Armstead has created a spoof website to highlight the true cost of DIY decorators doing bodge jobs
With many Brits set to tackle DIY projects on one of the last bank holiday weekends for the year, new research has shown that decorators pick up the pieces when over-confident, self-proclaimed handymen and women bodge decorating tasks.
A study by Armstead Trade of more than 2,000 home-owners, has revealed that three quarters of Brits have experienced DIY painting and improvement disasters that cost them hundreds of pounds to put right.
And despite the evidence showing that the British decorating community is being kept exceptionally busy this year with jobs booked well in advance, the paint manufacturer is urging consumers to think twice and make the ‘smart choice’ – by calling in the professionals for jobs that need a professional finish, in order to save valuable time and money.
According to the survey, the nation’s inability to complete basic DIY tasks to a decent standard, including painting a wall or a ceiling or putting up wallpaper means Brits spend £244 on average correcting their mistakes.
This adds up to a staggering £6.19 billion spent on putting right a bodged attempt at decorating and DIY. Some DIY and decorating tasks have been so poorly executed that 6 per cent have had to splash out more than £1,000 for professionals to fix their bodged attempts.
Armstead Trade additionally polled 45 professional decorators to confirm how often they are called in to fix a mangled DIY decorating disaster and the results are startling.
Decorators are likely to be called out six times per year to fix customers’ DIY decorating messes. 69% of decorators spend between one to two days per job, fixing their customers’ decorating mistakes and a further 31% spend between three to six days per job on corrections.
Considering the average British work day of eight hours, decorating mistakes are costing Britain 19 hours and 26 minutes of labour per job (or 14 days per year, per decorator).
83% of decorators have to charge up to £500 to fix their customers’ worst decorating nightmares while 5% find their customers’ DIY decorating skills are so poor that they have to charge an average of £1,500 to put right their customers’ botched attempt.
In an effort to help decorators face up to their own time limitations, decorators were also asked to pick out the ‘shortcut product solutions’, (which in reality are perhaps wishful thinking) that could help them attain smarter working practices that save them valuable time on jobs and therefore money.
The Bodge It Shop, a spoof ‘shop’ that claims to be ‘Britain’s first online decorating shop providing everyday solutions for cutting corners’ opens to decorators and is attempting to fill the gap left by other retailers including Armstead Trade, for products that provide ‘smart’ (or not so smart) solutions enabling them to save time on the job.
The Bodge It Shop highlights the need to do things right and not cut corners!
