content: There is also knowing when to just patch a problem instead of fixing it to buy time until a new year and capital expenses or a few months time for a homeowner to save up and do a more through fix that they couldn't afford right now. Like when a valve is leaking on a water heater but given the age of the water heater means finding a valve will be 1/2 the cost of a new one so you chuck a bucket under it and say empty it once a week and replace the whole water heater in the near future it should hold for a while but won't have as much pressure. Or a 20 year old roof top AC unit on a building throws a fault in December $4,000 to fix or$300 callout to disable the alarm and then $10,000 to replace with a newer and more efficient one out of next year's budget or better yet capital expenditure to update four for $35,000.