The survey, which explores the growing shortage of tradespeople in the UK, asked 1,187 UK homeowners to share their experience of hiring a tradesperson and the DIY jobs they attempted that went wrong and later needed a professional tradesperson to fix.  

The data showed that nearly half of homeowners had struggled to find a tradesperson for a job, whilst 52% had been turned away by tradespeople who were too busy (or fully booked) to take on a new job. 

This shortage resulted in 29% of respondents attempting repairs themselves, which caused more damage than there was originally.  

The study comes against a backdrop of a decline in the number of trades businesses in the UK, contributing to an existing trades skills gap. 

Analysis shows that plastering businesses saw the largest year-on-year decrease at 9%, followed by house building (-7 %) and painting (-6 %) companies. 

The top-five domestic trades businesses seeing the biggest declines:

The study also explored the locations with the longest wait times for a tradesperson to fix an urgent issue. 

Plymouth topped the list, reporting a 10-day wait. Nottingham and Sheffield were next, with a 9-day wait, followed by Glasgow with an 8-day wait. 

As a result, 40% of Britons reported that the lack of available tradespeople affects their ability to maintain their homes. In comparison, 32% stated they would leave a household issue unresolved if they could not fix it themselves. 

The survey also explored the cost of fixing DIY disasters in cities across the UK. Brighton topped the list at £351.82, followed by Edinburgh (£344.67) and Nottingham in third place (£272.39). 

The mix of locations reporting long wait times and high repair costs is spread throughout the UK, underlining that the shortage of tradespeople is not a localised problem for any particular region(s).