Do-it-yourself disasters cost home renovators $1500 to fix

STINGY homeowners attempting do-it-yourself jobs are costing themselves a small fortune when something goes wrong.

There’s no denying Australians are obsessed with home renovations, but new research commissioned by HiPages in partnership with News Corp found these dodgy DIY jobs end up costing Australians about $1500 to patch up.

Able Corp plumber Ryan Jaye, 38, said consumers were “too often price driven” and this resulted in them paying more in the long run.

“I see it a lot, the problem is it is so easy these days for consumers to buy parts,’’ he said.

“You can walk into any supplier or hardware store and buy fittings and some store people tell you how to do a job.

“Then you can go to YouTube and look at how to do something.”

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The research found on average more than 2.3 million homeowners admit they’ve had a DIY that’s gone pear-shaped and the annual cost to repair these dodgy jobs can blow out to billions of dollars a year.

HiPages chief customer officer Stuart Tucker said homeowners needed to “know their limits.”

“It seems to be men who over-estimate their capabilities and they have a go at it,’’ he said.

“Understand what you are good at and what you are not good at and where your capabilities begin and end, because the cost of getting it wrong can be so high.”

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Finding a good tradesperson including doing a licence check is important to ensuring homeowners engage someone who is good at their job.

Master Builders Australia’s chief executive officer Denita Wawn warned homeowners of underestimating “the complexity of jobs they attempt to take on themselves.”

“They also often lack the expertise needed to project manage the tradespeople they call in to perform rectification work which is why we recommend using a registered builder in the first place,’’ she said.

“Homeowners should understand that if work on their home doesn’t comply with building regulations this will subtract from the value of their property when it comes time sell.”

sophie.elsworth@news.com.au

@sophieelsworth

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