TWO MILLION HOUSEHOLDS WILL EXPERIENCE A DIY DISASTER THIS WEEKEND

4 min read
  • Brits will spend £58 million fixing botched DIY jobs this weekend; the equivalent of just under £30 for every household 
  • Most common mistake will be getting paint somewhere it’s not supposed to be 
  • Average time  spent procrastinating before starting a DIY project is 8 months
  • Drunk DIYing on the rise, with one in four Brits admitting to picking up tools after a few glasses of wine or beer
     

Two million households will experience a DIY disaster this Bank Holiday weekend, as people dust off their to-do lists and get set to spend an average of five and a half hours each on DIY, according to new research from Privilege Insurance.

Using data from people’s past DIY experiences, including the last British Bank Holiday, the insurer has released a list of the most likely DIY disasters set to happen across the UK this weekend: 

  1. Getting paint somewhere it’s not supposed to be
  2. Drilling a hole that’s too big for purpose
  3. Personal injury (e.g. hammering fingers instead of a nail)
  4. Pictures falling down
  5. Putting a picture up wonkily
  6. Staining the carpet
  7. Flat pack furniture falling to pieces or being built incorrectly
  8. Not aligning the pattern on the wallpaper
  9. Fusing the lights
  10. Shelves falling down
     

Common reasons given for shoddy workmanship include trying to do the work too quickly (27 per cent), not concentrating (17 per cent) and thinking it ‘looked easy’ (14 per cent).  

British householders will be spending over 20 million hours on DIY this weekend, with one million of those spent trying to fix jobs that have gone wrong. 

The total cost of botched jobs will amount to £28.39 per household, or £58 million overall. 

‘Drunk DIY’ is also on the up in Britain, with a quarter (26 per cent) of people admitting to “having a go” at a task after a few glasses of wine. 

Another trend gripping the UK’s DIYers is procrastination, with the average time spent thinking about starting a DIY project stretching to 8 months. Once started, the procrastination doesn’t dissipate either, with data analysts from Privilege estimating that there are 2.3 million households with unfinished DIY projects in Britain at any one time.

Dan Simson, head of Privilege home insurance said: “With our statistics showing that householders will be spending £58 million fixing botched DIY jobs this weekend, it is important to plan their home improvements thoroughly and make sure safety comes first. Whilst poor workmanship is not covered by most insurers, accidents like spilling paint on the carpet are, so it’s worth checking that you have accidental damage cover on both your buildings and contents insurance. 

Simson continues: “It’s a simple thing to check, and it could save a serious amount of money. Privilege Plus Combined cover includes accidental damage for your building and contents and can be added to Privilege's Standard home insurance product."

ENDS 

For more information, please contact: Fran Langdon or Laura Nugent at Van Communications: 

[email protected] / [email protected] / 020 3179 0720

Notes to editors: 

Opinium carried out online research amongst 2,002 UK adults aged 18 or over from the 15th to 18th March 2016. Grossed up figures were derived by dividing the relevant base that (for example, those that spent money on correcting a DIY mishap), by the total base size, which was then multiplied by the UK adults population. For example, the calculation for those that have had accidents whilst doing DIY:

Those that do DIY – those that have not had accidents: 276 - 70
New base / total base * UK adult population: 206 / 2,001 * 50,909, 000 = 5,231, 006 people that have had a DIY disaster.

Privilege

Privilege Insurance specialises in car insurance for safe drivers. It also offers home insurance and breakdown cover by phone or on-line.

Privilege general insurance policies are underwritten by U K Insurance Limited, Registered office: The Wharf, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4AZ. Registered in England and Wales No 1179980. U K Insurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. 

Privilege and U K Insurance Limited are both part of Direct Line Insurance Group plc.   

Customers can find out more about Privilege’s products or get a quote by calling 0345 246 0515 or visiting www.privilege.co.uk

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