Christmas is right around the corner and with families celebrating the season together, there is so much to look forward to this year! Homeowners across Canada are planning various holiday dinner parties and get-togethers. Be it a hot chocolate and cookies feast near the fireplace on a snowy morning or a grand dinner with multiple dining tables on Christmas day, your home needs to get ready for what’s coming. Here are 7 ways HomeStars can help your home get ready for Christmas or any other winter holiday.
1. Holiday Cleaning: Before & After
Picture Courtesy: Lucy’s Cleaning Service & Janitorial
Cleaning the house for the holidays can take an entire team. Many families start prepping their living room, kitchen and dining rooms a month before Christmas to make sure everything is properly cleaned. Once the house is clean, you can dedicate your time to decorating and rearranging furniture.
Christmas cleaning is not restricted to general vacuuming and mopping of the floors. You have to deep clean the house paying special attention to carpets, and high traffic rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens to remove any mold and mildew. If it’s been a while since you have had guests over, who knows how dirty your home might be.
Additionally, hosting guests during the holidays can leave your home messy and the guests always seem to leave before clean-up time. Instead of cleaning every corner of your home by yourself, you can simply hire a condo or house cleaning company who will do the job for you! Give yourself the gift of a clean home and let the pros take care of your pre or post-party house clean.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Carpet Cleaning | $296 | $100 | $2,506 |
| Mold & Mildew Removal | $3,365 | $140 | $15,000 |
| Condo Cleaning | $235 | $100 | $1,500 |
| House Cleaning | $292 | $100 | $3,700 |
*Costs as of November 2021
2. Let the Music Play
Holidays without music are like New Year’s Eve parties without the countdowns, they’re just not the same. Celebrating the season of joy with friends and family by adding some music in the mix will make your holiday parties talk of the town! You can get your piano moved from one room of the house to another, get a new piano setup or even get it tuned by hiring a local piano moving and tuning company from HomeStars.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Piano Moving & Tuning | $471 | $100 | $3,000 |
*Costs as of December 2021
3. Make a Smart Holiday Choice
This holiday season, make a smart choice by installing new smart home technology. The advancements in home technology can make your life easier, all with the sound of your voice. For example, imagine being able to watch a classic Christmas movie or play your favourite holiday carols whenever you want without ever lifting a finger. You can set up a smart entertainment unit that will work by voice command, install speakers in different corners of the house, and do so many other home automation tasks! A local home automation specialist will help you choose and install this new system in no time.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Smart Entertainment | $8,211 | $100 | $37,300 |
| Smart Speakers | $3,001 | $100 | $50,000 |
*Costs as of September 2021
4. Open Your Chimney for Santa’s Arrival
There are many holiday prep tasks that you can do yourself but getting your chimney repaired and swept will require an experienced pro. Regular chimney cleaning reduces its future repair costs, prevents potential chimney fires, improves indoor airflow and quality, and prevents many health issues. If you have a working fireplace in your home, it is essential to make sure it’s in proper working order before you turn it on.
In addition, a freshly swept fireplace will help Santa Claus enter your home and place presents under your tree. To ensure your home is ready for Santa, make sure to get your chimney built or repaired or a simple sweep by hiring a local pro.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Chimney Repair | $5,059 | $100 | $45,000 |
| Chimney Sweep | $497 | $120 | $4,200 |
*Costs as of December 2021
5. Prep Your Kitchen for Big Holiday Feasts
The kitchen is the center stage of any holiday party. Be it baking cookies for Santa or making eggnog, put your secret family recipes to work in a newly renovated kitchen this holiday season. Many Christmas foods and holiday feasts require a big oven in working condition. To ensure your oven can handle the workload, get your oven inspected and repaired by a local professional sooner than later.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Kitchen Renovation | $16,223 | $1,000 | $50,000 |
| Stove & Oven Repair | $3,001 | $100 | $50,000 |
*Costs as of January 2021
6. Set Up Your House to Host Friends & Family
Holiday gatherings at home require more comfortable seating arrangements. If you’re not sure how to utilize your current space or don’t have a lot of time on your hands to do that, you can hire a home staging company to do the work for you. Usually, home staging companies work for real estate agents to set up a house for showings. However, you can hire them to stage your house for big holiday gatherings and parties. If you have purchased new furniture for the same purpose, you can also hire a local pro to get that furniture assembled, saving you hours reading through complicated manuals.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Home Staging | $3,914 | $120 | $25,000 |
| Furniture Assembly | $659 | $100 | $7,000 |
*Costs as of December 2021
7. Tis’ the Season of Lights
Image Courtesy: Stella Lights Inc.
December can be a gloomy month given the constant snowfall and shorter days with less sunlight. However, you can make this month brighter with some special holiday lighting. On HomeStars, you can hire a local company to light up your roof and driveway this Christmas along with some special landscape lighting. Climbing up on the roof to install or remove Christmas lights can be a very difficult and dangerous task. You can potentially hurt yourself as well as damage your gutters and roof. Hiring a licensed technician for the job can take the load off your shoulders. You can hire the same pro afterwards to get these lights removed.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Landscape Lighting | $6,070 | $1,000 | $20,000 |
*Costs as of December 2021
Preparing for the holidays, getting through them successfully and cleaning up afterwards can be a huge project. Whether you have time on hand to do every little task or not, HomeStars can come in handy in many holiday emergency situations. Hire a local, community-reviewed and Verified professional from HomeStars to get your home Christmas ready this season and make the most of it!
