From today's Telegraph:

"The maxim "if you want something doing properly, do it
yourself" appears to be giving way to "if you want
something doing properly, pay a professional".

Research out today claims that Britons are falling out of
love with DIY. Householders who are working longer hours
and who want a perfect home no longer have the time to do
their own plastering, papering or building, the research
shows. Instead, they spend an average of £4,500 a year on
tradesmen, equivalent to almost a fifth of the average
salary. The tradesmen most likely to be called in are
builders and plasterers, followed by window fitters.

Almost nine out of 10 (89 per cent) of the 500 men aged
between 30 and 50 questioned said that they would not
attempt any DIY at all. Of those, 67 per cent said they
were not up to the job, and 27 per cent didn't have time
or were not interested.

Andrew Boddie, the head of marketing at Standard Life
Bank, which commissioned the survey, said: "Whether it is
a simple decoration job or more serious structural work,
men across the UK are agree that DIY is no longer the
thing to do." It seems that the magic of television
programmes such as Changing Rooms and DIY SOS has finally
worn off.

It has given way to a realisation that botched DIY can
knock thousands of pounds off the value of homes, which
it was meant to enhance.

DIY disasters can also lead to serious injuries. Figures
released by the Department of Trade and Industry in
August showed that 200,000 people a year are injured in
DIY accidents, 100,000 of them seriously enough to need
hospital treatment. About 70 people a year die in such
accidents, most of which are caused by "a simple lack of
knowledge", according to the DTI.

Justin Ryan, co-presenter with Colin McAllister of the
BBC2 series Million Pound Property Experiment, said: "It
seems the thirst for DIY may be drying up. The quest for
home perfection is growing, but this time owners are
doing it properly and professionally. "We've seen many
people ruin their properties and knock off value by
`having a go' when they didn't know how."

A spokesman for the DIY chain B&Q, which has between
three and five million customers a week, said: "It's
becoming well known in the industry that a lot of people
now are very time-conscious and rather than doing a job
themselves, they will call in professionals.

"People are increasingly taking on major projects like
extensions and loft conversions that require more than
a knowledge of DIY.

"Also, lifestyles and work patterns have changed, so
unless DIY is a real hobby, people don't want to spend
every weekend doing work themselves."

A spokesman for the National Federation of Builders said:
"Our members in the domestic market are seeing their
strongest order books for a long time. "People are
interested in protecting the value of their homes and
realise that they can jeopardise this by taking matters
into their own hands."

In August last year, Sylvester Nseowo was jailed for three
months for refusing to knock down a botched extension to
his five-bedroom house in Telford. He had used seven-foot
girders without any steel supports or concrete. And Chris
Pendery, from Loughborough, was fined £15,000 for criminal
damage to his housing association home in April after
sawing through the roof supports in his loft to make more
space."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../24/ndiy24.xml

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