The UK’s largest builders merchants, Travis Perkins, have announced that they have seen a change in customer trends which indicate that property developing and self building are becoming more popular again in the weeks since Christmas, whereas DIY seems to be taking more of a back seat.
The news comes as the demand for DIY equipment such as screwdrivers and paint brushes is decreasing; they are being purchased less frequently in DIY stores such as Wickes which is owned by Travis Perkins, compared both to the weeks and months before Christmas and the trends the building firm saw this time last year.
Last year, there was an overall decline of 3% in the number of retail purchases for DIY home improvement equipment, but this was lower than the sector expected considering the country was in the grip of a recession. People had still preferred the DIY option, choosing to improve their homes rather than move house, mainly due to the lack of public confidence in the housing market.
As the UK has finally moved out of recession and the housing market it beginning to turn, confidence in property prices and investing in bricks and mortar is beginning to be a more attractive prospect. This seems to be what is happening as Travis Perkins are seeing more sales to tradespeople coming out of the woodwork, who make up 70% of their customers, purchasing building materials such as bricks and timber to renovate properties for resale or as rental properties.
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Despite reductions in the cost of wholesale gas an electricity, customers are still seeing price increases when their gas and electricity bills land on the doormat. In addition to this, energy companies have announced increased profits, which energy watchdog Consumer Focus has slammed, saying that energy prices should be cut in order to pass on the reduction in the price of wholesale electricity and gas to their customers.
Energy companies have, it has been unveiled in an Ofgem quarterly report, made profits of £105 for each dual-fuel customer in February 2010 compared to £75 for each customer in November 2009. In addition, with British Gas having announced profits for 2009 of £595 million, a £291 million increase from 2008 profits; and Scottish Power having confirmed pre-tax profits lying at £1,293 million, it is understandable that consumers who are struggling to pay their energy bills will be less than pleased with this news.
Consumer Focus is therefore calling on energy companies to be fair to their customers and pass on the benefits of reduced energy costs to reduce their energy bills. British Gas have advised however that if they were to cut their energy bills by 5% they would not be making any profit. Their managing director, Phil Bentley, commented that if this was the case, British Gas would not be able to offer services such as installation smart meters, assisting with insulating people’s homes and creating more jobs.
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A report launched today by Experian for the ‘Cut the VAT’ coalition, an alliance of 21 organisations including the Federation of Master Builders, the Modern Masonry Alliance, the Clay Roof Tile Council and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, has unveiled that as many as 55,000 new jobs in the building sector and construction industry could be created if VAT on labour for building work and home improvements was cut to 5%.
Creating Building Jobs
The Cut the VAT coalition believes that by cutting the percentage of VAT paid on labour for renovation and property maintenance work from the current 12.5% to 5% would help the current economic situation of high numbers of unemployed people, and would also have a number of social and economic benefits for the UK as a whole, including helping the Government reach its carbon emission reduction targets.
The report anticipates an additional 24,000 construction jobs could be created in 2010 alone, with this rising to nearly 35,000 building sector jobs by 2019. In addition, the report explains that the additional demand for tradespeople to carry out work in domestic properties will have a knock on effect for companies who supply materials to the trades as people decide to upgrade central heating systems, repair roofs, build extensions and rewire homes. As a result of making building work and renovation of properties more affordable for homeowners, this will in turn help people make their homes more energy efficient, reducing energy consumption and saving them money.
The World Plumbing Council, an organisation which aims to promote the importance of plumbing in public health and in preventing damage to the environment while at the same time bringing together the world’s plumbing organisations and industry bodies, have launched World Plumbing Day which will be held for the first time on 11th March 2010.
World Plumbing Day will become an annual diary date which will help raise public awareness of the health and safety aspects of the plumbing industry in reducing diseases carried by water, ensuring safe and clean water supplies and the disposal of waste water and sewage, as well as the ways in which the plumbing industry can help reduce different countries’ carbon footprints. In addition, the World Plumbing Council hopes to increase people’s knowledge and understanding of the important roles many people play in the plumbing industry, including plumbing engineers and inspectors, plumbing equipment manufacturers and academics with industry expertise.
The World Plumbing Council has also launched a website to promote World Plumbing Day and help both plumbing organisations from around the world, and other interested organisations who want to help promote the importance of plumbing for health and safety reasons or because of its role in protecting the environment and natural resources such as water supplies, to find information about the day and advise on the sorts of activities that people could organise for the day.
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The boiler scrappage scheme, which was introduced by the Government in order to reduce UK carbon emissions enables homeowners in England whose boiler is an inefficient G rated boiler or worse, to apply for a grant of £400 towards the cost of installing a new energy efficient boiler.
Boiler manufacturers, Worcester, who are part of the Bosch group, are backing the Government boiler scrappage scheme by offering a further 12 month guarantee on their boilers.
There are a number of things you can look out for which will indicate whether your boiler is G rated or less:
- gas fired boilers 15 years or older
- oil fired boilers 25 years or older
- a constantly lit pilot light
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When you are looking to fit a new shower into your bathroom there are now more options on the market than you may be aware of. When either redecorating or refurbishing your bathroom most people are used to seeing the standard power shower in the tub or shower head attachment on the bath taps that can be mounted on the wall, but now there are different showers and shower enclosure styles which can provide different effects for your new bathroom design so I am going to be telling you of just a few which could be suited for yourself.
Walk in showers
If you’re considering installing a walk in shower, there are some great positives, one being that it is the complete opposite of an enclosed shower cubicle. Without any sliding doors, a walk in shower can made to any design you like and in all shapes and sizes so can easily fit into any bathroom design.
When deciding the size of your shower, make sure you know where your toilet, sink, bath if you wish to install one and any bathroom furniture of fixtures such as radiators and heated towel rails will be situated and this should then give you a good idea of the space available for your shower.
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The first step before removing your old bath and basin would be to turn off your hot and cold water mains and drain the system, making sure that any remaining water is drained out of the water pipes by turning on the bath and sink taps. Once the water has been drained from the system, you can then continue by removing the bath panels and anything else that is holding your old bath in place.
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You need to firstly spend some time finding a convenient spot to place the machine especially if the connecting pipe and waste pipe are not already installed in your home. All machines need to stand as firm as possible and should ideally be placed against an exterior wall. By placing them against an exterior wall it means there is then no need for waste pipe to be running inside your wall in your house.
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When thinking of how to deal with burst pipes possibly the best way to prevent or prepare yourself is to look what will cause your water pipes to burst. The reason behind pipes bursting in winter is usually due to the water passing through them expanding as it freezes. No matter how strong the pipe or whatever material you use, if this process of freezing and defrosting occurs often enough then over the years your pipes are much more likely to burst as the expansion of the water will weaken the structure of your pipe work.
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Many of us experience the misfortune of having to call an emergency plumber out in winter for various reasons. Boiler services, boiler break downs and frozen pipes are the main reasons for emergency call outs for an experienced plumber in the winter, but with some forward planning you can avoid these and save yourself the time and expense of calling out an emergency plumber.
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