You’ve just moved into your new apartment in Dubai, your furniture is all in place, you’ve hung up those family pictures on the wall and even your pet cat has found her new favorite corner for her afternoon naps. Before you give yourself that much-deserved pat on the back, there’s one more administrative task left for you to ensure that your home remains as lovely and comfortable throughout the year: Set up an annual maintenance contract for your home to make sure that your air-conditioning, electrical and plumbing equipment get the love they need from you.
What is a Home Maintenance contract?
Almost every professional maintenance or repair company in the UAE offers annual packages to maintain your home. These packages typically include periodic preventative maintenance for your AC, plumbing, and electrical units, and free call-outs for emergency repairs. Signing up for a home maintenance contract “means you never have to pay for emergency callouts, you save money since you’re paying in advance for your service, and also you get the peace of mind of knowing a technician is always available if something goes wrong.” The packages start from AED 59 per month depending on the size of your home and type of package.
If you want to keep your home in tip-top shape, you need to maintain it regularly. While this may seem overwhelming, when broken down into an easy checklist, it seems much more doable. By doing so you’ll have a better place to live, maintain your home’s value, and minimize the need for repairs and replacements in the future. Just follow this Dubai home maintenance checklist by ServiceMarket. Keep in mind that there are many maintenance companies in Dubai that can help you keep your home in good condition all year round. Of course, adjust this list according to your needs!
Monthly home maintenance tasks
- Test your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors by pressing the “test” button. If a loud alarm doesn’t come from it, the batteries must be replaced.
- Clean the garbage disposal. Citrus juice, orange or lemon peels paired with some ice can remove build-up in the disposal.
Quarterly home maintenance tasks
- Replace detector batteries regardless of whether they’re working – if you haven’t done so in the past three months. The last thing you want is a loud wake-up call at 3AM because your batteries are low!
- If you have any unused rooms, run water and flush toilets to ensure they are working as they should. It’s often worth using some drain opener and limescale remover in these rooms.
- Clean your AC air filter so it works effectively and doesn’t circulate dust through your home. Rinse the filter, wash it with soap and a gentle brush, dry, and replace.
Biannual home maintenance tasks
- Tidy up weeds and shrubs from around your home. Anything that’s growing in/on walls or within the cracks on your patio, walkways, or even on a balcony. Anything growing on your home can actually damage it over time.
- Drain and clean your water heater to ensure its longevity. A build-up of sediment can seriously impact its ability to work effectively, and may even shorten its lifespan.
Annual home maintenance tasks
- Vacuum the coils at the back of your refrigerator. By reducing the grime build-up on the coils, you’ll increase the efficiency of the refrigerator and potentially reduce your electricity bill – a win-win!
- Check toilets and sinks for leaks. It’s also worth checking your water pressure, or having a handyman in Dubai do it for you.
- Check the fire extinguisher is working so you don’t find out it’s not working when you need it most.
- Inspect interior and exterior walls and repair as necessary. Touch up paint or do a new coat, if necessary.
- Clean the kitchen hood filter so it continues to collect grease. It’s tough to clean if you don’t keep on top of it, not to mention it may stop working, so be sure to do so!
- Have a garage? Declutter and clean it. Clean dust and stains, check if the door mechanisms look good, and get rid of old items you’ve not looked at in a year.
- Check the weather stripping around your doors and windows, and repair them as necessary. This will stop cool air from escaping through cracks in the weather stripping and stop dust from getting in.
- Steam clean curtains and blinds.
- Got a basement? It’s time to clean and declutter. If you’ve not looked at an item in a year, it’s unlikely you’ll need it again!
- Book an AC maintenance service in Dubai. It’s recommended that AC units should be serviced quarterly to ensure maximum efficiency, and you don’t want it to break down in the heat of summer.
- Look everywhere for bugs. Thoroughly check the basement, around external doors, in the kitchen, and in the pantry, especially in the summer.
- Clean outdoor and indoor lighting fixtures.
- You should be doing this frequently, but if you haven’t yet, clean out the lint from your dryer vent!
- Inspect all flooring and repair, as necessary. Refinishing is often needed to fix a scratched hardwood floor, and will considerably improve the look of your home.
- Clean your shower heads to ensure proper pressure.
- Check all the locks on windows and doors, replacing them as needed.
- Clean windows and sills, especially after a dust storm.
- Check gutters and drain for leaves, to prevent blockage.
- Clean and touch up doors and baseboards. Little touch-ups like these can seriously improve the look of your home.
- Deep clean your home. Once a year, declutter your home and hire a deep cleaning service in Dubai to cover everything else.
- Inspect electrical outlets, and any “exposed” wires (not hidden). If you see anything that concerns you, call an electrician to look at it for you.
Finally, we often get questions from our customers about whose responsibility it is to maintain the home – tenant or landlord? According to RERA Law No. 26 OF 2007 Rules Regulating the Relationship between Landlord and Tenant, the landlord “shall, during the validity of the tenancy contract, be liable for undertaking maintenance of the property and shall rectify any defects or faults that affect tenant’s intended benefit from the property, unless the two parties agree otherwise.” Whether you own your home or are renting it from your landlord, make sure quarterly servicing for your air conditioning units takes place. In the long run, preventative maintenance will save you money, reduce the probability of break-downs during summer, and not to mention ensure your home is a healthy and comfortable place to live in. So get in touch with maintenance companies right here to get started!
