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How to use Home Maintenance Info.

Signing in

Accounts are by invitation. Your invitation email contains your sign-in email address and a temporary password. The first time you sign in you'll be asked for your first and last name and to choose your own password; your name is required.

The app opens on a welcome page that shows what it does; choose Sign in there. Tick Remember my email on this device to have your email filled in next time (only the email is kept, never the password), and use the eye button to see the password you're typing. Signing out takes you back to the welcome page.

Passwords must be at least 8 characters and include an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and a number.

If you forget your password, choose Forgot password? on the sign-in screen. A code is emailed to you; enter it along with a new password.

After 30 minutes without using the app (an admin can change how long), it signs you out. Two minutes before, Still there? appears; Stay signed in keeps anything you were in the middle of. Using the app in another tab counts too, and a computer that slept past the limit signs out when it wakes.

Homes

Each property you own or look after is a separate home: your house, a cottage, a rental, a parent's home. Every home has its own maintenance tasks and history.

The Homes screen shows a card for each home with how many tasks are overdue and due soon. Select a card to open the home.

Select the pencil icon on a home to change its name, address, year built or notes. To delete the home, select the red trash icon at the lower left of that edit window; after you confirm, the home goes to the Trash along with all of its tasks, projects, receipts, inventory and history, and can be restored for 30 days.

Reports (PDF)

In a home, the printer icon next to the pencil builds a PDF report of the tab that's open:

• Maintenance: what the Maintenance filter is showing (see Filtering maintenance), with the filter at the top. Open tasks by next due date with their category, area, how often they repeat, when last done, when next due and their status (overdue in red, due soon in amber); then what was done, newest first, with who did it, notes, the project it was part of, its cost and the total. For example, filter to Done, HVAC and the dates Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025, then print, for a report of all HVAC work done in 2025.
• Projects: every project with its entries, receipts and totals (see Projects).
• Inventory: a summary of the lists, then each list with its items (to print one list as you've searched and filtered it, use the printer inside the list; see below). The columns are the fields the list shows; the item's other filled-in fields, tags, notes, file counts and linked projects go under Details.

The report opens in a window with Print, Download PDF and Open in new tab; if it doesn't show in the window, use Open in new tab.

Maintenance tasks

A task is anything that needs doing, either on a schedule (replace the furnace filter every 3 months) or once (re-caulk the master shower).

Tasks are listed with the soonest due first. Use Filter to see what's been done (see Filtering maintenance).

Deleting a task moves it to the Trash; its completions are kept.

Filtering maintenance

On the Maintenance tab, Filter (the funnel next to Add task) chooses what the list shows:

• Status: Overdue, Due soon, Upcoming or Done; tick one or more. With none ticked, the list shows the tasks still to do. Done shows each time a task was done (with its date, who did it, notes, the project it was part of and its cost) and completed one-time tasks.
• Category and Area (the task's location): tick one or more. Each choice shows how many there are.
• Dates: for tasks still to do, their next due date; for what was done, the date it was done.

The count at the top shows how many tasks are listed, and for what was done, the total cost. Filters that are on appear as chips under the toolbar (and as a number on the Filter button); select × on a chip to remove it, or Clear all. The filter stays while you move between a home's tabs, and the printer icon prints what it shows.

The trash icon on something that was done deletes that completion (it goes to the Trash) if it was recorded by mistake; this doesn't change the task's due date.

Common tasks

When you choose Add task, Start from lets you begin with New task (an empty form) or pick one of the common tasks, a starter list of typical home maintenance such as furnace filters, gutters, smoke detectors, the sump pump, dryer vent and water heater (an admin can change the list). Picking one fills in its name, description, category, location and interval, with the first due date one interval from today. Change anything before you choose Add task; the task is yours, and changing it doesn't affect the common task. Common tasks already on the home aren't offered again.

Marking a task done

Select Done on a task to record that it was completed. Enter the date, and optionally the cost, who did it and notes. Cost is shown as $185.00 and can be typed as a calculation like a spreadsheet, for example =150+35.

• A recurring task automatically moves its next due date forward by its interval, counted from the date it was done.
• A one-time task is marked finished.

Each completion is kept; to see them, use Filter and tick Done.

