Is Britain DIY Crazy?

In recent years, British people have been spending increasing amounts of time and money on DIY home improvements. As more and more of us have become home-owners since the 1980s, it’s natural that improving those homes has grown in popularity. Of course, those with enough money can choose to pay someone to improve their homes for them, but even those with this option often choose to the work themselves.

Hard work, time and knowledge are all needed to carry out effective DIY. However, spending on DIY has gone up by 75% since the mid 1990s, while spend on hiring professional tradespeople has dropped by ten per cent.

It’s obvious that for many people, DIY is important to them. As well as the obvious potential for adding value to a home, DIY allows us freedom of expression and helps people create a sense of identity. After all, our jobs have long been a key part of our identities, it follows that our homes should be too. For many, DIY is also highly satisfying, creating a sense of achievement.

None of this could really be called crazy, but with house prices on a downward turn at the moment, doing DIY purely for potential financial gains isn’t necessarily a wise move. DIY is also often a time-consuming business, so consider if you couldn’t use that time better simply spending it with the family, particularly if the work won’t pay for itself when it’s time to sell-up.

DIY isn’t for impressing others or trying to make money – it should be done to make a home a nice place to live, that is a genuine reflection of those who live there. In the modern world, where much is throwaway and short term, DIY can be a way of putting back a sense of the value of long term goals and achievement.

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