Workbook — Real Estate · Created October 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Home Repair Punch List
What needs doing, what it was quoted at, what it actually cost — and which credits took the edge off.
The first year in a house is a queue of jobs you did not know about when you signed. This keeps them on one list with a number beside each one, so the queue is a budget rather than a series of surprises.
What This Workbook Does
- One row per job, with room, priority, status, vendor and notes.
- Estimate and actual side by side, with the variance calculated — which is how you learn whose quotes to trust.
- A credit-eligible flag, a credit rate and a rebate column, so an efficiency upgrade shows its real net cost rather than its sticker price.
How to Use It
- List every job you know about, including the ones you are not doing yet. The list is more useful than the schedule.
- Set a priority and a status. High-priority items with a status of nothing are the ones to look at first.
- Enter the estimate when you get the quote, and the actual when you pay it. Leave both visible.
- Flag anything that carries a federal energy credit or a utility rebate and enter the rate.
- Move the finished capital items across into the Home Improvement & Basis Log — that is where they matter at sale.
What It Will Not Do
The per-item credit column applies your credit rate to the full cost. Real credits usually apply to material cost only, exclude labour, and are subject to an annual cap. Treat the credit column as a planning estimate, not a tax figure.
Where to go next: The First Home Purchase — what to inspect before any of these become your problem; House Hacking & the First Rental — the repair reserve a small multifamily needs; The Accidental Landlord — keeping records once a tenant is in the house.