Linking a maintenance project

At the top of the Done window, choose how to record it (hover over each for a reminder):

• Done (the usual choice): the date, cost, who did it and notes are recorded, nothing else.
• Existing project: pick one of the home's maintenance projects (for example a duct cleaning by a contractor, with its receipts). The likeliest ones are listed first under Best matches: projects in the task's category, then ones whose names share a word with the task (Clean Ductwork matches Ductwork Cleaning or Duct repair), then ones dated closest to when the task was due. Its date (its last entry), total cost and main business are filled in; you can change them.
• New project: record a new maintenance project from this completion. Give it a name, enter who did it under Done by and the cost, and a Maintenance project is created with one entry for this work. Add receipts or more entries to it on the Projects tab.

You can also link from the other side: when adding or editing a project (the pencil on the project page), set Type to Maintenance and choose tasks under Link a maintenance task, then Save. Each one is marked done on the project's date (its last entry, or today for a project with no entries yet), with the project's total and main business, and a recurring task's next due date moves forward. If the task was already done after that date, its dates stay as they are. Only Maintenance projects can be linked.

A linked completion shows the project's name when you filter Maintenance to Done, and the project page lists its tasks under Maintenance tasks. The × on a task there unlinks it; the completion stays. A linked completion's cost isn't counted a second time in a business's totals, since the project's entries already count.

Due dates and status colors

Projects

A project tracks everything that went into one job on a home, such as a new front door, a basement remodel or a furnace replacement, and adds up what it cost. Open a home and choose the Projects tab.

The project

Choose Add project and give it a name, a type, a category and an optional description. The category is chosen from the same list as maintenance tasks (HVAC, Plumbing and so on; an admin manages it) and shows next to the type on the project. The type is one of:

• Maintenance: repairs and upkeep (a furnace replacement, re-shingling the roof)
• Home improvement: upgrades (a new front door, a new deck)
• Remodel: rebuilding a space (a kitchen or basement remodel)

Entries

Each purchase or payment is an entry on the project. Choose Add entry and fill in:

For example, a Front Door project might have the door and storm door from Menards, the lock and handle from Amazon, the installation contractor, and the paint from Sherwin-Williams, each as its own entry with its receipt.

Totals

The project page adds up the entries: the Total, how much went to Vendors, Contractors, Retailers and Individuals, and the range of Dates from the first entry to the last. Each project card on the Projects tab shows its total, and the tab shows the total of all projects for the home.

Filtering projects

On the Projects tab, Filter (the funnel next to Add project) narrows the projects shown by:

• Type and Category: tick one or more; each shows how many projects have it.
• Dates: projects with entries in that range (a project's dates run from its first entry to its last).
• Total: a minimum, a maximum, or both.
• Receipts: projects with receipts, or with none.

The projects update as you choose, and the count and total at the top become, for example, 2 of 5 projects with the total of those shown. Filters that are on appear as chips under the toolbar (and as a number on the Filter button); select × on a chip to remove it, or Clear all. Select Done, press Escape or click elsewhere to close the panel. The filter stays while you move between a home's tabs. The PDF report always includes all of the home's projects.

Projects report (PDF)

With the Projects tab open, select the printer icon next to the home's pencil icon (see Reports) to build a PDF report of all of the home's projects. It lists every project with its type, dates and total, then each project with all of its entries (date, paid to, type of business, description, notes, receipt file names, linked inventory items and amount) and its vendor, contractor, retailer and overall totals, followed by contact details for the businesses named. Use Print, Download PDF or Open in new tab; if the report doesn't show in the window, use Open in new tab.

Select a receipt to open it full size. Deleting an entry moves it, with its receipts, to the Trash. To delete a whole project, open it, select the pencil icon, then the red trash icon at the lower left of the edit window; after you confirm, the project goes to the Trash with all of its entries and receipts.

Inventory

Keep track of what's in each home, for insurance, warranties or just knowing what's in the freezer. Open a home and choose the Inventory tab.

Lists

A home can have any number of inventory lists, such as an overall home inventory, appliances, tools, or the freezer. Choose Add list and pick a starting point:

Importing from a CSV file

On the Inventory tab, choose Import CSV to add items from a spreadsheet saved as CSV (from Excel or Numbers: File, Save As / Export, CSV), either into a new list or into one you already have.

