82% of Brits admit to putting off essential jobs around the house, procrastinating for an average of nearly four weeks, according to research by residential property manager FirstPort.
For one in 10, these tasks are put off by more than three months. However as a nation we spend 114 hours a year doing jobs around the house – equivalent to 14 working days, or seven weekends each year.
Calculating the cost of jobs such as plumbing, painting, cleaning carpets, windows and gutters and doing ad-hoc decorating, repairs and gardening, Britons estimate they spend £700 a year maintaining their homes. Adding to this the amount of time we spend working on our home , the full cost of maintaining the average home reaches £1,840 annually.
32% of those who put off household tasks and DIY say they do so as they are too busy, while 25% say they are unsure of what to do. One in 10 (9%) are worried about damaging or devaluing their home and 6% are worried about injuring themselves.
These fears are not unfounded; as the research found 28% of Britons (14.4 million) have injured themselves while maintaining their homes, with one in 20 (4% - equivalent to 1.8 million adults) having to take time off work or go to hospital.
