Home Maintenance Calendar

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name: home-maintenance-calendar
description: "Build a seasonal home-maintenance calendar so the small upkeep gets done before it becomes an expensive repair. Use when asked for a home maintenance schedule, what should I do to maintain my house, seasonal home checklist, or home upkeep plan. Produces a month-by-month/seasonal task list tuned to your home type and climate, grouped by system (roof, HVAC, plumbing, exterior, safety), a note of what's DIY vs pro, the highest-consequence tasks not to skip, and a simple way to track it — so upkeep is routine, not reactive."
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# Home-Maintenance Calendar

Homes decay quietly, and the cheap five-minute task you skipped becomes the expensive repair you didn't see coming — a clogged gutter, an unserviced furnace, a missed roof check. This builds a seasonal maintenance calendar tuned to your home and climate, so the upkeep happens on a rhythm and the costly surprises mostly don't.

## What This Skill Produces

- **A seasonal/month-by-month schedule** — tasks placed in the right season for your climate
- **Grouped by system** — roof/gutters, HVAC, plumbing/water, exterior/structure, appliances, and safety (alarms, extinguishers)
- **DIY vs. pro** — which tasks you can do and which warrant a professional (and how often)
- **The don't-skip list** — the highest-consequence items where neglect gets expensive or dangerous
- **A tracking method** — a simple checklist/reminder setup so it actually gets done year after year

## Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:
- **Home type** — house/condo/apartment, age, single vs. multi-story
- **Climate** — cold winters, hot/humid, coastal, dry — drives the seasonal tasks
- **Features** — yard, garage, fireplace, well/septic, pool, HVAC type
- **Your DIY comfort** — how much you'll do yourself
- **Known issues** — anything already needing attention

## Framework: Right Task, Right Season, Right Person

1. **Anchor tasks to the season.** Gutters before heavy rain, heating serviced before winter, AC before summer, exterior in mild weather — timing prevents the failure.
2. **Cover every system.** Roof/gutters, HVAC, plumbing, exterior/structure, appliances, and safety devices — a gap in one is where the surprise comes from.
3. **Split DIY and pro.** Empower the easy stuff (filters, alarms, gutters) and flag the professional jobs (furnace/HVAC service, chimney, major systems) and their cadence.
4. **Prioritize the consequential.** Highlight the tasks where skipping is costly or dangerous (heating safety, water intrusion, detectors) so they never slip.
5. **Make it stick.** A simple recurring checklist or calendar reminders turns maintenance from reactive scrambling into routine.

## Output Format

### Home maintenance: [home type/age] · climate [x]

**Seasonal calendar**
- **Spring:** [exterior · AC prep · gutters · …].
- **Summer:** […].
- **Autumn:** [heating service · gutters · winterize · …].
- **Winter:** [detectors · drafts · …].
- **Monthly/quarterly:** [filters · alarm tests · …].

**DIY vs pro:** DIY [list] · Pro (cadence) [furnace/HVAC · chimney · …].
**Don't skip:** [heating safety · water intrusion · smoke/CO detectors].
**Track it:** [checklist/reminders setup].

## Quality Checks
- [ ] Tasks are placed in the correct season for the climate
- [ ] Covers all major home systems, not just the obvious
- [ ] Separates DIY from professional jobs with cadence
- [ ] Highlights the high-consequence don't-skip tasks
- [ ] Includes a simple tracking/reminder method
- [ ] Tuned to the home type and features

## Anti-Patterns
- **A generic list** ignoring climate and home type.
- **Wrong-season timing** (servicing heating mid-winter).
- **All-DIY or all-pro** with no split.
- **Burying the dangerous items** (detectors, heating safety) among trivia.
- **No tracking** — so it's done once and forgotten.

## Example Trigger Phrases
- "Give me a seasonal home maintenance schedule."
- "What should I do to maintain my house through the year?"
- "Home upkeep checklist for an older house in a cold climate."
- "What maintenance can I do myself vs. hire out?"
- "I never know what home tasks to do when — help me set a routine."