A new survey has found that around half of the home improvement jobs carried out in this country result in some type of issue being raised. However, even though there can be a number of problems with the standard of work, only a small minority of property owners end up complaining about it.
The research, which was carried out by consumer organisation Which?, shows that almost 50% of the work carried out on properties had problems somewhere along the line. The survey highlights that even though there is a large potential for issues, very few property owners would raise these and 30% don’t feel comfortable doing so.
Common home improvement issues
Out of those surveyed the most popular reason for issues with home improvement projects was that the work wasn’t completed on time. The schedule is generally agreed with the tradesperson, but they don’t always stick to this. Other common complaints were untidy workers and where they required more visits to the property than had been expected.
Those property owners having a new bathroom or kitchen fitted faced delays in completing the work more often than those having other work. In 25% of the instances there was an issue with the timing of the project.
There are also frequent issues faced by home owners with the standard of the work after the job has been completed. These problems can include items not fitted correctly, leaks or features that don’t work. This can make it harder to complain to the tradesperson, as they are not actually on site at the time.
Those having loft conversions faced the most problematic jobs, with 70% of them having some type of issue with the work. Some 25% of property owners who had a loft conversion had to deal with messy workers and 17% faced untidy workers who didn’t tidy up when the work was finished. Among those who had loft conversion problems that needed to be rectified, 60% had to pay £5,000 or less to have the issues resolved, and 25% even had to commission a new tradesperson to finish off the job.
Working with tradespeople
Hiring a tradesperson to carry out your home improvement projects should help the job to run smoothly. However, this isn’t always the case and it can end up taking time and money to put the situation right. If you don’t feel comfortable raising the issues with the company, you could have to pay out additional costs to another supplier. According to the results of the research, 40% of people would rather pay someone else to do the work again rather than talking to the original supplier.
One of the ways of preventing this type of situation occurring is to have a contract in place before the work starts. This can help with the complaints process and means you have the backing of a contract. However, even though this is the case, 55% of property owners wouldn’t necessarily have a contract.