Home Maintenance Program

Home maintenance has long been a foe for homeowners. Unfortunately, if homeowners fail to accomplish key maintenance tasks their home and bank accounts will suffer (Gromicko & Tarasenko, 2013). The cause of this is a large problem that needs to be corrected. To aid homeowners in accomplishing the required maintenance tasks, as well as motivated them, a Home Maintenance program has been developed. Through use of the Home Maintenance program the user The correction to this problem is a Home Maintenance Program that homeowners can simply log into and answer a few yes or no questions to receive a list of tasks so they can view what will that require completion in order to help maintain their home. their homes maintenance needs. To help motivate the homeowner to accomplish the recommended maintenance tasks the program will Through answering these questions the homeowner will be given an estimated percentagesavings percentage that will allow them the user to visualize how much money they could possibly save every month. The maintenance tasks procedures that the homeowners will be presented with are not random items, but tasks recommended by the National Healthy Housing Standard (NCHH) (NCHH, 2008). hing new.

They These tasks are actually important to check every season in order to obtain the maximum efficiency out of the homes equipment. and wWith the use of the this program the homeowner will be able to make obtain a simple check list of recommended maintenance tasks to improveing their overall homes efficiency. Many of the recommended tasks can improve a homeowner’s ones energy savings by as much as 1% per month (NCHH, 2008). It may not seem like a lot upfront, but over the course of a year all the saving can will add up to a significant amount. The home maintenance program also gives homeowners an idea of regular maintenance that is required and may prevent thousands of dollars in damages from a poorly maintained home (AccountNow, 2013). The Program SolutionVisualizing the Savings

A key benefit of utilizing the Home Maintenance program over a long itemized list is the ability of the program to provide an estimated monetary savings amount. This figure will be based on the increase of efficiency obtained by completing specific tasks. The solution the program will be giving to the homeowner is one that allows the homeowner to visualize their energy efficiency. The program will be doingbase the is calculation based on the answers received from a series of questions the homeowner will be asked to answered. The program Home Maintenance program will give the individual user the opportunity to see what maintenance tasks are is] required recommended for the specific season of the year. in which they are in or about to enter. The homeowner will then be able to select yes or nowhat tasks they wish to accomplish from a list of tasks and each task and the Home Maintenance program will add or subtract accordingly from the homes overall energy efficiency rating. The Program

The program Home Maintenance program will need to incorporate several modules. These modules will allow the programmer(s) to easily divide the program into different smaller piecesroblems. By separating the program into several modules the testing and troubleshooting portion will be easier to accomplish. this makes it easy to find errors within the program. In addition, by having multiple modules the overall programming time will be diminished through the use of multiple programmers working on different modules simultaneously. This will also allow the programmer to separate different parts of the program making the overall development of the program simply and easily understood. The Home Maintenance programre will consist of be fivefour modules to this program.

1. The first module asks what Sseason it is the program will then execute a certain season based on the homeowners input..
2. The second module asks if the home owner has completed the required recommended maintenance for which the selectedSpring season it is.
3. The third module asks if the homeowner has completed the recommended maintenance for Summer season.
4. The fourth module asks if the homeowner has completed the recommended maintenance for Winter season.
5. The third module calculates the homes efficiency based on the completed tasks identified by the user.ion of tasks
6. The last module displays to the homeowner the estimated percent of the total home efficiency to the user. in percent. Each module will contain maintenance tasks that will indicate what maintenance is required recommended of the home for that particular season. The break down of each module is similar and performs the same task to keep the program simple.

1. Check window for air leaks
2. Check doors for air leaks
3. Service A/C unit in spring
4. Service heat unit in winter
5. Check vents for leaks
6. Check exterior home for water leaks Sprint and Fall
7. Drain water heater annually summer
8. Check interior faucets for leaks
9. Optional Items

The tasks are all interrelated and support a specific purpose.; Tthe user will be able to view the purpose of these tasks at the end of the program. All tasks will be related to energy efficiency and water savings (NCHH, 2008). The program will provide reminders of home maintenance in regards to the season the home maintenance requirements need to be completed. Inputs – The first input the user is asked for is the season of the year in which they are in. The program will then move to the season and ask a series of questions from the maintenance tasks noted asking for a “Y” for yes or “N” for no. The program will then add or subtract 1% from the totalEff variable. Processing Logic – The logic used in this program is based on Iif- Tthen statements. From the begging in of the program the season input will enact a series of Iif-T then statements that the one that happens to be true for that input will then move the program to the appropriate module.

