Frequently Asked Questions

Membership starts at $450 per year. That covers two full home checkups, scheduled routine maintenance, a personal Home Manager, and member pricing on all on-demand work.

Two full home inspections per year, plus routine maintenance every six months: furnace filters, dryer vent, dishwasher filter, garbage disposal, smoke and CO detectors, doors and windows, fire extinguishers, exhaust fans, drains, and light bulbs. You also get a personal Home Manager and discounted handyman and licensed trade rates.

Your personal Home Manager will reach out to welcome you and schedule your first inspection. After that visit you'll receive a written Home Health Report you can use to plan repairs.

We typically schedule your first inspection within two weeks of signup.

Twice — once every six months. Spring and fall cadence lines up with HVAC, plumbing, and life-safety checks.

Call or email your Home Manager. They are your single point of contact and dispatch the right licensed technician, including for emergencies.

Handyman work is billed at a flat $99/hour for members. Specialized licensed-trade work, plus any parts, fixtures, or permits, is quoted per project.

Standard maintenance items — filters, batteries, bulbs, smoke-detector parts — are included. Parts for repair projects and emergency work are billed separately.

We have licensed general contractors, electricians, and plumbers on staff and can pull permits and manage city approvals. Permit work is quoted per project.

Every technician is pre-screened, background-checked, and trained by a licensed general contractor on our team. We only send people we'd send to our own homes.

A home maintenance plan is an annual membership where a single company performs scheduled preventive maintenance on the home's major systems — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, appliances, and life safety — and gives members priority service and discounted rates on repairs.

Yes, for most homeowners. The average single HVAC or plumbing emergency repair runs $400–$2,000, so one prevented failure usually pays for the plan. You also extend equipment life, keep manufacturer warranties valid (most require documented annual service), and avoid the time cost of finding a trustworthy technician under pressure.

The industry rule of thumb is 1–3% of your home's value each year. A $600,000 home should plan for $6,000–$18,000 annually across maintenance, repairs, and minor upgrades. A maintenance plan is the predictable portion of that budget.

Three ways: it catches small issues — a slow drip, a weak capacitor, a corroded breaker — before they become full system failures; it keeps efficiency high so utility bills stay low; and members get reduced labor rates and waived diagnostic fees on the repairs that do come up.

Spring: AC tune-up, exterior wash, gutter cleaning, smoke/CO battery swap. Summer: dryer vent, attic ventilation check, pest barrier. Fall: heating tune-up, water heater flush, weather-stripping, generator service. Winter: pipe insulation review, attic insulation, indoor humidity check.

Plans cover preventive maintenance, not the repair labor or parts for an emergency. They almost always include priority dispatch and discounted member rates when an emergency does happen.

Plumbing maintenance is the scheduled inspection and servicing of supply lines, drains, fixtures, water heaters, shutoff valves, and the main water service. A maintenance plumber checks for leaks, tests water pressure, flushes the water heater, clears slow drains, exercises shutoff valves, and documents anything trending toward failure.

Once a year for a typical home; twice a year for older homes, vacation homes, or homes on well water or aggressive municipal water. Water heaters specifically should be flushed annually to clear sediment.

Yes — especially in coastal markets like Daufuskie and the Lowcountry where salt air corrodes fittings and hard water shortens water-heater life. A burst supply line averages $5,000–$15,000 in water damage, so catching a corroded valve or failing flex line during a scheduled visit pays for years of plan fees.

Standalone plumbing-only plans typically run $150–$300 per year. Our bundled membership includes plumbing inspection and tune-up plus HVAC, electrical, and home maintenance starting at $450/year — usually less than buying each trade plan separately.

Once a quarter: run hot water in unused fixtures to flush traps, check under sinks for moisture, test your main shutoff valve, and look at the water heater pan for any standing water. Once a year: pour enzyme drain treatment, not chemical cleaners, into kitchen and bath drains.

Once a year for tank water heaters, twice a year on well water or in areas with hard water. Flushing removes sediment that insulates the burner or element, which is the single biggest cause of premature water-heater failure and high energy bills.

Shut off the main water supply, drain the lines if you'll be gone more than two weeks, turn the water heater to vacation mode, and ask your Home Manager to do a mid-absence walkthrough. This is the single most common preventable insurance claim on island and second-home properties.

