When you buy a used car, the first thing you ask for is the service history. Not because you enjoy paperwork, but because it tells you something no inspection can: whether the last owner looked after it, and what has already gone wrong.

Your house is worth many times what any car is worth. And most houses in Toronto have no history at all. A pile of receipts in a kitchen drawer, a furnace sticker with a date on it, and whatever the previous owner happened to remember on the day you asked.

That is the gap the HandyForce HomeCare Plan was built to close. We come at the same times every year, work through a checklist, fix what we can on the spot, and write down what we found. Over time the house ends up with a record, and that record belongs to the house. When you sell, it goes with it.

We have just expanded the plan into three levels, so here is the honest version of what each one does and who it is for.

What a home maintenance plan costs in Toronto

Essentials, $549 a year

Two visits, spring and fall. This is the safety and filter tier, and it covers the jobs that are cheap to do and expensive to skip.

Every smoke and carbon monoxide alarm tested, with fresh batteries fitted
Furnace and HVAC filters changed
Outdoor tap opened in spring, shut off and drained in fall
Sump pump tested
Caulking and weatherstrip touched up

We bring up to $50 of those consumables per visit. Anything beyond the checklist gets quoted before we touch it.

At $549 paid once a year, that works out at under $50 a month. Essentials covers the visits themselves. It does not include the Home Record.

Who it suits: a homeowner who is reasonably on top of things and mainly wants the safety items done properly, by someone who will actually turn up.

Seasonal, $2,200 a year

Two bigger visits, spring and fall. Everything in Essentials, plus the work that needs a ladder and an hour.

Eavestroughs and downspouts cleared
Windows and screens checked, cleaned and repaired
Roof and chimney inspected from the ground and the ladder
Foundation and exterior drainage checked
Door and window weather seals

All materials for the checklist work are included. You get a written report with photos after every visit, and the digital Home Record.

Who it suits: most Toronto houses, honestly. If you own a detached or semi with eavestroughs, a roof you cannot see from the ground, and a basement you would rather keep dry, this is the tier that pays for itself quietly.

Complete, $3,200 the first year, then $2,800

Four visits, one every season, all materials included. A written report after every visit, the printed Home Record binder as well as the digital record, and the part that makes this tier different: a full home inspection in your first year by an independent, licensed home inspector.

We book it and we pay for it out of the plan. We aim to have it done inside your first 60 days, so the seasonal visits can act on what it finds. Within five business days your project manager turns every finding into a line in your Home Record: what it is, how urgent it is, and what it would cost to put right.

If you stay a member, the inspection is repeated every third year, so the record shows the house being looked after over time rather than a single snapshot.

Who it suits: anyone who has just bought, anyone who has owned the place long enough to have lost track of it, and anyone who expects to sell in the next five years and wants something to hand the buyer.

Why the inspection is not ours

This is the question we get asked most, so here is the answer plainly.

We never tell the inspector what to look for or what to write. We do not see the report before you do. The inspector is licensed, independent, and working to the same standard they would apply if a buyer had hired them.

That is the whole value of it. A report from the company that wants to sell you the repairs is worth very little, to you or to a future buyer. The moment we are the ones deciding what counts as a problem, the document stops being evidence and starts being a quote.

You are also free to use anyone you like for the work the inspection turns up. We will quote it if you want us to. We will also just note it in the record and leave it there if you do not.

For context, the same inspection ordered on its own in Toronto runs $400 to $700.

What the Home Record actually contains

The Home Record is the point of the whole plan. It is not a folder of invoices. It is organised so that someone who has never been to the house can read it and understand the place.

Home profile. Year built, size, and the key systems with their ages and model numbers, plus photos showing where the water, gas and power shut-offs are
Inspection and action plan. On Complete, the inspection report and a plan showing each finding and whether it has been dealt with
Maintenance log. The checklist, date, technician and photos from every visit
Work records. Every invoice with the scope of work, permits, materials used, product warranties, and before and after photos
Warranties and manuals. Appliance and product manuals and warranty cards
Other work on the home. Room for other contractors’ invoices, appraisals, surveys, permits and receipts
Year in review. One page each year: what was checked, what was fixed, and what is coming up

Seasonal members get the digital record. Complete members get the printed binder as well.

The real argument: you stop booking things

Most of what is on these checklists is not difficult. It is just never urgent enough to get booked. The eavestroughs need doing twice a year and get done once every three. The dryer vent has not been cleaned since you moved in. The alarm batteries get dealt with at two in the morning when one of them starts chirping.

None of those are emergencies until they are. We put numbers on that in the real cost of deferred home maintenance in Toronto. A blocked eavestrough becomes a wet basement. A failing window seal becomes a window. A slow leak becomes a ceiling.

On a plan, none of it gets booked, because it is already on the list. We turn up when we said we would.

If you own rental property

There is a separate plan priced per door: $35 per door a month plus HST, with a five-door minimum. Two visits a year at every door, spring and fall, written report with photos for each one, repairs attended within two business days, and a record per property that rolls into a single portfolio report.

That record earns its keep at turnover, at renewal, at an insurance claim, and on the day you sell. Insurers ask what maintenance was done. Most landlords cannot answer that question. You can.

Details are on the HomeCare for Landlords page.

The terms, in plain words

Length. 12 months from the day you sign up
Payment. Annual, up front, for the homeowner plans. Landlord plans can be monthly by pre-authorized payment
The visits. You buy a full year of visits and we book every one of them with you. Unused visits are not refunded
Renewal. Automatic, at the price current at that time. We write to you six weeks beforehand with your year in review
Price changes. Only at renewal, with at least 60 days’ notice
Selling the home. The Home Record belongs to the home and goes with it. The rest of the plan can pass to the buyer at no charge

What the plan does not cover: repairs beyond the visit checklist, which we quote before we start; specialist and licensed-trade work such as roof replacement, electrical and plumbing beyond visual checks, and HVAC servicing inside the equipment, which we arrange through licensed partners; emergency call-outs, because we are not an emergency service; and pest control, mould remediation and hazardous materials.

Ready to talk?

Tell us about your house and we will tell you which plan fits, the same business day. Call 647-427-7366, or see the full breakdown on the HomeCare Plan page.

We serve East York, North York, and the surrounding Toronto neighbourhoods.

– The HandyForce Team