Routine servicing, long-cycle jobs and a contingency: what a Malaysian home really costs to keep each year.
📍 We serve KL, Selangor & Putrajaya.
For a Klang Valley condo or apartment, ClickBina's guides suggest setting aside about RM1,500 – RM4,000 a year for maintenance, and RM2,500 – RM6,000 for a landed terrace house. A simpler rule of thumb is 1% of the property value per year. Split the money into three pots: routine servicing (aircon, gutters, water tank, pest control), long-cycle jobs saved for a little each year (exterior repaint, septic desludging) and a contingency for the leak or breakdown nobody plans for (indicative 2026, Klang Valley).
Most households only spend on the house when something breaks. That makes maintenance feel random and expensive: the aircon dies in the hottest month, the ceiling stains after the first big storm, and the repair lands on top of school fees. A yearly budget turns those surprises into a plan. You know roughly what the house costs to keep, you book the routine jobs before they become urgent, and the big jobs stop arriving as a shock.
This page is about the money. For when to do each job through the year, use ClickBina's seasonal home maintenance checklist. If the property is rented out, the rental maintenance checklist covers what the landlord and tenant each pay for.
There is no single right figure, because a studio condo and an old semi-D are different animals. ClickBina's rental maintenance guide gives annual ranges by property type, and its remote-landlord guide adds a quick rule of thumb. Use them as a starting point, then adjust with the line items further down.
| Property type | Annual maintenance budget | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Condo or apartment | RM1,500 – RM4,000 | Aircon units, minor plumbing, pest control |
| Landed terrace house | RM2,500 – RM6,000 | Roof, external paint, drainage, more appliances |
| Semi-D or bungalow | RM4,000 at the low end, RM12,000 at the high end | Larger area, landscaping, more systems |
| Rule of thumb | 1% of the property value per year | A RM350,000 condo works out at RM3,500 |
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour. A renovation site visit is free, and a repair inspection is RM180, deducted from the bill if you go ahead. We serve KL, Selangor & Putrajaya.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteThe ranges are wide on purpose. A new condo with two aircon units sits at the bottom; a 30-year-old terrace with a tired roof, a garden and five aircon units sits at the top. The rest of this page helps you work out where your house falls.
Your monthly maintenance charge pays for the common property: the lifts, the pool, the corridors, the roof and the main pipes. It does not pay for anything inside your unit. The aircon, the water heater, the pipes from your own meter, the bathroom waterproofing under your tiles and your windows are yours. ClickBina's condo vs landed responsibility guide sets out the split in detail.
For most condo owners the budget is therefore mostly aircon servicing, a little plumbing, the occasional pest treatment and an interior repaint every few years. There is no roof, gutter or water tank of your own to look after, which is why the condo range is lower.
A landed house adds everything the management would otherwise handle. You own the roof and its gutters, the water tank in the roof space, the drains round the house, the external walls and the gate. Many older houses also have timber that termites like, and some have a septic tank. Each of these has a routine cost and, if it is ignored, a much larger failure cost.
Height matters too. A double-storey house costs more to clean, inspect and repaint outside than a single-storey one, because every job needs ladders, roof access or scaffold. That is why the ranges in the next table step up from single-storey to double-storey to semi-D.
These are the jobs that come round every year. The figures are quoted from ClickBina's service guides (indicative 2026, Klang Valley); the frequency column is what those guides recommend.
