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Iceni Magazine | March 28, 2024

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Almost half of Norwich residents struggle with DIY, according to a poll

Almost half of Norwich struggle with DIY and have given up learning about DIY according to a poll by Bosch Home and Garden.

Almost half of the residents in Norwich struggle with DIY and have given up hope of ever being able to do it, according to a new study from Bosch Home and Garden.

As a result, today (06/01/2018) it is launching its ‘Pass It On‘ campaign to help encourage the next generation to learn vital new skills and become amateur home DIYers themselves as part of their New Year’s resolutions.

Researchers polled 1,500 Brits and discovered that 35 percent of Norwich residents have resigned themselves to being hopeless around the house, with a further 30 percent admitting they have never put up a shelf and 24 percent insist they can’t even change a plug.

A further 46 percent said they still ask their parents to come over to help out with practical tasks including putting up wallpaper, painting a wall or fixing a broken toilet seat.

Of those polled, 31 percent said it’s easier for them to get someone else in for basic home maintenance jobs.

The research showed that eight in ten Norwich residents said that as a nation, Brits have lost the art of DIY and 32 percent of adults feel immense pressure to be able to perform basic home improvements – but can’t. Bosch Home and Garden feels this is now the perfect time to address these issues before DIY and gardening skills and know-how are lost forever.

To coincide with the launch of the Pass It On campaign and as part of the nation‘s New Year’s resolutions for 2018, it has introduced a new inspiration hub, allaboutdiy.com to help pass on essential DIY and gardening knowledge and skills to consumers. It provides expert step-by-step guides, DIY advice for learning new skills, as well as detailed projects to encourage people to make items for themselves and give them the confidence they need to get hands on.

The poll also revealed that more than half Norwich respondents have never attempted to tile a bathroom, or fix a dripping tap, and 32 percent would be clueless about fitting a toilet seat.

In addition, 16 percent of all adults in Norwich have never had a stab at hanging a picture.

Ironically 81 percent of us have a toolbox with an average of £262 worth of tools and equipment gathering dust in our houses.

A spokesperson for Bosch Home and Garden, which commissioned the study said: “We have been concerned that as a nation, we haven‘t been passing DIY skills on to the next generation and this research confirms the urgent need for our ‘Pass it On‘ campaign. Many adults are lacking the basics and it‘s our role as market leader to help re-educate the nation and encourage, inspire and enable generations to pass on those DIY skills in 2018 and beyond.

‘‘By pledging to learn a new skill or sharing an existing one, we’re encouraging people to pass on their DIY knowledge and expertise to generations to come so that the nation can be proud of their own home improvements and gain that sense of satisfaction and personal achievement.“

The poll found the average Norwich resident calls in help twice a year with 16 percent feeling awful for having to rely on elderly parents to tackle their home improvements.

22 percent admitted to never learning any practical skills from their parents or grandparents and nearly half said the previous generation was far more practically minded than they are.

Four in ten of those studied said they have experienced a DIY disaster, with 43 percent confessing to taking a chance and just drilling through a wall.

Eight percent of Norwich residents rely on their grandparents to tackle their home improvements, four times the UK average and a further fifteen percent confess to just trying to muddle through by doing the odd job themselves.

DIY JOBS THAT BRITS WON’T TACKLE

Re-tiling the bathroom

Hanging a door           

Cleaning out the guttering       

Fixing a dripping tap    

Hanging wallpaper      

Changing a plug          

Fitting a new light        

Putting on a new toilet seat     

Putting up a shelf        

Filling in a crack in the wall     

Paint / varnish a fence

Painting a room           

Hanging a picture        

Assembling flatpack furniture  

To help kickstart gaining those essential DIY and gardening skills and make it part of your New Year’s resolutions, take a look at our website, allaboutdiy.com and get inspired. This DIY hub will help you find step-by-step guides, DIY hints and tips, inspirational project ideas and seasonal projects. If you already have the skills and feel able to help others by passing on that knowledge and know-how, then get in touch through our Facebook page and share your expertise.

ENDS


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