A new study has revealed that more than two thirds of British homeowners have suffered a costly accident due to a failure regarding a DIY project; with the average cost of DIY accidents adding up to £1,830 per year. The most common accidents emerged as a result of ‘breaking something with a hammer’ and ‘not following the instructions’.
Over two thirds of people who attempt to carry out complicated DIY projects by themselves at home have had an incident that has ended up potentially costing them more money than if they were to hire a specialist
In a bid to further extend its research into home DIY and the costs associated with it, the team at www.constructaquote.com polled a total of 2,038 British people for the purposes of the study. Those taking part within the research were all aged 21 and over and had owned their own property for at least a year.
Respondents were initially asked to reveal whether they’d had a costly accident due to a failure in a DIY project undertaken at their home in the past year. More than two thirds (67%) of respondents revealed that they’d had an accident that resulted in a monetary cost; with the majority of these people (53%) revealing that the cost of repairing the damage amounted to more than the initial price of having the work carried out professionally. Of those who had an accident, 58% admitted that they had suffered a costly DIY failure more than once in the past twelve months.
In a bid to discover more about costly DIY accidents, researchers then asked relevant respondents to reveal why they think their DIY attempts had resulted in a costly repair. The top five most common answers emerged as follows:
Drilling/hammering through wires – 48%
Inaccurate measurements – 42%
Improper use of instruction manuals – 35%
Lack of correct permit/permission – 31%
Unsuitable paints/sealants – 27%
Those who stated that had costly accidents from a DIY project were then asked how much it cost in the past year to rectify the mistakes, with the average amount revealed as £1,830.
Individuals were then asked whether previous DIY accidents had deterred them from attempting trickier DIY tasks in the future, with the majority (58%) confessing that they would prefer to leave it to the professionals from now on.
Lyndon Wood, CEO and creator of www.constructaquote.com, made the following comments regarding the study and its findings:
“I hope that people realise from the results of this research that Britons need to be a lot more careful when carrying out DIY projects in their precious homes. If you don’t have so much competency with DIY, then maybe you should consider hiring a professional to carry out the job correctly, and more importantly, safely. There is no shame in hiring someone to do the job for you, there is even more shame in bungling a project and it ultimately costing you a lot more money.”
He continued:
“If you are planning to continue with your own DIY, I’d recommend keeping a good eye on your tools, and making sure you don’t stretch yourself too far by trying to do something you have no prior knowledge of.”
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Chancellor George Osborne is launching a radical revamp of planning rules in a bid to boost house building levels across the country.
Automatic planning permission will be granted on many brownfield sites while major housing schemes could also be fast-tracked.
The moves will be part of a plan called “Fixing the Foundations” to boost the UK’s productivity revealed today by the Chancellor as a follow-up to his latest Budget.
Planning powers will also be devolved to Mayors in London and Manchester while councils will be sanctioned if they take too long to deal with applications.
Osborne said: “Britain has been incapable of building enough homes.
“The reforms we made to the planning system in the last Parliament have started to improve the situation: planning permissions and housing starts are at a seven-year high.
“But we need to go further and I am not prepared to stand by when people who want to get on the housing ladder can’t do so.”
Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “The raft of planning announcements today really hit the nail on the head for a number of planning issues.
“We are particularly pleased to see a commitment to bring forward brownfield land for redevelopemnt and also the focus on Local Plans, as the absence of such is a real block to local growth.
“In order for these changes to make a difference, however, we strongly urge government to begin a dialogue with both the public and private sectors on how to address the severe shortage of funds which is afflicting local planning departments.
“The private sector will need to play a part in helping to address this funds shortage, and this needs to be explored fully if we want these new measures to work.
“We would also have liked to have seen some commitment to growing the purpose-built rental sector, which has an important part to play in solving the housing crisis and creating a balanced housing market.
“We warmly welcome the government’s recognition of how a functioning and efficient planning system can contribute to the UK’s growth by creating not just new homes, but also the infrastructure that supports great places.”
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Green construction campaigners were left reeling today as the Government dumped its zero-carbon homes targets.
Chancellor George Osborne’s “Fixing the Foundations” report confirmed that zero-carbon building policy is being dropped along with targets for homes to be compliant by 2016 and other buildings by 2019.
Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council, said: “Let us be in no doubt this announcement is the death knell for zero carbon homes.
“It is short-sighted, unnecessary, retrograde and damaging to the house building industry which has invested heavily in delivering energy efficient homes.
“Britain needs more housing but there is no justification for building homes with a permanent legacy of high energy bills.”
Rob Lambe, Managing Director of Willmott Dixon Energy Services, said: “Since the original Zero Carbon announcement Willmott Dixon has been supportive of setting a long term trajectory enabling industry to invest with confidence.
“This announcement seriously undermines industry confidence in government policy and will diminish future investment.”
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