Builders, electricians and carpenters are all professions where practitioners are bound to have a few horror stories about homeowners’ DIY disasters – but new research has uncovered that 50 per cent have to call in the professionals,
laser level in hand, to fix mistakes in the first year of home renovations.
The study, conducted by
Aviva of 1,000 recent home-movers, found that the average spent on renovating a house in the first year of moving in is around £10,000 – an amount which is bumped up significantly thanks to bodged DIY jobs.
Of the respondents, 90 per cent said they tried to bring down the costs of home renovations by tackling some jobs themselves, however, 39 per cent also said they’d had a DIY nightmare in the process. Of those, 54 per cent then had to call in the professionals to rectifAdam Beckett, Aviva’s propositions director, believes that it is important homeowners know their limits. “The reality is that some jobs are trickier than they look and can actually ending up costing more if mistakes need to be put right,” he says.
The biggest, most costly-sounding mistakes include holes in walls, ceiling caving in, broken windows, spilled paint on carpets and burst pipes, but this comes down to disasters as simple as bad decorating.
If you’re not a professional decorator with a laser level to guide you, you’d be surprised at how difficult it can prove to put up some shelves, or paint a straight line – or maybe you wouldn’t!
y the problem.
Adam Beckett, Aviva’s propositions director, believes that it is important homeowners know their limits. “The reality is that some jobs are trickier than they look and can actually ending up costing more if mistakes need to be put right,” he says.
The biggest, most costly-sounding mistakes include holes in walls, ceiling caving in, broken windows, spilled paint on carpets and burst pipes, but this comes down to disasters as simple as bad decorating.
If you’re not a professional decorator with a laser level to guide you, you’d be surprised at how difficult it can prove to put up some shelves, or paint a straight line – or maybe you wouldn’t!
