DIY Brit man 'nails it'

It is time to put months of despair behind us and revel in joyous news – for it has been revealed the DIY skills of the average British man has soared in recent months!

Yep, while we have been furloughed, told to isolate at home, unable to visit family members, been unemployed, or faced a myriad of other difficult situations, Brit man has been getting his hammer and radiator key out and ‘having a go’.

The top tasks men now feel ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ to tackle include:

• Bleeding a radiator (61%);
• Putting up shelves and curtain poles’ (58%);
• Painting or wallpapering a room’ (54%);
• Gutter cleaning and maintenance (51%).

According to a survey released this week, over a third (37%) of a 1,000 men who responded said they are now more confident at home improvement tasks as a result of the time devoted to DIY during the lockdown, and almost four out of 10 men said they had attempted more DIY during lockdown (38 would now “always give something a go” (39%).

One of the key drivers in the surge appears to be the interest in buying properties in need of modernisation, known as “fixer-uppers”.

“It’s exciting to see that young British men and couples are taking more DIY projects into their own hands and have used lockdown to head online and acquire some of the skills that would usually be passed down first-hand from generation to generation,” said Jonathan Opdam, of Plastic Sheets Shop, who commissioned the research.

The Internet appears to be the single biggest source of knowledge when it comes to working out how one goes about tackling a specific job, with 60% turning to social media for help or using forums and articles on Google. In comparison, only 19% sought advice from friends and family.

“Although house prices are heading up, so too are the DIY confidence and skills of men and young adults,” added Opdam. “And from that perspective, the future looks bright.”