Over 50% of Brits are Clueless About DIY

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We are coming to that time of the year again to dust off our toolboxes and get spring cleaning. A recent nationwide survey conducted by JJ Roofing Supplies suggests that quite a few Brits are clueless about DIY.

The survey quizzed 2,000 Brits about how many DIY tasks they do on a yearly basis compared to how many tasks they have outstanding.

With 28% of Brits stating that they have between 4-10 DIY tasks that still need doing around the house, and the average Brit only tackling 3 tasks a year – not much of spring cleaning this Bank Holiday?

Do Brits have the skills for DIY?

With nearly 10% of Brits admitting that their DIY skills are poor, and 35% admitting that they guess how to do DIY tasks, it’s not surprising that Brits are prone to DIY disasters.

When trying to do small DIY tasks around the house, one in four Brits don’t know how to change a fuse, and 26% of respondents said they have either broken light fixtures while trying to fix them or have ruined house décor by trying to spruce it up.

In some cases doing DIY has really gone wrong as nearly 10% of Brits have found themselves in situations where they needed medical help when doing DIY tasks.

The true costs of DIY

A whopping 70% of Brits have said they have paid someone else to do their DIY tasks. From fixing a leaking roof to hiring someone to put together their flat-pack furniture, 16% of Brits splash out as much as £80 on a single DIY task.

Areas where DIY will be blooming this Bank Holiday

Out of those surveyed, it seems Yorkshire and the Humber come on top when quizzed about how comfortable they are doing DIY, with 39% rating their DIY skills as good or excellent.

When Brits were asked about basic DIY tasks they can do, surprisingly the results varied around the UK.

Replace wall tiles – % that can

South East – 38%

London – 39%

North West – 43%

East Midlands – 43%

Yorkshire and the Humber – 43%

Scotland – 46%

Change a fuse – % that can

London – 70%

South East – 73%

South West – 76%

East Midlands – 76%

Scotland – 75%

Yorkshire and the Humber – 77%

Bricklaying – % that are comfortable doing this

East Midlands – 10%

Scotland – 12%

Yorkshire and the Humber – 15%

North West – 16%

South East – 16%

Scotland – 12%

London – 18%

But maybe paying someone else to do your DIY is the way forward. Nearly half of respondents living in East Midlands said they have argued with a partner about DIY, and over a quarter of Brits feeling embarrassed when having to ask for DIY help.

“While it’s encouraging to see Brits are attempting a variety of DIY projects, the increasing shift from relying on parents to teach first-hand DIY skills to simply guessing or browsing YouTube videos makes Brits prone to DIY disasters” commented Darren Searles, Key Accounts Manager at JJ Roofing Supplies.

Find out how millennials handle DIY tasks here.

Here’s a case study from a woman who likes her dad to carry out all the DIY for her – we think he deserves a Decorator Dad medal!

Name: Emma Fisher

Age: 35

Location: South Yorkshire

Occupation: Marketing

Emma’s dad helps her out on DIY tasks on a regular basis since she moved into her property, Emma comments “we moved into our house about 18months ago. It’s an old house and needs a lot of work. Still. My boyfriend is not the handiest of people”

The list of things her Dad has fixed for her in the house so far are:

1. Replacing a radiator
2. Helping building tables and chairs
3. Fixing broken drawers – replacing runners and the front.
4. Putting up pictures shelves so they line
5. Making a piece of driftwood into a shelf – including sourcing brackets from Europe
6. Cutting curtain poles to fit an odd sized bay window – a good knowledge of maths, pipe cutters and odd tools were required
7. Chainsawing out tree trunks from the garden
8. Fitting a bathside when it required screwing to the floor in a strange way
9. Chopping up logs with his rotating saw thing for yet to be completed housey craft projects
10. Helping me fix toilets over the phone

The reason she calls her Dad in to help are:

1. I know he can do it.
2. He loves helping me out. I know it makes him feel useful.
3. He teaches me to do it as we’re going along it so hopefully I can replicate the knowledge he’s passing on, and he has all the tools we could ever need and until recently I have had a drill and a hammer and a snowboard tool screwdriver!

Emma also commented “We’ve not asked him to do things like plastering or electrical work, but we do consult him when we get quotes through to see if they sound right”.

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