upkeep

Maintenance; the act or effort of keeping something in good and working condition.

Noun

Maintenance; the act or effort of keeping something in good and working condition.
- I would enjoy having a swimming pool, but I don't want to deal with the upkeep.
- […] it was unnecessary to fence off pasture from arable land, which saved a lot of labour on the upkeep of hedges and gates. - 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell...
- The story of upkeep has been never-ending. Between 1997-2000, a major programme of maintenance entailed replacing superstructure timbers - 50 main rail beams were replaced with greenheart, along with a similar number of...

From up + keep.

To maintain (something) or keep it in good repair.
- Do you know how to upkeep a boat?
- As for the city's buildings, it mostly resembled a town of white spires and cobblestone streets lined with flowerbeds that were upkept by magical means. - 2014, James Blackthorne, Meditations of Madness: The Lost...