DIY is a major facet of today’s homeownership lifestyle. The trend of people exchanging the often costly practice of hiring builders and other similarly qualified professionals to do manual construction and fixing work within their own property, for the money saving method of simply doing it yourself boomed in the 1960’s and 70’s. This popular cultural outlook gave rise to an enormous amount of educational material in the form of books and magazines, enabling more homeowners to work on their own properties.
A survey by Halifax claims that Britain’s enthusiasm for DIY is set to continue as mortgage holders seek to make their properties more valuable. It says that a quarter of homeowners that performed DIY in the last year, did so to add value to their homes, and over half of those that did so believe that their work could add up to £5,000 to their properties.
Other sources suggest that there is in fact a decrease in people undertaking DIY which, as a consequence, has led to a large reduction in sales from DIY retailers. A May 2007 article in Marketing Week suggests that the changes are too big to be dismissed as a statistical anomaly. It goes on to say “There is a fundamental shift in attitudes taking place, a result of an ageing population and the feelings of security, even complacency, which have come with the UK’s 15-year consumer boom.
“We’ve known that the UK population has been ageing for the past 30 years, but the baby boom has been a great driver of DIY growth. As that peak in the birth profile has aged it has distorted demand at every stage. Over the past decade the baby-boomers were in their 50s – the prime age to do DIY. But the baby-boomers were 60 last year and are now less physically able to do DIY and are losing interest in it anyway. On the whole “third-agers” prefer to take holidays.”
The article continues to mention that the problem doesn’t lie just with the ageing population, but also with the 25-34 year old age group. The problem, it seems, is that as house prices rise, less potential first time buyers can afford to buy a property. However those who do are often unable to afford the costs of renovating.
As we pass the halfway point in 2009, with the current economic climate having changed somewhat since the article in Marketing Week, perhaps a change of events is occurring right now.
Other developments in the trends of DIY from its beginnings suggest that more women engage in renovation work within their home than before, although this information is only drawn from recent small polls. Traditionally DIY appeared to be for the ‘man of the house’ with a masculine stigma attached, though this seems to have changed in recent years.
A recent poll on DIY advice website lets-do-diy.com shows an interesting conclusion to the question, ‘who is better at DIY, men or women?’
“Everyone at lets-do-diy.com is surprised by the strength of feeling expressed in the forum,” says Mr Burry, the websites editor. “Both sides of the debate have put their case with amusing anecdotes and scathing attacks on the DIY capabilities of the opposite sex.”
He continues: “On a serious note, the poll clearly suggests that today many more women are undertaking home improvement projects and consequently DIY is no longer the predominantly male activity it once was.”
To date over eight hundred people have voted in the poll with the division of opinion currently standing at 54% to 46% in favour of men being more proficient at DIY.
For more information visit lets-do-diy.com for videos .
