A recent study has revealed over two thirds of British owners have suffered a costly accident due to a failure regarding a DIY project.

The average cost of DIY accidents total up to £1,830 per year, with the most common accidents emerging as a result of 'breaking something with a hammer' and 'not following the instructions'.

The research, carried out by www.constructaquote.com, polled a total of 2,038 British people for the purposes of the study.

Respondents were asked to reveal whether they'd had a costly accident due to a DIY project failure undertaken at their home last year.

Over two thirds (67%) of respondents revealed that they'd had an accident which resulted in a financial cost, with the majority of these people (53%) revealing that the cost of repairing the damage amounted to more than the initial price of having the work carried out professionally.


Of those who had an accident, 58% admitted they had suffered a costly DIY failure more than once in the past 12 months.

Researchers then asked participants to reveal why they think their DIY attempts had resulted in a costly repair.

The top five most common answers were:

• Drilling/hammering through wires – 48%

• Inaccurate measurements – 42%

• Improper use of instruction manuals – 35%

• Lack of correct permit/permission – 31%

• Unsuitable paints/sealants – 27%

A total of 58% of participants confessed that they would prefer to leave the work to a professional after having a DIY accident.

Lyndon Wood, CEO and creator of www.constructaquote.com, said: "I hope that people realise from the results of this research that Britons need to be a lot more careful when carrying out DIY projects in their precious homes.

"If you don’t have so much competency with DIY, then maybe you should consider hiring a professional to carry out the job correctly, and more importantly, safely."

(LM/CD)