You're destroying the value of your home!
Many of us are making this daft mistake, and wrecking the value of our homes!
Truth be told I’m not much of a Do-It-Yourself kind of guy. While I bonded with my father-in-law as we laid new flooring in my house last year, I managed to injure myself in the process, to the point that I am still getting physio.
Even fairly simple tasks like cutting the grass are apparently beyond me – my first go with our new lawnmower, and I managed to run over the cable, coming perilously close to doing myself some serious harm.
All in all, if a job needs doing, get somebody other than me to do it.
I’m not alone in being useless!
Clearly it’s not just me though. Many of us like to indulge in a spot of DIY – however, we seem to do an awful lot more harm than good!
Home improvements don’t usually come cheap, but find out the best ways to pay for them.
New research from home insurer LV= has revealed that many Brits have opted to take on complicated DIY jobs themselves, in no small part due to the recession, in an attempt to improve the value of their home.
The insurer reckons that over the last few years more than four million homeowners have attempted electrical jobs themselves, more than three million homeowners have tried to perform their own plumbing work, while well over one million of us have had a go at structural work such as removing walls.
A frankly terrifying 450,000 of us have had a go at performing potentially dangerous gas work ourselves.
However, for many of us, rather than improving the value of our home, it actually causes that value to fall.
- Watch this video: How to pay for home improvements
Wave goodbye to 5%
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The insurer conducted a survey of estate agents – who after all are the ones who try to work out just how much a property is worth – to review just how effective these home improvements tend to be. 69% of agents said they had seen decorating carried out that had made no difference at all to the asking price, with a similar number reporting landscape gardening that had had no effect.
Nearly a quarter noted that they’d seen cases where even a new kitchen had made no difference.
However, what comes across clearly from the study is that getting DIY jobs wrong can do far more damage than good when it comes to the value of your home. Indeed, the estate agents suggested that by doing these home improvement jobs poorly, homeowners may actually be damaging the property’s value by as much as 5%.
On the average property in the UK, that's about an £8,500 loss - one hell of a drop, just as a result of cutting a few corners rather than bringing in someone who knows what they are doing.
- Read this blog: The biggest property waste of time?
Bringing in the experts
Related how-to guide
Make home improvements
Find out how to make valuable home improvements to your home without spending a fortune.
See the guideThere are plenty of nifty websites that you can use to find a tradesman in your area. One clever little website is Find a Tradesman. All you have to do is go onto the site, and leave a description of the job you need doing. The various tradesmen who are members of the site will then provide a free quote, and you can pick who you want to go with. Similar sites include ratedpeople.com and myhammer.co.uk, as well as mybuilder.com, a favourite with lovemoney.com editor Donna Werbner.
Another nice tool comes from email4property.co.uk. Simply enter your postcode on the homepage, and you will then have the option of searching for local tradesmen in your area.
In truth there are lots of different ways to find a tradesman, but that’s only the start of it. You also have to ensure they are the right tradesman for you.
- Adopt this goal: Make home improvements
Be clear, and do your homework
Before you go ahead with any deal, do a bit of homework on the tradesman. Ask them for some references, and actually check them out. It would also be useful to see whether they are members of a trade association (as they will then likely be bound by certain codes of conduct), while you should also check out any VAT number they provide you with.
You should then be absolutely clear about the exact job that you want the tradesman to perform. Ask them to provide a written specification and estimate – this will be useful to fall back on should things not go according to plan.
If the payment is going to be in stages, or all at the end, it also helps to have that clearly outlined from the beginning.
There are plenty of other steps that will make life a lot easier along the way. Be sure to have a read of The rip-off that will wreck your home.
Finally, don't forget to inform your home insurer if you are having building work done to the property and find out whether any exclusions apply to the work under your policy. You may wish to take out extra or separate insurance to cover the work.
Overall, DIY is not something to be undertaken lightly. Make sure you know what you are doing, and if you don't, make sure you bring in someone that does!
More: House prices are going to crash again | Mortgage rates lowest in a year
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Comments
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After being made redundant 3 times in 7 years I decided to set up a [url=http://www.fixitnorthwest.co.uk]plumbing business[/url]. My parents worked in engineering many moons ago so I wasn't phased by taking a 6 week plumbing course. I passed all modules including Part P defined (for electrics in the bathroom). You can quickly see even when being trained who is gong to be the dodgy tradesman. If anyone is looking to re-train check out the company thoroughly before you hand over any money! There are plenty of dodgy training companies and salesmen out there.. When you pass any trade related exam you receive a card in that qualification. Every customer I have worked for see my cards. I photograph every job before and after as I also have liability insurance - has anyone ever checked this before letting 'someone' work on your property? One decent job a day, priced fairly and completed on time is definitely the best way to build a business and good reputation. Plumbing can be an easy fix but may require running around for some parts or a nightmare following the DIY'er. My business is progressing steadily and to date I have no complaints. My point? Fast track courses are good if the company teaching the courses are reputable. Check the tradesman's qualifications. Get a price upfront, but also be fair with the tradesman as there are often other problems found.
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Suziv has made many good points. I was an electrician qualified by apprentiship 45 years ago but no longer "qualified" to do much work, even in my own home, but I do have a HNC in electrical and electronic engineering from the '60s when these meant something so I have no qualms about ignoring as many of the new regulations as I can get away with. I still get to do some maintenance work of a non-specific nature and get to see a lot of work done by 'certificated' electricians and it is painful to observe that, while they may have a good ability to quote rules and reg's, many haven't got a clue about the scientific side of even basic electicity. This is probably because very few undergo the sort of training (5 years) that most of my generation did and this is also true for most of the building trades. Sadly, this is probably due to the demise of the 'Trade for life' as a result of a total failure of most of our governments to create a stable environment where skilled people can develop. In recent years I have worked alongside joiners, electricians and plumbers and shudder at their total lack of any ability to adapt to anything beyond the most simple task, mainly because it just isn't profitable and there is no incentive. Fortunately, there are still plenty of skilled tradesmen who are prepared to do a fair days work for a fair days pay but those who know them tend to keep them to themselves and I know many who have changed trades because their business is being taken by unscrupulous or unskilled migrants from failed businesses who have had a crash retraining course.
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I am not good at DIY. A friend of mine was finishing his training as an electrician and needed to rewire a house to get his certification. I was considering replacing the wiring in mine, so it seemed the ideal solution to have him do the work and then get it certified by his mentor who was a qualified electrician/trainer. Unfortunately, he didn't get the final bit done and so no certificate was issued. When it came to selling the house, I had to pay an NIEIC registered electrician to come and do a periodic test, and then reduce the price by £250.00 which was his quote for putting right the mistakes my friend had made. I shall never let a friend near any jobs that need a certificated professional, not ever. Just not worth the hassle or the cost.
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19 July 2010