Why it is risky to save money on major home repairs

A quarter of homeowners in the UK ignore the problem of maintaining their homes and as a result, every tenth house is under threat of destruction.

Despite the fact that 28% of homeowners calling themselves home maintenance enthusiasts, almost a third of home owners in the UK admitted that they only have the skills to carry out basic cosmetic improvements such as paint and grout. They lack the skills and confidence to provide basic home maintenance in order to prevent problems such as dampness and leakage.Many homeowners devote a lot of time, effort and money to paint your house, upgrade the furniture or make a repair, and overhaul home pay is very little time homeowners. Homeowners are not cleaning gutters, don’t do pipe repair, prevention of cracked, etc.

The vast majority of home owners, namely, 70% prefer to solve simple problems without paying attention to the complex. About 23 % of homeowners admitted that they turn to their parents for help with home maintenance. About 23 % reported that they ignore serious problems at home that need to be repaired.

The main reason for the neglect of repair work – employment of the owners, it was stated by 41% of householders. 36% of respondents said that they do not have access to the use of special tools that are needed for repair, and 29% fear of harm to themselves and others.

In the past five years, homeowners spent an average of £5841 to repair their apartments and houses, one of the children spent more than £10,000, and one 20 – over £20000.

However, most owners, investing sufficient time and money in their homes, not thinking about what is and is not included in their insurance policy. If you systematically ignore your responsibilities for maintaining the home, insurance may become invalid if suddenly disaster strikes as a result of willful neglect by the owners of the property.

After making several checks of the technical condition of the house during the year, you can save your time and money and keep your house in good condition for a long time.

For example, time to clean gutters is £40 pounds, and replace the damaged gutter costs £550 and in addition, it takes a lot of extra hassle.

The older the house the more maintenance it requires. A special study by Halifax found that more than 75% of homes older than 20 years need more careful maintenance than these at home get.

® Helen Entree. 26.08.2013