Head Of In-Lease Experience

Editor in Chief

GM of San Diego

Preventative maintenance isn’t just about keeping things clean, it’s about protecting the long-term value of your home. This article breaks down the essential seasonal Preventative services every homeowner should consider, why they matter, and how staying proactive can save thousands in surprise repairs, stress, and system failures.

Preventative Home Maintenance | Why It Pays To Stay Ahead

You own a home.
Protecting that investment is probably top of mind, whether that means staying insured, making improvements, or keeping your systems in working order.

But one of the simplest and most effective ways to protect your home is also one of the most overlooked: preventative maintenance.

Preventative maintenance is all about staying one step ahead. It involves small, seasonal tasks that help you avoid large and expensive problems later on. Think of it like changing the oil in your car, not because something is broken, but to keep everything running smoothly.

These checkups and tune-ups keep your home’s major systems operating efficiently, safely, and for longer. It’s not just about fixing things, it’s about avoiding the need for a fix in the first place.

Why it’s worth the effort (and the cost)

It’s easy to delay home maintenance when everything seems to be working fine. But just because there’s no visible issue doesn’t mean everything is running as it should.

Here’s why building a preventative habit pays off.

Most major issues start small. Preventative maintenance catches them early, when they are easier and less expensive to address.

Clean systems use less energy and wear down more slowly. From your HVAC to your fridge, small tune-ups can make a noticeable difference in performance.

Home emergencies are never fun, and they rarely happen at convenient times. Preventative care reduces the chance of surprise failures, especially during extreme weather.

A well-maintained home shows better, lasts longer, and creates confidence. Whether you're refinancing, preparing for an inspection, or welcoming a new resident, preventative care keeps things running smoothly and looking great.

“I’ve never done this before,” and that’s OK.

That makes sense, and it’s actually why this matters so much. Proactive maintenance is one of the easiest ways to avoid expensive surprises down the line.

Just like changing the oil in your car protects the engine, tasks like water heater flushing, HVAC tune-ups, and gutter cleaning help prevent bigger problems such as water damage, system breakdowns, or emergency replacements.

You might not have done this before, and that’s exactly why it’s worth doing now. A small step today can protect the long-term health and value of your home with very little effort on your part.

Q: Can’t I just wait until something breaks?

You could, but it will usually cost more, take longer to fix, and causes a whole lot more stress. Preventative maintenance is about avoiding all of that.

Most homeowners benefit from twice-a-year seasonal checkups, typically in the spring and fall. It helps prepare for the most demanding weather seasons.

You may not need every service. Some exterior tasks will be handled by your HOA. Interior systems like your HVAC, appliances, and detectors are usually still your responsibility.

In nearly every case, yes. Preventative services are often a fraction of what an emergency repair would cost, and they reduce wear, extend lifespan, and lower your risk.

Preventative maintenance doesn’t need to be complicated or overwhelming. Start small. Start seasonal. Most importantly, just start.

It’s one of the easiest ways to protect your home, reduce stress, and avoid major costs later on. Your future self, and your future repair budget, will thank you.

Discover how seasonal home maintenance protects your property, prevents costly repairs, and keeps everything running smoothly with less stress.

Preventative Home Maintenance | Why It Pays To Stay Ahead

Preventative Maintenance For Homeowners

By expanding our network of Pros, we've reduce prices and resolution times for Pro Service requests. And in-app improvements have improved transparency of progress and the approval process.

Pro Services 2.0

TLDR: By expanding our network of Pros, we've reduce prices and resolution times for Pro Service requests. And in-app improvements have improved transparency of progress and the approval process.

When I joined Belong and took over the Pro Services team in April 2024, the feedback we were receiving from our Homeowners and Residents was clear: our Members needed us to resolve issues faster, be more communicative throughout the process, and the prices we were charging were too high. So that's exactly what we set out to do. And while we still have more to come, I'm proud to say we've made a lot of progress towards improving the experience, and pricing, for everyone.

For the first few years of Belong's existence, we exclusively serviced our Belong homes using in-house employees. This was great for controlling the experience, and for learning quickly, but had some significant drawbacks. Notably, we simply never had enough Pros on staff to deal with fluctuating maintenance demands. We knew we needed to expand. 

So we began building out our network of partners we work with. With more Pros in our rolodex, are now able to find qualified people for each job faster. The time it takes to get a Pro onsite reduced significantly, and we're better able to predict resolution times (which in turn helps with communications to those waiting on repairs). 

With more variety, we are able to shop around for better prices as well. This competition directly translated into reduced prices for our Members.

Quality is, of course, still top-of-mind for us. To make sure we're only working with the best, we introduced ratings surveys, sent to anyone interacting with a Pro after each appointment. Over time, we'll offer more and more Pro Service Requests to highly rated Pros, and weed out those that aren't professional or do poor quality work.

Apart from growing our network of Pros, it was also clear that we needed to improve the experience for those waiting for requests to be completed. 

To start, multiple related requests were being created to solve singular issues (perhaps a painter would need to come out after a plumber to patch the walls), creating confusion in the app. To complicate matters further, multiple potential solutions often exist to solve the same issue, each with a breakdown of costs and trade-offs. All of that was being communicated manually, in lengthy back-and-forth email or text threads, making approvals take way longer than they needed to.

Our Homeowners were also left in the dark on progress, as well as the final product, relying on our team to manually send updates and the occasional photo. Belong Homeowners in particular care a lot about their homes, and want to make sure things are done correctly; they want to know their homes are still as beautiful as the day they left. 

To improve this experience, we introduced subtasks for complicated Pro Service requests, grouping all the different types of work (from plumbers to painters), under one single request that needs to be solved. We introduced Options, including detailed recommendations as to which solution is the best for the long-term value of your home. With all the right information at your fingertips, approvals can now be done right in the Belong App with a few clicks. Last but not least, we added progress and completion photos, so everyone can see the work our Pros do in our homes to make them sparkle again.

Artificial intelligence is a game-changer for our business. Our engineering team is hard at work on the next wave of AI features that will improve the experience for everyone. One area we're excited about is triaging; using built-in AI in our mobile app, Residents requesting Pro Services work will have a simple conversation that will not only help us identify the root cause faster, but also suggest ways that they can troubleshoot and even solve issues. In turn, we'll resolve a subset of issues instantly and reduce costly call-out fees that may arise from sending mismatched Pros or for requests that were easily solvable. 

Tamara Epelbaum

I’m dedicated to ensuring our members feel truly at home. My focus is on delivering exceptional care, seamless solutions, and a stress-free experience so that every home remains a place of comfort and joy.

Harrison Kelly

Adam Hanft

Belong

Brett Jaffe

Annalise Mantz

Harrison Kelly

Adam Hanft

Belong

Brett Jaffe

Annalise Mantz