Yes. The average HVAC repair runs $400–$1,200 and a full system replacement runs $7,000–$15,000. Two professional tune-ups per year typically catch the small problems — weak capacitors, low refrigerant, dirty coils, clogged drain lines — before they cascade into compressor or board failures. Most manufacturer warranties also require documented annual service to stay valid.

Twice a year. AC in the spring before the cooling season, heat in the fall before the heating season. Coastal systems exposed to salt air benefit from a third coil-rinse visit mid-summer.

Standalone HVAC plans typically run $150–$300 per system per year. Our membership includes HVAC tune-ups alongside plumbing, electrical, and home maintenance starting at $450/year for the whole home.

You pay an annual fee. The provider schedules two visits, cleans coils, checks refrigerant pressures, tightens electrical connections, tests capacitors and contactors, clears the condensate drain, and inspects ductwork and the thermostat. You get priority dispatch and a discounted rate (usually 10–20% off) on any repairs.

Coil cleaning, refrigerant pressure check, electrical and capacitor test, contactor inspection, condensate drain flush, blower and motor lubrication where needed, thermostat calibration, filter change, and a written report. Plans usually do not include parts, refrigerant top-offs beyond a small amount, or major repairs.

Plans cover the preventive visits, not emergency repair labor or parts. They almost always include priority dispatch ahead of non-members and a 10–20% member discount when an emergency does happen.

Standard 1-inch filters are usually included at each visit. High-MERV media filters, UV bulbs, and electronic air-cleaner cells are typically billed separately because of their cost.

Inspection (visual check of equipment, refrigerant lines, ductwork, electrical), cleaning (coils, blower wheel, drain line, cabinet), testing (capacitors, contactors, pressures, airflow, temperature split), and reporting (written findings, photos, recommended repairs with priorities).

Yes. Standby generators run a weekly self-test under load and need scheduled service to stay reliable. Skipped maintenance is the number-one reason a generator fails to start during an outage.

At minimum once a year, or every 200 run-hours, whichever comes first. Coastal homes and primary-power generators should be serviced twice a year. Service includes oil and filter change, spark plugs, air filter, battery load test, transfer-switch inspection, and a full load test.

Standby (Generac, Kohler, Briggs): leave the factory weekly self-exercise enabled — usually 5–20 minutes. Portable generators should be run under load for about 30 minutes once a month with fresh, stabilized fuel.

A standalone annual standby-generator service typically runs $300–$600 depending on size and oil capacity. Included in a bundled membership, the same visit is significantly less because the trip charge and diagnostic time are already covered.

On most Generac Evolution controllers: press Enter, scroll to Edit, then to Maintenance Reset, and confirm. On Kohler RDC2/DC2 controllers: navigate to Maintenance, select Reset Maintenance, and confirm. Reset only after the actual maintenance is performed — the alarm is tracking service intervals.

Every three to five years for a modern panel, every one to two years for panels over 25 years old, in coastal/salt-air environments, or with known recalled brands (Federal Pacific, Zinsco, certain Challenger models). A thermal scan can catch a hot breaker before it fails.

Breakers that trip repeatedly, a warm or discolored breaker face, a burning smell at the panel, lights that flicker when large appliances start, and any buzzing or crackling sound. Any of these warrants a same-week electrician visit.

In coastal and lightning-prone areas, yes. A whole-home surge protector at the panel costs $300–$700 installed and protects every circuit. It's the cheapest insurance against a single nearby strike destroying HVAC boards, appliances, and electronics.

Salt air corrodes condenser coils, electrical contacts, exterior fixtures, and metal fasteners 3–5x faster than inland environments. Humidity stresses HVAC and accelerates wood rot. Most manufacturers' standard service intervals assume inland conditions, so coastal homes should run on a more aggressive schedule.

Our technicians and trucks live on-island, so there's no ferry surcharge or barge wait passed through to you. Your Home Manager schedules trades together to consolidate visits and keep costs down.

Test your generator under load before June 1, refresh fuel stabilizer, clear gutters and downspouts, document the home with photos for insurance, confirm shutters or panel hardware, and stage a go-bag with key documents. Members get an annual hurricane-prep walkthrough included.

Yes — second-home and vacation-rental walkthroughs are one of our most common requests. We check for leaks, pests, HVAC operation, and storm damage on the schedule you set and send a written report with photos after each visit.