1. Drag the file onto the box or select it to choose it. Under Import into, choose A new list (and give it a name; it starts as the file name) or one of your lists. Answer whether the first row has column headings. The first few rows are shown so you can check.
2. For each column, choose what it becomes: the Item name (one column), Category, Tags (several tags in one cell can be separated by commas, semicolons or |), Notes, a New field, or Skip. Importing into an existing list, you can also choose one of its fields; a column whose heading matches a field's name is set to that field, and other columns start as Skip. For a new field, set its name and type; the type is suggested from the data (dates become Date, dollar amounts Money, Yes/No columns Yes / No, and so on). New fields added to an existing list start hidden from the list view. Back returns to the first step.
3. Choose Import. If some rows have no item, you're asked to fill each one in; a row you leave blank is skipped.

Rows for items already in this home's inventory are skipped, so you can import the same file again to pick up only what's new. An item counts as already there when an item with the same name (capital letters don't matter) is on any of the home's lists, including one you've moved it to. If the file has an item twice and the inventory has it once, one more is added. When the import finishes you'll see which rows were skipped and why.

Dates such as 3/15/2024, 2024-03-15 or Mar 15, 2024 are understood (month first), amounts may include $ and commas, and Yes/No columns accept yes, no, y, n, true, false and x. Names in a Business field are added to Businesses (a column such as Purchased from or Store starts as Retailer, Contractor or Installer as Contractor; you can change it). Blank rows are skipped. If a row can't be imported (a value that doesn't fit its field, like a date that isn't a date), you'll see its row number and why; everything else is still imported. Up to 5,000 rows and 5 MB per file.

Choosing what each list tracks

Every list has its own fields. Add, rename, reorder (drag the grab dots at the left of a field, or select them and use the ↑ ↓ keys) or remove them when you create the list, or later with the pencil icon on the list. Each field has a type:

Removing a field hides it from the list; it doesn't change anything else about the items.

The eye on each field chooses whether it's shown as a column in the list view (eye open = shown, crossed out = not shown). Columns appear in the same order as the fields, so drag a field to move its column. Every field is still in the item window and searchable either way.

Every list also has a built-in Category. If a list doesn't need one (Appliances, for example), clear the Categories box in the list's edit window: the Category column, filter and box go away for that list. Categories already entered are kept and come back if you turn it on again. New lists from the Appliances template start with categories off.

Items

Every item has a name, a category (one per item, such as Kitchen or Garage) and any number of tags (type a tag and press Enter, Tab or a comma, or pick one of the suggestions: tags already used on the list are offered as you type, and ↑ ↓ move through them. Select × on a tag, or press Backspace in the empty box, to remove one). Then fill in the list's fields and any notes.

Each item has three places for files, each with its own drop zone: Photos, Manuals (PDFs or photos) and Receipts (PDFs or photos). Drag files onto a zone or click it to choose files. Files can be up to 20 MB each, and large photos are reduced automatically.

Finding items

The list shows a photo, the item, its category and the first few fields; the paper-clip number shows how many files an item has. Select an item to open it.

Search looks through names, categories, tags, notes and field values. Filter (the funnel) opens a panel built from the list's own fields:

• Category and Tags: tick one or more (the number shows how many items have each). With several tags ticked, Any shows items with at least one of them and All only items with every one.
• Fields whose values repeat (such as Brand, Choice fields, or Purchased from): tick the values you want.
• Yes / No fields: Any, Yes or No. Date, Money and Number fields: a from–to range (either end can be left empty).
• Files: has photos, has a manual, has receipts (its own or from a linked project entry), or linked to a project.

The list updates as you choose, and the panel shows how many items match. Filters that are on appear as chips under the search box (and as a number on the Filter button); select × on a chip to remove that filter, or Clear all. Search and filters work together. Select Done, press Escape or click elsewhere to close the panel.

Linking to projects

In an item, use Link a project entry to connect it to the purchase or installation in Projects. The item then shows that entry's receipts alongside its own, and the project entry shows the item as a green link that opens it. For example, link the refrigerator to the Best Buy entry in the Kitchen remodel project. When you link an entry, the item's purchase date and price are filled in from the entry's date and amount if those fields are still empty (a date field with "purchase" in its name, and a money field such as Price or Cost; Replacement value is left alone). Deleting a project entry removes the link but not the item.

