Part of Next Frontier Builders →
Phase 4 · Running the Household

Build Home Operations

4 screens · do this on your computer

A separate Project for the house itself.

Family Manager handles people, schedules, meals, and the day-to-day. The house — appliances, paint colors, repair history, filters, manuals, warranties, the contractor who fixed the dishwasher last spring — is different. It's reference data you only need when something specific happens. You don't want it loading every time you ask Family Manager about dinner.

This module builds a separate Home Operations Project for everything related to running the house itself. Set it up once, drop in the reference files over time, and it pays off the next time something breaks.

What you'll have at the end of this lesson

  • A Home Operations Cowork Project connected to its own folder
  • An initial Home Reference file covering appliances, paint colors, light bulbs, filters, contractors, and anything else you want tracked
  • The "appliance broke" workflow demonstrated — Cowork reads the manual (or finds it online) and tells you what to try first

Create the Project and load the basics.

Same Project-creation pattern as Family Manager and Kid Life — Cowork → Projects → + → Start from scratch.

  1. Create the Project

    Cowork tab → Projects → + → Start from scratch. Name: Home Operations. Save location: ~/Documents/Claude/Projects/Home Operations/. Skip the instructions and files for now. Click Create.

  2. Build the initial Home Reference file

    Same interview pattern as the Family Factsheet and Pantry Inventory. Tell Cowork:

Home Reference interview
Build me a Home Reference file for this Project. Interview me one section at a time about our house. Cover: appliances (model numbers if I have them, age, warranty status); paint colors per room (brand, color name, finish, where used); light bulb types per room or fixture; filters and what kind goes where (HVAC, fridge, water, range hood, etc.); recurring maintenance I want help remembering (filter changes, gutter cleaning, smoke detector batteries); contractors and service providers I've used (name, what for, whether I'd use them again); and any house quirks worth knowing (the breaker that's mis-labeled, the radiator that takes forever to bleed, the door that sticks in summer). Ask one section at a time. Skip anything I don't have answers for and we'll fill it in later. Save the result as Home-Reference.md in this Project's folder.

Drop appliance manuals into the folder as you find them.

Most appliance manuals are downloadable PDFs from the manufacturer (search "[brand] [model] manual PDF"). Drag them into your Home Operations folder as you get them. Cowork can read them when you ask. You don't have to load every manual today — add them as needed. The next time the dishwasher acts up, that's the moment to grab its manual.

The "appliance broke" workflow.

Something stops working. Instead of Googling, calling someone, or just hoping it fixes itself, you ask.

One way to ask:

Sample — appliance broke
Our dishwasher is doing something weird — it's filling with water but the wash cycle isn't kicking on, and the lights on the front are flashing in a pattern I don't recognize. Look at the manual if I've dropped one into this Project's folder; if not, look it up online based on the model in my Home Reference. Tell me: what the flashing pattern probably means, what to try first (in order of easiest to hardest), and at what point I should stop trying and call someone.

Cowork pulls the model from your Home Reference, finds the manual (in your folder or online), interprets the flashing pattern, and gives you a step-by-step "try this, then this" list with a stopping point. Usually saves the service call. Sometimes confirms you actually do need one — but at least you call them knowing what's wrong instead of "it's doing something."

This also works for things that aren't broken yet.

  • "How often should I be replacing the filter on our [HVAC system]? Look up the model in my Home Reference."
  • "It's spring. Walk me through what house-maintenance things I should be thinking about this month for our area. Use the recurring maintenance list I gave you."
  • "I'm going to repaint the bedroom. Pull the current color from my Home Reference and suggest three colors that would coordinate if I want to repaint the hallway too."

Add what you learn back into the Reference file.

After Cowork helps you fix something, tell it to update Home-Reference.md with what you learned: "Add to the dishwasher entry: cleared the drain pump filter on 2026-05-15, fixed the issue. Note: this filter should be checked monthly." Next time something happens, Cowork has the history.

What's coming in the rest of the module.

You've got the Project, the reference file, and the workflow for when something breaks. Two short lessons to round out the module.

The next two lessons

  • Paperwork & PDFs — the workflow for household paperwork that keeps piling up. Warranties, contracts, service agreements, school forms, anything that comes home as paper or shows up as a PDF in your email. Cowork files it, summarizes it, and finds it again when you need it.
  • Sunday Household Reset — the weekly rhythm. Cowork pulls everything you've added during the week and tells you what's worth handling this Sunday — gentle, not a to-do-list pile-on.

Next: Paperwork & PDFs.

The other thing this Project handles well — the steady stream of paperwork that nobody asked for but everyone has.

Continue to Paperwork & PDFs →