Preventive maintenance

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Checking costs a fraction of repairing, and a tiny fraction of repairing in August with a tenant inside. Maintenance for communities of owners, non-resident owners and holiday properties on the Costa Blanca, Murcia and Almería.

Preventive maintenance has a bad name because it sounds like a fee you pay and never see. So let us explain it the other way round: these are the breakdowns we get called out to every season, and the ones a single check would have prevented.

The four breakdowns we are called about most

The air conditioning that stops cooling in July

Almost always dirty filters or a dirty coil, sometimes gas lost through a leak that had been there for months. A check in May finds it: filters, coil, pressures, tightness and the condensate drain. In August the same fault is an emergency.

The water heater that stops producing hot water

The sacrificial anode wears away and nobody looks at it until the tank has pitted. Checking it and replacing it in time costs a fraction of a new water heater — and on this coast, with water this hard, it wears away faster than the manual assumes.

The pool that is green when the season opens

Usually the wrong winterising for the number of months it was going to be left alone, or filtration that was not up to the job. It is solved with a service before the heat arrives, not once it is already green. See swimming pools.

The leak that had been running for months

In a holiday property this is the most expensive thing there is: nobody sees it and the meter keeps turning. A simple check — reading the meter with everything closed — finds it in five minutes. See leak detection.

For communities of owners

Here maintenance is not a luxury: it is what stops a general meeting having to approve emergency works with no time to get three quotes.

• Plant room: combustion, pressures, expansion vessels, safety devices and the condition of pumps and valves, with a written report.
• Pressure sets and risers: checking the real pressure on the upper floors, which is where half the complaints come from.
• Communal pool: actual filtration flow rate, condition of the filter and water treatment.
• An annual report setting out what was checked and what is worth watching next year, in a form you can take to the meeting.

For owners who do not live here

If your house stands empty for months, maintenance is what stops you finding a surprise when you arrive.

• Scheduled visits with a report and photographs of each one.
• A service before you arrive: water, water heater, air conditioning and pool checked a few days ahead, leaving time to decide if something is broken.
• Closing up when you leave: main stopcock, water heater and pool treated for however many months it will be on its own.
• A WhatsApp message if anything appears that needs your decision. Nothing is done without an accepted quote.

The full list of what to leave done is in our checklist for closing up a coastal property, and how we work with owners abroad is on this page.

For holiday lets

A breakdown in a let property is not only a repair: it is a bad review and, sometimes, a refund. The logic is the same as for a community — check before the season, not during it — but the timing is tighter, because the weeks that matter are exactly the weeks the property is full.

• Air conditioning serviced in spring, before the first heat.
• Pool set up before the first booking, not after the first complaint.
• Water heater sized for the real number of guests, not for the couple who bought the flat.
• A meter check between changeovers: it is the cheapest leak detection there is.

How it works and what it costs

• We look at what you actually have, and only then propose how often it needs visiting. A plan written before seeing the installation is a sales pitch, not a plan.
• A fixed written price for the visits, so it is a known figure in the budget.
• Anything that turns out to need repairing is quoted separately and is never carried out without your agreement.
• Reports and photographs after every visit, in English.

We cover the Region of Murcia, the province of Alicante and the Almería Levante — town by town on service areas.