Home Diy Spending Takes A Hammering: Spending On Improvements Falls For Fifth Year In A Row

[righttoleech]

The situation is not helped by the proliferation of 10% or 15% off days and other ephemeral so called discount tactics which distort prices. A Homebase purchase on a normal price day makes you feel like you are being mugged.

Typical example. A week ago I bought a tin of Hammerite garage door paint. Price £11.99.......came in at about £10.50 as it was a 10% day.

Yesterday same tin marked at £17.99. There was some sort of paint discount that brought it down to just under £15. Also there was a 'gardening promotion' that gave 25% off......but only for that section of the store.

The effect of this sort of nonsense on me is that shopping seems like a spivs game these days where the best option is to buy as little as possible.

[SleepyHead]

Good. The DIY bubble was insane, and needed to pop.

I'm still waiting for the sport bubble to pop. .... that one's taking ages.

[Self Employed Youth]

I have spent money on DIY goods, and gardening goods (what with having an allotment now). I'm in social rented accommodation, and have improved my property, so have my neighbours.

A friend in social rented property has recently spent money and time improving her social rented property.

My friend in private rented wishes to decorate but is forbidden, he is looking to move. Another friend in private rented is not interested in decorating.

[goldbug9999]

And then theres the fact that TPTB are working hard to outlaw many forms of DIY though various forms of regulation i.e. requiring that almost any non-cosmetic work you do requires some sort of certification or inspection.

[The Knimbies who say No]

And yet imputed rents in GDP are partly dependent on a 'quality factor', used to describe the state of the owner-occupied housing stock, which is subject to upwards-only revision. FreeTrader has written about this previously.

Might not be a surprise to find that in a time of declining real wages, and declining equity, the average state of the housing stock is also declining. The figures seem to support that view, on the face of it.

Edited May 6, 2013 by cheeznbreed

[LiveinHope]

The situation is not helped by the proliferation of 10% or 15% off days and other ephemeral so called discount tactics which distort prices. A Homebase purchase on a normal price day makes you feel like you are being mugged.

Typical example. A week ago I bought a tin of Hammerite garage door paint. Price £11.99.......came in at about £10.50 as it was a 10% day.

Yesterday same tin marked at £17.99. There was some sort of paint discount that brought it down to just under £15. Also there was a 'gardening promotion' that gave 25% off......but only for that section of the store.

The effect of this sort of nonsense on me is that shopping seems like a spivs game these days where the best option is to buy as little as possible.

If I see something on offer and it is 'back to its pre-offer price" when I want it, I'll find the manager and offer the offer price backed with a reasonable argument. Usually works.

Very rarely go shopping though - waste of money.

Edited May 6, 2013 by LiveinHope

[winkie]

People do DIY to add value to a property.......why bother when it adds little value and they can't move let alone spend on improving aesthetically what it says on the tin....provides a practical roof over their heads.

[LiveinHope]

People do DIY to add value to a property.......why bother when it adds little value and they can't move let alone spend on improving aesthetically what it says on the tin....provides a practical roof over their heads.

That is a plus to renting, save a fortune on needless DIY and 'upgrades' that are not necessary, once you realise you can 'live with it'

[Ulfar]

Couldn't read the article so I don't know what stores they included in the figures.

However there competition has increased for the big chains, where I live there are many local outfits that are not only cheaper but offer a better service. This is especially true on things like fencing materials which cost a fortune from B&Q, Homebase, Wickes. But are extremely cheap from local or smaller outfits like mole valley. Also some of the local outfits provide a much better service. For the wood for fencing they cut it all for free.

It always pays to check on-line first as the price differentials can be huge, even ironically between ordering on-line then collecting from the store and just going to the store (here's looking at B&Q, Wickes, Homebase, Argos, etc.).

[zugzwang]

Blessedly quiet around here today. In years gone by you couldn't hear yourself think for decking-saws and brick-shavers.

[jfk]

Went into Wickes to get some bits and bobs for the garden - needed to repaint the back fence with some wood preserve after the battering of the last couple of seasons.... prices seem very steep.

We got some own-brand wood preserver for a reasonable price, brushes were OK. But stuff like those stupid twig "fences" or screens that people use to hide their bins - £30 for a twig fence ! Went into a B+M-type store on the same retail park and they were half the price (not that we got one but I've noticed a few people have them around our way).

Cuprinol seems to have rocketed in price

Anyway bit of a price comparison - we need a new garden hose nozzle, the adjustable sprayer type. Cost in B+Q/Wickes - £10 basically. Cost on ebay? Fiver.

Screw the big DIY'ers.

[Cosmic Apple]

The big DIY sheds are generally expensive, especially for the raw materials (blocks, sand, timber).

I've recently put in a new kitchen, and took advantage of the B&Q offers over the Christmas period meaning it was around 35% off marked price all in. Could have been cheaper buying form a local store - but if I needed an extra door (which, given my 'on the job' planning, I did... a few times) what guarantee would there be that I could get one? Less of a risk with B&Q.

Currently working on a replacement for the prefab monstrosity of a garage... 19sqm, half block, half timber, steel clad etc all in around £2000 (self build), less than my small kitchen! Local suppliers were clambering over themselves to quote me and beat others quotes, practically had a guy begging for me to buy the roofing sheets from them even though I said I'd chosen the supplier. Oh some good bargains on ebay as well, got 3 nearly new uPVC windows off ebay for £63, very nice ones too (better than the house!). Biggest cost is the manufactured stuff: windows (if I'd not got some s/h) would have been £450 and the door including automation is £500.

It is a shame that kids (and their parents) don't have some of the basic skills needed to do odd jobs minimum... and its only going to get worse. I get a few comments along the lines of whether I've asked the council etc to do basic stuff... (replacing the guttering for example...), people seem incapable of doing anything without some authority holding their hands.

[Spoony]

Good. The DIY bubble was insane, and needed to pop.

I'm still waiting for the sport bubble to pop. .... that one's taking ages.

Haven't B&Q axed Krusty Allsop from their DIY magazine now?

[interestrateripoff]

Perhaps people now are only doing maintenance, which if the property is well looked after will be minimal?

Rather than doing constant make overs to add 1000's to it's value.

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

That is a plus to renting, save a fortune on needless DIY and 'upgrades' that are not necessary, once you realise you can 'live with it'

This.

Also the model that landlords adopt, do the minimum possible. Is it a surprise as OO percentage decreases and private rent sector balloons

[OnlyMe]

Look at the dates. Peaked 2004, well before the market peak and 2008, about the same time as rampant BTLerism started taking off.

Hence fall in DIY - you are not going to spend the same money on doing up someone elses place, especially if you have no security of tenure and most lanlords couldn;t give a stuff about the interior decor as long as the proporty is let - so minimum spend.

[Cosmic Apple]

Looking at some of the places on RM, when the boomers finally pop their clogs and these places are sold off at reasonable prices there's going to be another DIY boom. Have you the state of some of the decor/bathrooms/kitchens? Uch...

[LiveinHope]

This.

Also the model that landlords adopt, do the minimum possible. Is it a surprise as OO percentage decreases and private rent sector balloons

A flat wood or formica surface is all you need to prepare food, the food tastes no better if it's prepared upon polished marble from Italy.

[Venger]

Discussion on the radio between a few people - could hear oldie-ness in some voices, just a moment ago, and just before 'Gardeners Question Time' - they were having a love-in on how nicer gardens increases property-values.

Bit different than the anti-reality often on here, that oldies don't care about their house prices / don't want HPI.