Printing a list

Inside a list, the printer icon next to the pencil builds a PDF of the items the list is showing: after any search and filter, in the same order, with the same columns, and the search and filter printed at the top (for example 2 of 4 items · Filter: Brand: LG). Each item's other filled-in fields, tags, notes, file counts and linked projects go under Details. Lists showing more than four fields print sideways (landscape). Use Print, Download PDF or Open in new tab.

Deleting

To delete an item or a whole list, open it with the pencil icon and select the red trash icon at the lower left; you'll be asked to confirm. Deleted items and lists go to the Trash; a list takes all of its items and files with it.

Moving an item to another list

Open the item and select the move icon (an arrow into a box) next to the red trash icon. Pick the list to move it to; it must be in the same home. You'll see each filled-in field and whether it carries over:

• Fields carry over by name (capital letters don't matter), so Brand goes to Brand and Price to Price. A Money field can go into a Number field and the other way around, and anything can go into a Text field.
• For fields the other list doesn't have, choose Add them to the item's Notes (for example "Warranty terms: 1 year parts and labor"), Add them as new fields on the other list (new fields start hidden from the list view; turn them on in the list editor), or Leave them out.

Category, tags, notes, photos, manuals, receipts and project links move with the item. Any changes you made in the edit window are saved first.

Businesses

Businesses (at the top of the screen) is one list for all of your homes: the people you hire and the places you buy from. Each business is one of four types:

• Contractor: someone hired to do work (a plumber, an installer, an HVAC company).
• Vendor: a supplier of materials for a job (a lumber yard, Sherwin-Williams).
• Retailer: a store you buy things from (Best Buy, Costco, Amazon, Home Depot).
• Individual: a person rather than a company (a neighbor who helped, a handyman paid directly, someone you bought from on Marketplace).

Each one can have a trade, contact person, phone, email, website, address and notes. Phone numbers, emails and websites can be tapped to call, write or visit. US phone numbers are tidied to the form (248) 555-0101 when you leave the field (an extension is kept as x12); other numbers, such as international ones, are left as typed.

Filling the list

Choose Add to enter a business yourself. You don't have to: a new name typed in Paid to on a project entry is added after you say whether it's a contractor, vendor, retailer or individual, and a new name typed in an inventory list's Business field (such as Purchased from) is added with that field's type (or, when the field accepts more than one type, after you say which it is). You can fill in their details later.

While adding or editing a project entry, select the contact-card button next to Paid to to add or update that business's details (phone, email, address and so on) without leaving the entry. For a new business, the form starts with the name you've already entered.

Names in the list are suggested as you type Paid to on a project entry, Done by when marking a maintenance task done, and inventory Business fields. A project entry's type always comes from the business's record here, so changing a business's type updates all of their entries and the project totals.

History and totals

Select a business to see everything they've done or sold you, across all of your homes: project entries paid to them, maintenance tasks marked done by them, and inventory items bought from them (an item whose Business field names them, using its purchase date and price). An inventory item that's linked to a project entry paid to the same business is counted once, through the project entry. The totals show the amount spent, the number of jobs (contractors), purchases (vendors and retailers) or payments (individuals), and the date of the last one. Everything is matched by name (capital letters don't matter).

Use All, Contractors, Individuals, Retailers or Vendors to filter the list, and Search to find a business by name, trade, contact person, phone or email.

Renaming and deleting

Renaming a business (pencil icon) also updates their name on past project entries and maintenance history, so their history stays together. Deleting a business moves it to the Trash and removes it from the list only; project entries, maintenance history and inventory items that name it are kept.

Trash

Deleted homes, maintenance tasks, task completions, projects, project entries, inventory lists and items, and businesses go to the Trash for 30 days, then are deleted for good with their files. Open it from the account menu (your name at the top right) and choose Trash. Each one shows what it is, which home it was in, when it was deleted (and by whom, in shared homes) and how many days are left.

• Restore puts it back where it was, with its files. A project comes back linked to its maintenance history and inventory items again, and a project entry to its inventory items. Something deleted from inside a home, project or list that is also in the Trash needs that restored first; a business can't be restored while another business has the same name.
• The red trash icon on a row deletes that one forever. Deleting a home forever also removes anything deleted earlier from inside it.
• The red trash icon at the lower left, Empty trash, deletes everything in the Trash forever.

In homes shared with you, the Trash is the owner's: with Can edit you can restore and delete forever too; with View only you can look but not change anything.

