Every job on this page is small, and every one of them stands in front of a bill that is not. New here? Your first year in a house collects the shape of all of it in one place.
§ VIII — Guides
The small jobs, and the
bills standing behind them.
Writing from the people building Homeward: what a first year in a house actually requires, how often a furnace filter really needs changing, what skipping the gutters costs three winters later, and why the septic tank is never the expensive part.
- Your first year in a house: what actually needs doingMost first-year checklists are written for a house nobody lives in. The seasonal shape of the work, the handful of jobs with four-figure consequences, and the ones that carry no price at all.2026
- How often should you change a furnace filter?Every three months for most homes, monthly with pets that shed. Why a choked filter ices the coil and takes the blower with it, and what that repair typically runs.2026
- What does skipping gutter cleaning cost?Ninety minutes of work, a foundation on the other side of it, and about three years in between. Why the autumn clean-out is the one that counts.2026
- How often should a septic tank be pumped?About every three years. The tank is routine and cheap to service; the drainfield is the part that costs five figures once solids reach it.2026