Sixty field-tested methods to inspect your house in fifteen minutes, fix things while they are small and cheap, and run every part of it — heat, water, pests, pantry, power — so nothing surprises you and nothing quietly bleeds money.
The Army runs more buildings than any landlord in America, in every climate the country has, on a budget somebody has to defend every year. It cannot afford surprises. So it does something almost nobody does at home: it looks at things on a schedule, fixes them while they are small, and stops water, dirt and air from doing what they do.
It is unglamorous, and it is mostly free — which is exactly why nobody ever sold it to you.
I spent my service years keeping supply inside that system, and thirty more behind a parts counter watching what happens to houses that don't have one. This book is that system, translated for one house and one Saturday at a time — sixty methods, numbered steps, real prices from real hardware stores.
Last year, 46% of American homeowners were hit with more than $5,000 in unexpected repairs. These are the usual letters:
| The repair nobody planned for | 2025 cost |
|---|---|
| Roof replacement | $5,870 – $13,223 |
| HVAC replacement | $5,000 – $15,000 |
| Water heater replacement | $1,600 – $3,500 |
| Foundation & drainage work | $2,200 – $8,000+ |
Angi · State of Home Spending / Hippo homeowner survey, 2025
Thirty years behind a parts counter taught me one thing: every one of those repairs asked for help first — quietly, for years. The furnace that quit in January had been breathing through a choked filter since spring.
A maintained house almost never sends the big letter. That is not a promise — it is how buildings work. The whole book is the habit of catching things while they are small.
Sixty methods across ten chapters — inspection, pests, heat, water, the workshop, the pantry, security, power. Some of what you'll put to work the first week:
And that is a sample — sixty methods in all, each with numbered steps, a priced supply list, and an honest note on when to call a professional instead.
Click any page to read it full size
Every method ends the same way: a SUPPLY box with what it costs at the hardware store, and THE CATCH — the honest paragraph about what the method will not do and when to call a professional instead. There is one on all sixty methods.
One payment, $17. No subscription, nothing recurring.
The book arrives within a minute. One tap opens it on any phone, tablet or computer.
Chapter one is a fifteen-minute walk with a pencil. It costs nothing and tells you what your house needs.
Counted at the conservative end, for a household that works even half the book:
Every number here is the low end, and the repair you catch while it is still small comes on top of it.
My name is Ray Tolliver. I kept supply in the Army, and then spent thirty years behind a parts counter — listening, every single day, to somebody explain how the thing they were replacing had died.
Almost none of those failures were sudden, and almost all of them were cheap — right up until they weren't. That is the whole reason this book exists.
I am not going to tell you a story about myself in every chapter. This is a working book, and you have things to do.
Instant download · any phone, tablet or computer · print at home
No. You pay $17 once and the book is yours for good — and every future edition comes to you free.
No. The book starts with a fifteen-minute walk and a pencil. Every method after that is numbered steps and a priced supply list — and an honest line about when the right answer is to call somebody instead. Knowing which is which is half the value.
It is a PDF you download the minute you pay. It reads well on a tablet or computer and prints cleanly at home — the inspection sheets and the calendar are made for the refrigerator door.
If you can open an email, you are ready. The book opens on your screen the moment you pay, and the same link arrives in your email receipt so you can come back to it any time. If anything goes wrong, reply to that email and a person will sort it out.
No. One short chapter covers locks and lights, and one covers power outages, because a squared-away house should handle both. The other eight are bills, pests, water, heat, paint, tools and the pantry. It is a maintenance manual, not a bunker plan.
Yes — cheaper, in fact. A new house maintained from year one almost never develops the expensive habits this book exists to catch. You are buying the schedule and the habits, not just the repairs.
Seven days, no questions. One email, and the $17 comes back the same day. You keep the file either way.
Write to me and I answer. Every message comes straight to my desk, and I put half an hour aside most days to get through them.
$17 once · instant download · 7-day money-back guarantee · every future edition free.
Get the book — $17 →Method 7 finds every one of them with a pencil, and closes them for about $25 in materials — no contract, no monthly bill. That one Saturday pays for the whole book twenty times over. $17, seven-day guarantee, yours forever.
Get the book — $17 → or keep reading ↓