Even worst DIY disasters can be fixed on Monday

By Heather Rose
Posted: 2008/04/18

THANK God it's Friday may be one of our favourite sayings - but not if you are a local service provider.

People in this sphere - such as builders, plumbers and electricians - know weekends can be the time for havoc in the home.

The problem, it seems, is all to do with our passion for dabbling in DIY. So says Quotatis, the online service which enables people to get in touch with local tradespeople.

They have found that, come Monday morning, their maintenance requests rocket by 300 per cent all because homeowners need professional help with problems caused by their botched DIY weekend.

This is in stark contrast to the drop in calls they receive at weekends. Saturdays and Sundays account for only 10 per cent of the week's calls.

The UK subsidiary of Quotatis SA of France, Quotatis is designed to assist people who want help with home improvements, enabling them to submit a brief job specification on their website.

Quotatis contacts up to five firms which match the request, letting householders compare quotes from the different companies. All the trades companies are carefully vetted before becoming connected with the service, and they have to be a member of either a trade organisation or compliance scheme.

Explaining the rise in Monday post-weekend requests, Derek Vaughan, managing director of Quotatis, said: "With time on their hands at the weekends, people are tempted to have a go themselves if something needs fixing at home.

"But, more often than not, something goes wrong. By Monday morning, people concede defeat and are ready to call in the professionals, which is why we see such a surge in requests at this time of the week.

He added: "DIY has now come to mean destroy it yourself. Ultimately, ordinary homeowners are novices, and most jobs actually require an expert. By calling in a tradesperson to do the job from the start, people will end up saving time and money."

INFORMATION:
www. quotatis. co. uk