Accourding to research, in the UK only 8% of 18-25 year olds would be confident rewiring a plug. They claimed that 17% couldn’t hang a picture, 12% wouldn’t have a clue how to use a drill, 4% said they wouldn’t be able to hang wallpaper & 21% said they wouldn’t be able to build a peice of flat pack furniture.
DIY seems to be dying out with the generations as a lot of young people nowadays tend to get tradesmen in to help them with their homes rather than attempting to do things themselves.
Why is this?
Do we have less time off? Is it because of booming property prices? Do we have less disposible income to carry out projects? Are handymen cheaper than they used to be? Are we just lazier?
Half of it is probably due to not actually knowing HOW to do things – typically parents would have taught their children how to do things around the house. Lets face it, dads teaching their sons, as thats how it used to be. We now have a lot more going on & attracting our attention than we used to have with things like the internet so people find themselves less engaged with learning the basics of DIY.
Personally I think it’s a real shame & even as a young female I absolutely LOVE doing things around the house. I’m definitely better than my husband, although he’s got the stregnth I don’t which certain projects require – I’m the brains & he’s the brawn!
Although i’d regard myself as pretty DIY-savvy, i’ve hired tradesmen countless times to do bits around the house that I either felt was out of my league, didn’t have the time to do or didn’t have the appropriate tools to carry out.
We all love saving money but some work is completely DIY friendly no matter what experience you’ve had, whereas others can be a tad tricky & you might want to call in an expert so these are the points you may need to consider before you try to do-it-yourself –
- Time –
Taking a day off work to complete a DIY task may seem like an easy way to save money compared to paying a tradesman to do it for you, however, a tradesman is trained to do these things & will typically be a lot quicker than you will. Sometimes if you work out how much you earn in a day (so how much you’d be losing) then how long it’d take you to, for example, paint a room it may work out more expensive than paying a decorator to paint the room who will take half the time you will.
- Quality –
You’re never going to get as good a finish as an expert will. You have to work out if the quality is really important to you; will sloppy paint work/cutting in give you a heart attack or can you live with it to save yourself money? It’s a bit like buying a pair of heels in Primark but expecting Louboutin’s.
- Safety –
If you’ve got to go up on a ladder to fix some slipped roof tiles or scaffolding to paint the exterior of your house; it may not end well. Pretty simple really but these professionals do it day in & out so are probably a bit more careful (or stupid) than you & I.
When you DIY, make sure you take the appropriate safety precautions recommended on the products like wearing a dust mask or gloves, keep the area ventilated etc.
- The cost of correcting –
If you do mess it up, the liklihood is that it will cost you more to get somebody in to fix your mistakes than it would to have it done by a tradesman in the first place. Sometimes it’s not quite worth the risk.
- Don’t mess with plumbing, plastering or electrics –
Seriously…just don’t even bother. These are definitely left to the experts as they’ll never ever go right. You’ll end up with water flooding through the ceiling, a dodgy textured wall or being electricuted.
That being said; there are SO many things that you CAN do yourself & throughout my blog posts i’ll be showing you how to do certain things simply & effectively as well as decorating hints & tips.
Love, Charlotte x