase of 1.55% from Q1 2024. Despite a small decline in Q1 2024, home care costs are increasing due to an uptick in the price of summer maintenance projects such as pest control, lawn and tree trimming, and central air conditioning repair and maintenance.
Across the board, single-family homes remain the most expensive to maintain, with Town Homes following at $8,435 (+5.36% YoY) and Condos at $3,214 (+3.88% YoY).
Summer Heats Up the Cost of Home Maintenance
In Q2, heating system repair and maintenance had the biggest year over year cost increase (+41.86% YoY) followed by pest control services (+ 12.60% YoY) and gutter cleaning/maintenance (+12.60 YoY). Many pros recommend having your heating system checked once a year, either in spring or fall, to ensure proper functioning after working hard all winter long.
This quarter we’ve seen home maintenance prices rise across the board, with 14 out of the 19 home maintenance categories examined increasing in cost compared to the same period in 2023. Why? With the increase in extreme weather events, homeowners are more conscious about regular upkeep as their homes experience additional wear and tear. Extreme weather can impact repair trends — with storms and heat waves damaging heating and cooling units, home exteriors and even yards, resulting in increased costs.
While many homeowners hire professionals to help them with these projects, some choose to DIY, so total costs can vary.
Home Care Costs Impact Cities Across the Country
In this iteration of our Home Care Price Index, we examined the average cost of home maintenance in the largest 20 metropolitan areas in the U.S. This past quarter, 16 out of the 20 metro areas examined experienced a year-over-year increase in costs.
While costs rose from coast to coast, San Francisco (+ 26.91% YoY), Detroit (+11.45% YoY), and Atlanta (+9.36% YoY) experienced the biggest increases in Q2 while Los Angeles (-1.47%), Philadelphia (- 1.07%) and Chicago (-0.68%) saw a decrease in costs.
While we’re seeing prices continue to increase, some cities are a bit more cost-effective than others. Texas cities topped the list of most affordable cities, Houston ($8,580) and Dallas ($8,718), with Florida close behind, Orlando ($9,448), Miami ($9,267), and Tampa ($9,222).
The dip in home maintenance costs in Florida and Texas follow a significant cool down in housing prices in both states due to increased home inventory. The decreasing cost of home maintenance in these states is likely a result of the slowing demand for housing.
Meanwhile, larger metropolitan areas like San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, and New York top the list of the least affordable cities when it comes to home maintenance. San Francisco experienced a 26.9% bump in overall costs this quarter, in large part due to an increase in pricing for outdoor projects including lawn care and tree trimming.
As Temperatures Rise, Cities Are Completing More Home Maintenance Projects
While cities across the country are experiencing rising prices, it’s not preventing them from tackling home projects. In fact, some cities are doubling down on getting their homes in shape, with Atlanta, Washington D.C., Denver, Dallas, and Seattle completing the most home maintenance projects per capita in Q2. It’s no coincidence that these markets are also adjusting to rising temperatures. With proper maintenance, they can hopefully avoid emergency repairs and keep their homes cool.
Stay Cool and Conquer Summer Projects With Thumbtack
Ahead of each season, Thumbtack provides seasonal maintenance plans so homeowners know what projects they should be tackling when it comes to home upkeep. This past spring and summer, homeowners were busy — here’s a look at the projects homeowners were most frequently adding to their plans.
In spring, curb appeal was top of mind with projects like lawn care, tree trimming, and sprinkler maintenance consistently being saved to plans. Once summer rolled around, homeowners turned to interior projects like grout repair, window replacement and deep cleaning.
For guidance on how to keep your home cool this summer and avoid expensive emergency repairs, download the new Thumbtack app and receive step-by-step guidance on what projects to do, when to do them, and who to hire. You can also check out our guides for boosting curb appeal, increasing energy efficiency, no demo renos, and more to get all of your home projects done!
Methodology:
The Home Care Price Index incorporates Thumbtack categories that are deemed essential annual tasks for home maintenance, taking into account the frequency with which projects need to be completed. We also added additional maintenance projects to create a more in-depth picture of best practices for home maintenance.
- 1X per year: appliance maintenance, carpet cleaning, central air conditioning maintenance, fireplace and chimney cleaning, heating system repair or maintenance, pressure washing, roof maintenance, sprinkler and irrigation system maintenance, tile and grout cleaning, tree trimming and removal, water heater maintenance
- 2X per year: full service lawn care, gutter cleaning and maintenance, window cleaning, pest control services
- 1X per month: house cleaning, lawn mowing and trimming
- Less than 1X per year: deck staining and sealing (once every 2–3 years), duct and vent cleaning (once every 3–5 years)
Pricing data is based on over two million projects requested on Thumbtack between January 1, 2022 and June 31, 2024 reported directly by the independent service professional or individual customer. The cost is a weighted index of home maintenance projects, based on recommended yearly frequency, on a quarterly basis using a moving average. Outliers were removed if the reported price was 3x the standard deviation from the mean within each individual category. Regional reporting is based on the pricing data for requests in that specific geographic area. For regional data, if there were not enough pricing estimates for a specific category, national averages were used instead.
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