Within the modules each question has iIf t-Then and eElse statements stating that if the home owner makes a certain input the program will calculate the out put. Outputs – At the end of the program the output to the homeowner will be based on their inputs from the questions in the season module. If the homeowner’s total efficiency is less than 3% the out put will display that they need to work on their home maintenance. If the homeowners total efficiency is ir over percentage is above 4% it will display that the estimated savings they will be saving on every energy bill. Program Development Life Cycle

According to Venit and Drake (2011), the general rule of the development cycle consists of the following steps “understand the problem, devise a plan, carry out the plan, and review the results” (p. 26). The first phase of the home maintenance development life cycle is the analysis portion. Within the analysis step the requirements of the program are laid out for the programmer. This will allow the programmer to have a clear understanding of what the customer wants of the program. The discussion of time lines is important in the next step so that there is a clear understanding of when the project needs to be completed. In this step the goals are laid out in a clear and expected manor for the programmer. The next step in the development cycle is budget and barriers this is one of the most important steps to ensure the programmers can complete the project. The inclusion of budget and limitations will help in the sense that the understanding of what the limits are and are laid out clearly. Lastly the use of the target audience is essential to the success of the project because through the use of the audience the programmer can ensure that the program fits the needs of the end user.

According to Venit and Drake (2011), the general rule of the development life cycle consists of the following steps “understand the problem, devise a plan, carry out the plan, and review the results” (p. 26). The first phase of the home maintenance development life cycle is the analysis portion. Within the analysis step the requirements of the program are laid out for the programmer. This will allow the programmer to have a clear understanding of what the customer wants out of the program. The discussion of time lines is important in the next step so that there is a clear understanding of when the project needs to be completed. In this step the goals are laid out in a clear and expected manor for the programmer. The next step in the development cycle is budget and barriers this is one of the most important steps to ensure the programmers can complete the project. The inclusion of budget and limitations will help in the sense that the limits are understood and that they were laid out clearly. Lastly when we review or test the program, we would need to include the end users in the testing phase to determine if it will meet customer expectations or if it needs to go back for corrections to the programming.

Conclusion
The goal of the Home Maintenance Program is to help homeowners in the implementation of seasonal maintenance. Home maintenance is a top priority for every homeowner , withand with the simple implementation of this programprogram; every home owner will get a better understanding what the recommended maintenance tasks requirements are ofor their home. These tasks have been identified by the NCHH and are proven to increase home efficiency. While home maintenance can become time consuming, it also has its benefits. Through tracking the users input of accomplished maintenance tasks, the Home Maintenance program will provide an estimated amount saved based on the increase of their home efficiency.The program will determine he homeowner’s total efficiency based on the required maintenance tasks for the season in which the homeowner is. In addition to saving money by keeping the home operating efficiently, homeowners will also save time. Why waste precious hours and money to repair something caused by poor maintenance when it can be avoided through the use of the Home Maintenance Program.

References
AccountNow. (2013). How to Save Money on Monthly Expenses. Retrieved from http://www.accountnow.com/content/budgeting/how-to-save-money-on-monthly-expenses/. Retrieved on July 5, 2013. Gromicko, N., & Tarasenko, K. (2013). Homeowner Maintenance: Changing the HVAC Filter. Retrieved from http://www.nachi.org/change-hvac-filter.htm. Retrieved on July 5, 2013. NCHH. (2008). Healthy Homes Maintenance Checklist. Retrieved from http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/library/hhi/Healthy_Housing_CheckList.pdf. Retrieved on June 15, 2013.

Venit, S., & Drake, E. (2011). Prelude to Programming Concepts and Design (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.