A report on family spending, released today, has been hailed as ‘excellent news’ for glaziers.
Commenting on the Family Spending 2014 Edition report, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Chris Burke, director of Insight and Brand at online trade recommendation service, Rated People, commented: “Today’s Family Spending Index shows that households are now spending less in real terms than in 2006. However, it isn’t all bad news, particularly for tradesmen who are capitalising on British household’s lack of appetite for DIY to take a much higher amount of household expenditure.
,
,“Despite headlines being dominated by the British obsession with moving house, today’s Family Spending Index demonstrates that as Brits tighten their belts, many households are staying put and opting to upgrade and update their existing home.
“However, this does not mean that the individuals themselves are doing more home improvements, with spend on DIY actually falling by over 60% in 2013 (from 2012), to just 80p a week, or just over £40 a year – confirming the recent comments, made by Homebase, that DIY habits are in decline.
“But, overall expenditure on home maintenance and improvements is on the up, and this is being driven by DIFY (do-it-for-you) or outsourcing work to contractors and tradesmen, with this spend up 12% in 2013 over 2012 to £15.50 a week or over £800 a year.
“DIFY is now one of the biggest sources of household spending, equating to 11% of total house expenditure which is similar to household spend on council tax (14%) and more than triple spend on household insurance (3%).
,
,”For glaziers, this is excellent news and is indicative of the trend that Rated People is also seeing through its own site with a 20% increase year to date in household enquiries for home improvement services. Additionally this increased spend can only be a good thing for the British economy as it adds increased spending power to tradesmen, allowing for more spending power on retail, leisure and entertainment, as well as increased tax revenues for the British government.”
Read more on the Family Spending report at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-spending/family-spending/2014-edition/art-chapter-2.html
