By Leo Brooks · New Release

The New Homeowner's
First Year

What to Fix, What Can Wait, and What to Never Touch Yourself

This isn't a repair manual. YouTube already has those. This is the book for the moment before you pick up the phone or the tool: is this crack serious or cosmetic? Is that noise an emergency or background noise? Fix it, wait on it, or call someone?

📱 Kindle eBook · $6.99

📖 Paperback · $14.99

🌎 US · Canada · UK costs

Get It on Amazon → Kindle $6.99 · Paperback $14.99

10 chapters. One decision model. From the team behind HomePlaybook Mastery.

Why This Book Exists

Most new homeowners don't lose money because their house is bad

They lose it because they didn't know which call to make. Fix it now or wait? DIY it or hire it out? Is that crack in the foundation serious, or cosmetic? Is that HVAC noise an emergency, or background noise?

Nobody teaches this. Not your realtor, not your inspector, not a YouTube tutorial that assumes you've already decided to pick up a tool. Until now.

The New Homeowner's First Year is built around one framework, applied to every part of your home: water, contractors, the four systems that fail expensively, the pipe under your yard, the warranty question, money, and the seasons. You'll finish it knowing exactly how to make the right call, every time, before the wrong one costs you four figures.

The Framework

Fix It. Wait. Or Call.

Every chapter runs this same decision model against a different part of your home. Once you've internalized it, you stop guessing.

FIX IT

The $50 job that becomes a $5,000 emergency if you leave it. Safe to do yourself, this weekend, no license required.

WAIT

Not every crack, stain, or sound is an emergency. How to monitor something properly instead of panicking or ignoring it.

CALL

The line between "I've got this" and "I just voided my warranty, my insurance claim, or my safety." Know it before you cross it.

What's Inside

Ten chapters. One decision model.

Every chapter applies Fix It, Wait, or Call to a different part of owning a home.

01

Fix It, Wait, or Call

The decision framework that runs through everything. How to think about risk, cost, and timing before you pick up the phone or a tool.
02

Your First Seven Days

The tasks most new homeowners skip that cause the most first-year emergencies. Do these first, in this order.
03

Water Is Always the Enemy

Where water gets in, what it costs when you miss it, and how to find it before it finds you.
04

You're the Target

How contractors think, what they look for in a new homeowner, and the exact moves that get you a fair price every time.
05

The Seasons Will Find You

What spring, summer, fall, and winter each do to a house, and what to do first in each window.
06

The Four Systems That Fail Expensively

HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roof. The warning signs, the real costs, and when each one crosses from a $300 fix into a $12,000 replacement.
07

What's Under Your House

The sewer line you didn't know you owned: what actually kills it, what a camera inspection costs, and the one word to know before a contractor quotes you the most expensive option by default.
08

The Warranty Question

Buy a home warranty, or be your own insurer? The honest math on which one wins, and why the answer depends on your specific house.
09

The Money Chapter

The 1–2% rule, how to build a maintenance budget that actually works, and the insurance questions that decide whether a claim gets paid or denied.
10

Year One Is a Story, Not a Sprint

How to leave year one with a house in better shape than you found it.

What Makes This Different

Not another checklist book

🌎

Three markets, one book

US, Canadian, and UK costs throughout. One of the only books in this category written for all three.

🧠

A decision model, not a task list

Teaches you how to think about a problem you've never seen before, not just what to do about the ones on a list.

💵

Specific dollar figures

Every chapter names real costs: the caught-early price and the ignored-it price, so you can see the stakes.

📞

Contractor psychology

A full chapter on how contractors size up a new homeowner, and the exact moves that get you treated like a repeat customer from quote one.

Get the Book

Available now on Amazon

📱 Kindle eBook

$6.99

📖 Paperback

$14.99

Buy on Amazon.com →

Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk

Scan the QR code inside the book for the free Home Health Scorecard and per-chapter guides below.

Free Reader Tools

Scanned the QR code? Start here.

Everything below is free, whether you bought the book or you're just checking it out.

🏠

Home Health Scorecard

Answer nine questions, get a live risk read on your house, and see which chapters to prioritise first.

Take the Scorecard →

🧮

Home Maintenance Cost Calculator

Plug in your home's numbers and get a realistic annual maintenance budget in seconds.

Open the Calculator →

📋

The $5K Mistake Checklist

The 12 costliest first-year errors, free, sent straight to your inbox.

Get the Checklist →

🧩

Free Chrome Extensions

Real Home Cost for Zillow browsing, and a First-Year Home Checklist tracker with seasonal reminders.

Get the Extensions →

Want the Full System?

The book teaches the judgment call. Mastery runs the whole year.

HomePlaybook Mastery is the 12-month system this book hands you off to: all 47 tasks ranked, a month-by-month calendar, cost tables, and contractor scripts. Save $370 or it's free.

Get HomePlaybook Mastery. $44 →

About the Author

Leo Brooks

Founder, HomePlaybook

Contractor-adjacent writer and founder of HomePlaybook, the prioritised home maintenance system for first-time homeowners. The voice in this book is the same one behind every HomePlaybook guide: direct, specific, and allergic to vague claims. If a task costs $150 to do and $8,000 to skip, the book says exactly that.

Not Ready to Buy Yet?

Get the free $5K Mistake Checklist instead

The 12 costliest first-year homeowner errors, free, straight to your inbox. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Common Questions

Before you buy

Is this a repair manual?+

No. YouTube already has step-by-step repair tutorials. This book teaches the judgment call that comes before the repair: whether to fix it yourself, wait and monitor it, or call a licensed professional, and why. It won't teach you how to re-shingle a roof. It will tell you exactly when a missing shingle stops being a wait-and-see problem.

Do I need HomePlaybook Mastery too, or just this book?+

They do different jobs. This book teaches the Fix It, Wait, or Call framework and applies it once to each major area of your home. HomePlaybook Mastery is the full 12-month system: all 47 ranked tasks, a month-by-month calendar, cost tables, and contractor scripts. Most readers start with the book for the judgment calls, then use Mastery to run the year-by-year schedule.

Does this book cover Canada and the UK, or just the US?+

All three. Costs are given as US, Canadian, and UK ranges throughout, which is unusual for this category. Most first-year homeowner books are written for a single market.

What format is the book available in?+

Kindle eBook ($6.99) and paperback ($14.99), both available on Amazon.

Is there an audiobook?+

Not currently. HomePlaybook Mastery, the companion 12-month system, does include an audio edition.

I'm not handy at all. Is this book still for me?+

Yes, if anything it's written more for you than for the DIY crowd. The whole point of the Fix It, Wait, or Call framework is to remove the guesswork so you're never standing in front of a problem wondering what to do. It tells you plainly which jobs are safe to attempt and which ones you should never touch yourself.

How is this different from a general home maintenance checklist?+

A checklist tells you what to do. This book teaches you how to think about what you're looking at, so you can make the right call on problems the checklist never anticipated. It's a decision model, not a task list.

Does the book include the free Home Health Scorecard?+

The book includes a QR code linking to this page, where you can access the free Home Health Scorecard and per-chapter companion guides at no extra cost.

The New Homeowner'sFirst Year