Hardware & Homestyle News
Young people turn to older generation for their skills A total of 81% of parents believe they were more capable of handling their home improvements at their children’s age than their children are nowadays.
A growing DIY skills gap and an empty toolbox. These are among the main factors cited in a new report which reveals how many young adults are ill-equipped to do basic household maintenance tasks.
Advice and help The research carried out in the UK shows how many young people are relying on mum and dad for both advice and handson help. Less than two-fifths (38%) of young people know how to do a selection of 10 basic household DIY tasks, such as putting up a shelf, changing a fuse or assembling furniture, it has been revealed. One in five (20%) don’t have any basic tools such as a hammer, screwdriver or spanner, according to the research by Aviva which highlights the extent of the
DIY skills gap among the generations. The younger generation (18-24 year olds) are up to four times less likely to be able to do a selection of basic DIY tasks than the older generation (65+ year olds.) The skills gap is most pronounced on jobs such as tiling a bathroom (only 9% of 18-24 year olds could complete this task, compared to 45% of 65+year olds) and fixing a leaking tap (only 14% of 18-24 year olds could complete this compared to 42% of 65+year olds).
Internet While many of us (43%) turn to the internet to plug our DIY skills gaps and gain advice and help on how to complete simple home maintenance tasks ourselves, 51% of 18-24 year olds instead turn straight to mum and dad for advice on solving their DIY dilemmas.
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But it’s not only DIY advice that grown up children are looking for. More than half (55%) of empty nest parents with children up to the age of 40 are still being called upon to actually help with hands-on home improvements in their children’s homes. Parents spend the equivalent of nearly one hour per week (51 hours per year) carrying out home improvements for grown up children aged 20-40 living away from home, ‘doing tasks that would equate to over £1,280 per year if carried out by a professional tradesman, including garden maintenance (47%), painting (46%) and building and assembling furniture (34%)’. In addition to their time, parents fork out an average of £3,341 per year to buy materials and goods to help with their grown-up children’s household improvements.
Capable Unsurprisingly, 81% of parents believe they were more capable of handling their home improvements at their children’s age than their children are nowadays. Commenting on the research, Heather Smith, director of home insurance at Aviva said: ‘Learning how to do DIY and simple home maintenance jobs around the home are important life skills to have and it seems that the temptation to call in mum and dad for both advice and handson help is hindering many young people from learning these skills themselves.’
CSO construction stats a ‘positive signal’ The 4.4% increase in building and construction output recorded by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) during the first quarter of 2013 has been described as a positive signal for the construction industry.
Optimism That’s the view of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) which says that optimism is starting to creep back into the sector.
According to the CSO’s Production in Building and Construction Index, the volume of building output went from 22.7 in Q4 2012 to 23.7 in Q1 2013. At the same time the value index moved from 26.0 in Q4 2012 to 26.5 in Q1 2013. There were also substantial improvements on the figures recorded for the comparable first quarter during 2012. ‘It’s too early to say that the decline in construction activity is over, but this is a positive signal,’ said CIF director general
Tom Parlon.
Mood ‘We are definitely seeing some optimism returning to the industry. The mood amongst our member companies has changed significantly from this time last year,’ added Parlon. ‘At that time there was little hope of securing work in the industry, however that seems to have changed in certain parts of the country at least.’ July•August 2013
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