A new study has revealed that more than two thirds of British homeowners have suffered a costly accident due to a failure regarding a DIY project; with the average cost of DIY accidents adding up to £1,830  per year. The most common accidents emerged as a result of ‘breaking something with a hammer’ and ‘not following the instructions’.

Over two thirds of people who attempt to carry out complicated DIY projects by themselves at home have had an incident that has ended up potentially costing them more money than if they were to hire a specialist

In a bid to further extend its research into home DIY and the costs associated with it, the team at www.constructaquote.com polled a total of 2,038 British people for the purposes of the study. Those taking part within the research were all aged 21 and over and had owned their own property for at least a year.

Respondents were initially asked to reveal whether they’d had a costly accident due to a failure in a DIY project undertaken at their home in the past year. More than two thirds (67%) of respondents revealed that they’d had an accident that resulted in a monetary cost; with the majority of these people (53%) revealing that the cost of repairing the damage amounted to more than the initial price of having the work carried out professionally. Of those who had an accident, 58% admitted that they had suffered a costly DIY failure more than once in the past twelve months.

In a bid to discover more about costly DIY accidents, researchers then asked relevant respondents to reveal why they think their DIY attempts had resulted in a costly repair. The top five most common answers emerged as follows:

1. Drilling/hammering through wires – 48%
2. Inaccurate measurements – 42%
3. Improper use of instruction manuals – 35%
4. Lack of correct permit/permission – 31%
5. Unsuitable paints/sealants – 27%

Those who stated that had costly accidents from a DIY project were then asked how much it cost in the past year to rectify the mistakes, with the average amount revealed as £1,830.

Individuals were then asked whether previous DIY accidents had deterred them from attempting trickier DIY tasks in the future, with the majority (58%) confessing that they would prefer to leave it to the professionals from now on.

Lyndon Wood, CEO and creator of www.constructaquote.com, made the following comments regarding the study and its findings:

“I hope that people realise from the results of this research that Britons need to be a lot more careful when carrying out DIY projects in their precious homes. If you don’t have so much competency with DIY, then maybe you should consider hiring a professional to carry out the job correctly, and more importantly, safely. There is no shame in hiring someone to do the job for you, there is even more shame in bungling a project and it ultimately costing you a lot more money.”

He continued:

“If you are planning to continue with your own DIY, I’d recommend keeping a good eye on your tools, and making sure you don’t stretch yourself too far by trying to do something you have no prior knowledge of.”