| Item | Indicative cost | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Aircon, regular service | RM60 – RM120 per unit | Every 3–6 months |
| Aircon, chemical wash | RM120 – RM250 per unit | About once a year |
| Aircon, whole-year planning figure | RM200 – RM400 per unit per year | Two services plus one chemical wash |
| Rooftop water tank clean (landed) | RM150 – RM400 | Every 6–24 months |
| Gutter clean, single-storey terrace | RM200 – RM400 | At least twice a year |
| Gutter clean, double-storey terrace | RM250 – RM600 | At least twice a year |
| Gutter clean, semi-D | RM400 – RM900 | At least twice a year |
| Pest control, annual home package | RM400 – RM900 a year | Quarterly visits |
| Termite baiting renewal (if you have stations) | RM600 – RM1,500 per year | Yearly |
| Pre-monsoon roof and waterproofing check | RM150 – RM400 | Yearly, before the monsoon |
Aircon is usually the biggest routine line, because it is charged per unit. Count your units and multiply; ClickBina's aircon servicing cost guide explains what each service covers. For the tank, the water tank cleaning guide says to lean to the shorter interval if your area has frequent supply disruptions. Gutter prices come from the gutter cleaning guide, which treats twice a year as the minimum for a landed home and quarterly for a house under trees.
Some jobs only come round every few years, but they are large. If you wait until they are due, they feel like an emergency. The better way is to divide the expected cost by the years between jobs and put that amount aside each year, the way a condo management keeps a sinking fund.
| Long-cycle job | Indicative cost | Typical cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior repaint, single-storey terrace | RM2,000 – RM4,000 | Weatherproof paint lasts 5–10 years outdoors |
| Exterior repaint, double-storey terrace | RM4,000 – RM8,000 | Weatherproof paint lasts 5–10 years outdoors |
| Exterior repaint, semi-D | RM6,000 – RM12,000 | Weatherproof paint lasts 5–10 years outdoors |
| Interior repaint, condo | RM800 – RM2,500 | When walls are marked or before a sale |
| Interior repaint, terrace house | RM2,000 – RM5,000 | When walls are marked or before a sale |
| Septic tank desludging (if you have one) | RM250 – RM800 | About every 2 years |
ClickBina's exterior repainting guide explains how to tell when the paint film has reached the end of its life. Repainting a little early, before the render starts to crack and let water in, is cheaper than repainting late and fixing damp walls as well.
Even a well-kept house has breakdowns: a pipe leaks inside a wall, a water heater fails, the main breaker keeps tripping. Keep part of the yearly budget unspent for these. A sensible approach is to treat whatever is left of the routine and long-cycle money as the contingency, and top it up the next year if it was used.
Know the likely first costs. A leak detection visit is RM300 – RM800, charged as a separate paid service before any repair starts. For other repairs, ClickBina's repair inspection fee is set out in the box below; it counts towards the job if you go ahead. Having this money ready means you can act on the first stain instead of waiting until it spreads.
Keep a simple record of what was done, when and for how much. After two years you will have your own real figure, which is better than any benchmark. The record also helps when you sell, because a buyer's inspector will ask about the roof, the paint and the termite history.
Termite and pest work is the other line that is easy to drop. ClickBina's termite inspection guide explains when an inspection is worth paying for, and the pest control guide compares a one-off treatment with an annual package.
A budget is easier to keep if the jobs are spread out. A practical pattern for a landed house is: aircon servicing in the hot months before the heaviest use, gutters and the roof check before the year-end monsoon, the water tank clean at a quiet time of year, and the big outdoor jobs such as an exterior repaint in a dry spell. ClickBina's scheduled roof maintenance guide shows how a planned roof round fits in.
Setting up a standing monthly transfer into a separate account for the house makes the whole thing painless. When a job comes up, the money is already there.
If you are planning the year's jobs, WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: area, property type and size, and the list of jobs you want done. ClickBina does deep cleaning, water tank cleaning, gutter clearing, painting and roofing, and as an experienced KL & Selangor contractor for whole-house refurbishment and trade coordination it can group several jobs into one visit. We reply within the hour, and the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges.
How we estimated prices: every RM figure on this page is quoted unchanged from the ClickBina guides named above; they are indicative Klang Valley ranges for 2026. Your own total depends on the size, age and contents of the house.
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour. A renovation site visit is free, and a repair inspection is RM180, deducted from the bill if you go ahead. We serve KL, Selangor & Putrajaya.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteTell us what you need — we reply within the hour.