Reminder emails

Once a day, at the hour you choose, the app checks every active task and sends one email covering:

• Coming up: tasks that just entered their "remind days before" window.
• Due now: tasks that reached their due date.

Each due date gets at most one "coming up" and one "due now" reminder, so you won't be emailed about the same task every day. Marking the task done, or changing its due date, starts its reminders fresh for the new date. No email is sent on days when nothing new is coming up or due.

Alert settings

Open Settings (select your name or email at the top right) and choose the Alerts tab.

Send test email sends a test message to the addresses currently saved, so you can check it arrives (and isn't going to spam). Choose Save alerts first if you've changed the addresses.

Your profile

Select your name or email address at the top right, then Settings. The Profile tab holds your photo, name and email.

Photo

Choose Upload photo (or Change photo) and pick a JPEG, PNG or WebP image. It's cropped to a centered square and saved right away. The trash button on the photo removes it.

Name

Enter your first and last name and choose Save profile. Your name then shows at the top right.

Changing your email

Select the pencil next to your email, enter the new address and choose Email me a code. A 6-digit code is sent to the new address; enter it and choose Confirm. Until you confirm, keep signing in with your current email. Once confirmed, you sign in with the new address and reminder emails go there.

Security

In Settings, the Security tab has two parts.

• Change password: enter your current password and the new one twice (at least 8 characters, with upper and lower case letters and a number), then choose Update password. The eye button shows what you've typed.
• Two-step verification adds a 6-digit code from an authenticator app on your phone (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, 1Password, Authy and so on) each time you sign in, so someone who learns your password still can't get in. Choose Set up authenticator app, scan the QR code with the app (or type in the key shown under it), enter the code the app shows and choose Verify and turn on. Turn off removes it again.

Whenever your password changes or two-step verification is turned on or off, an email goes to your sign-in address, so a change you didn't make gets noticed.

Sharing your homes

In Settings, the Sharing tab shares all of your homes (their maintenance tasks, projects, inventory, history and businesses) with someone else, such as your spouse. Enter their email, choose Can edit or View only, and choose Share. They get an email saying so; if they don't have an account yet, they also get an invitation with a temporary password. The share stays with their account, so it keeps working if they change their email.

The list shows everyone you share with. Change someone's access there, or choose Stop sharing; anything they changed stays.

When someone shares their homes with you, a list appears at the top of the screen next to Homes: choose My homes or theirs. Your own homes are never mixed with theirs, and the app remembers your choice on that device. With View only you can look at everything, including photos, manuals and receipts, but the add, edit and delete buttons are hidden. Your profile, alerts and reminder emails stay your own; reminders for shared homes go to the addresses their owner set.

Admin

Admins see Admin in the account menu, with four tabs. Accounts lists every account with its status, number of homes and the date it was added, and totals at the top. The status is Active (has signed in), Invited (hasn't chosen a password yet) or Disabled.

• Invite: enter an email and choose Send invitation. The person gets an email with a temporary password and chooses their own the first time they sign in. Resend invite sends a fresh one to someone who hasn't signed in yet.
• Disable signs the person out everywhere right away and stops them signing in. Nothing is deleted, and Enable lets them back in.
• The pencil next to a name sets that account's first and last name.

Common tasks is the list Add task offers under Start from on every home, for everyone using the app. Choose Add task to add one, or the pencil to change a task's name, description, category, location or interval. Picking a common task under Start from copies its description, along with the rest of it. To delete one, open it with the pencil and select the red trash icon at the lower left; you'll be asked to confirm. Changes don't affect tasks already added to homes.

Categories are the maintenance task categories everyone chooses from (on tasks and common tasks), in the order the Category list shows them. Change a name, choose Add category, drag the dots to reorder, or select the trash icon to delete one, then choose Save. Renaming a category renames it on every task, history entry, project and common task; tasks and projects in a deleted category move to Other. You're asked to confirm either one first. Other always stays on the list and can't be renamed.

Application settings apply to everyone using the app. Inactivity timeout is how many minutes without activity before the app signs someone out (5 to 480; 30 to start). The Still there? warning still comes 2 minutes before. People already signed in pick up a change the next time the app loads.

You can't disable your own account. Admins are added with scripts/make-admin.sh (or ADMIN_EMAILS when deploying) and need to sign out and back in once to see the menu item.