A report issued just this afternoon by Government-endorsed ‘find a tradesman’ scheme, TrustMark, could provide a useful tool for showroom sales staff who may otherwise struggle to sell the benefits of using the services of their kitchen, bathroom or bedroom fitters, to buyers who believe (often mistakenly) that they’ll be able to do just as good a job themselves.

Trustmark’s nationwide survey has revealed that a staggering 91% of British adults, when looking to buy a home, would reduce the offer they planned to make on a property that showed signs of poorly-done DIY, while more than half said that they would consider not offering at all.

But perhaps what’s more staggering is the amount of money involved, with an average reduction on the asking price of 11%. This would result in a loss of almost £40,000 for the average English home, or £60,149 in London.

Having to absorb this kind of reduction when you’re trying to buy a bigger or better home yourself can mean that your onward purchase is no longer affordable, so unless you’re a genius when it comes to DIY, it’s best off leaving it to the experts who carry out projects of this type day in, day out, rather than once in a blue moon.

As I said, these figures are certainly worth sharing with your customers if you have installation services to sell. You can read more, further down the page.

I’m going to be having a look at some of the latest bathroom and bedroom furniture and related products that will - like everything else - benefit from expert installation, when I visit the Sleep Event at London’s Business Design Centre on Wednesday and Thursday. I can’t wait to see what the exhibitors have in store…

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Yours,

Jan Hobbs