The survey, which questioned 2,000 people around the UK, found that one third (33%) were living with an unfinished project. Nearly two fifths of those (38.9%) had lived with the situation for more than a year, while more than a tenth (11.5%) had put up with uncompleted DIY for more than five years.
The most common unfinished job was decorating, with one in five (19.7%) living with a part decorated room. Other incomplete DIY tasks included bare floors waiting for carpet, tiles, varnish or laminate (7%), shelves needing to be erected (7.2%) and unplastered walls or exposed plaster (5.8%).
Some unfinished jobs would seriously affect the quality of life for the householders, such as partially installed kitchens, while some could present a risk to those living in the home, including partially knocked down walls and exposed or unconnected electrics.
Ian Williams of Ocean Finance says: “Starting a DIY project is easy, but sometimes seeing it through to completion can be far harder. Sometimes people just run out of steam with DIY and either need a break or are waiting for a professional to come and finish the job off for them. While this may not matter with smaller jobs such as partially assembled flat pack furniture or a half decorated room, there are other jobs that are positively dangerous if left incomplete.”
Younger people, particularly those in the 25 to 34 age group, were the most likely (46.4%) to be living with unfinished DIY, while those aged 55 or over were the least likely (25.5%) to put up with an incomplete home improvement.
Londoners were the worst (39.1%) at getting DIY finished, closely followed by those in Northern Ireland (36.8%) and Wales (36.7%).
