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Home improvement boom hits the UK

If an Englishman’s home is his castle then three-quarters are doing it up!

75 per cent called in a tradesperson for home improvements in last year

Britain is going home-improvement mad according to an independent survey which showed three-quarters of people employed a tradesperson to do up their pad in the last year.

The survey, commissioned by trade vetting firm Checkatrade.com, quizzed 1,000 homeowners across the UK – and uncovered a home-improvement boom.

A whopping 75 per cent said they had used a trader for home improvements on at least one occasion in 2015, up from 70 per cent in 2013 and 72 per cent in 2014.

In fact, nearly a fifth had employed a tradesperson on three occasions – and 11 per cent on more than five occasions during the year.

“There seems to be a significant trend towards improving your home as an alternative to moving or selling,” said Kevin Byrne, founder of Checkatrade.com.

“This is not an isolated result because figures have risen year on year and the survey also showed that 25 per cent of homeowners are thinking of spending more on improvements in 2016 than they did in 2015.

“Ever-increasing house prices have clearly played a part but there has also been a marked improvement in the standards of traders during this time. The rise of trade-vetting firms has given homeowners far more confidence that when they choose a trader they will do a high-quality job.”

Key results from the Checkatrade.com survey:

• Three-quarters said they had used a tradesperson for home improvements in the last year
• A quarter say they will spend more on home improvements this year
• A huge 82 per cent expect to spend more than £500 on home improvements this year
• More than 37 per cent will spend up to £5,000 over the next year – while 13 per cent have a budget of between £15,000-£25,000

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kevin Byrne .