Ham-fisted handymen handicap household appeals

Householders tempted to avoid using properly qualified tradespeople in favour of an attempt to do-it-themselves have been told to tread carefully.

In an effort to reduce costs many homeowners try to take on tasks themselves.

A warning from the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC), however, says that incompetent DIY botches are "highly unlikely" to be covered by home insurance.

Andrew Leech, technical consultant to the NHIC, said: "If you knocked a wall out and you weren't very competent, you hadn't put the right beams in to support what was above, your insurance company would look very seriously at that being your fault.

"On the other hand, if you get a person in to do it for you, then he would have to have insurance to cover that sort of thing. . . it wouldn't touch your household insurance, it would be on his professional insurance."

The Halifax building society estimates that a quarter of a million Brits have caused damage to their property during DIY work - and the approximate cost of repairs amounts to £350 million. Over a quarter of DIY householders claim to be inspired by the BBC show Changing Rooms.

17/10/2007 16:47:06