Home Improvement versus Property Development

DIY Home improvement has been popular for decades. As more and more people wanted to modernise their homes, less and less tradesmen were available to do it for them and were charging more and more. This created a necessity to do the work themselves and a growing market for DIY stores..

During the last decade much of this home improvement has turned into DIY property development. The main aim is no longer to modernise a property for better living but to make maximum profit from selling it on. Dozens of DIY property development TV shows have been encouraging people to give up their jobs and become property developers or move abroad and renovate houses themselves. At the beginning of this phenomenon it was only the experienced or skilled or the very adventures who did this – these days people who’ve never put a nail into a wall before are renovating houses. People who don’t speak a word of their chosen country’s language buy their new or second home abroad – just to make a quick buck. Something has gone wrong here…

The whole point of do-it-yourself used to be to learn trade skills through experience and save a bit of money on labour. It wasn’t about making money. Therefore more quality time & effort went into DIY projects than these days. Also, given that most work was done to make a home look or function better – more thought & care was spent on layouts and functionality.

People used to have to learn from their DIY experiences. It was in their interest to get good quality materials, appliances and finishes – they were going to live with them. If they made mistakes they had to amend them. Now, the new DIY generation has developed an unfortunate, sloppy “that will do” attitude. They will not have to be around to experience the breakdown of those cheap appliances, the peeling off wallpaper etc or look at the badly attached skirting boards or the plaster cracks. So they don’t really care – as long as things vaguely work & look OK, and the cheapest possible materials and finishes have been used.…

During the past few years I have seen several flats and houses that were “renovated”… well, not to my standard. I can always tell whether the work was carried out by amateur DIYers (or incompetent builders) or good tradesmen (or experienced DIYers).

It’s a real shame we’ve come to this. This will give DIY a bad reputation – as bad quality workmanship will be associated with it. There are still many enthusiasts and experienced DIYers who do things themselves properly. As to newbies – before they start making money from their new hobby, they should do things for themselves and live for a while with their work to learn how good (or bad) it is.

Under this section we’ll try to give advice on how to do DIY home improvement successfully. I will also give some basic tips as to how you can improve your home and hopefully increase its value as a by-product rather than the main aim.