114x114_fitbox-jpeg_ladders1.jpegInexperience, and a chronic lack of technical knowledge have hampered nearly a third of home improvement projects completed in the last three years, driving up initial budgets, reports a survey by ING Direct.

Some 30% of home improvers admit that the work was finished late, whilst and one in twenty exceeded their initial schedule by more than three months. 

Brits have forked out a total of £76 billion on home improvement projects -  more than a third of which were undertaken by professional builders. Four million of these home improvers overspent on these projects by an average of £908 each.  (Which begs the question, why is B&Q suffering a sales slump?!)

Unsurprisingly, homeowners' expectations often exceed their capabilities. A quarter of those that went over schedule or budget say that they under-estimated the scope of the project when they started out and nearly one in ten admit that it was hard to maintain their momentum once the work had started. (Yes, we've all seen DIY SOS.)

Blame the builder 

Nearly a third of those who employed a builder to do the work say that the project went over budget and even more (35 per cent) report that the builder took longer than promised to finish the job. 

The loss of time and money thanks to inadequate planning is likely to take a particular toll on the one in five (18 per cent) home improvers who were banking on the work increasing the value of their home.

This is where it gets funnier:

 

Region

Per cent of home improvers who spent more than they budgeted for the improvement

Per cent of home improvers who were late finishing the improvement

Per cent of home improvers who exceeded their schedule by more than three months

GB

29%

30%

4%

London

32%

34%

4%

Midlands

30%

30%

2%

East Anglia

29%

34%

5%

Wales & West

32%

21%

3%

South West

32%

41%

11%

South

32%

28%

3%

Lancashire

32%

30%

6%

North East

22%

34%

*

Yorkshire

13%

36%

4%

Scotland

38%

18%

2%

*insufficient sample size

Top Ten DIY jobs are:

  1. Re-painting/wall-papering (20 per cent)
  2. New kitchen (16 per cent)
  3. New bathroom (15 per cent)
  4. Extensions (8 per cent)
  5. Fitting new doors/windows (6 per cent)
  6. New floor/carpet (7 per cent)
  7. Landscape gardening (5 per cent)
  8. Plastering walls/ceilings (3 per cent)
  9. Loft conversions (2 per cent)
  10. Knocking down a wall (1 per cent)