Life’s getting interesting, isn’t it? The inflation rate in the UK and the Eurozone is at its lowest level for five years and in the UK, we’ve just recorded the largest annual fall in unemployment on record, since such records began in 1972.  A survey just published by the British Retail Consortium reports that sales are at their weakest level in six years, yet a new study by the Federation of Master Builders claims that almost a third of UK homeowners are set to spend £6 billion between them on property upgrades over the next three years.

I wonder, perhaps, whether we’re staying away from the shops because we’re saving so hard to pay for these forthcoming upgrades?

With almost 40% of those planning to improve their homes, saying they will be major refurbishments such as new kitchens, bathrooms and extensions, this bodes very well for the KBB industry indeed, so I hope that everyone sticks to their plans.

The study, which you can learn more about below, also shows that when it comes to choosing a builder, one in four homeowners feel out of their depth. Don’t I just know about that! I now go through several websites making a shortlist - and whatever industry associations those on it are members of, if they’ve not got a good number of excellent reviews on CheckaTrade and the like, with a score of almost a perfect 10 and the price charged the same as the estimate given, I don’t bother to contact them. I’ve come unstuck too many times to be slaphappy in my choice.

Apparently, most people choose their builder on personal recommendations. I’ve come unstuck this way too, as of course a builder performing well on just one job, isn’t necessarily going to come up trumps every time, is he (or she)? And of course we all have different expectations (in my case, builders knowing what they’re doing is one of them!) ‘Safety in numbers’ has become my mantra and it’s paying off, although it does mean I have to wait longer to have the work done, as those I want to do it, seem to take more holidays than most! I suppose that figures though…

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Yours,

Jan Hobbs