Smash Hit

Win tickets to the ATP finals

Navigation - link to other main sections from here

From Times Online

June 14, 2006

Get rid of the clutter

Most people want more space for their stuff when the best solution is less stuff for their space

By Susan Emmett

IT TOOK me 45 minutes to get out of the B&Q car park last week. I had only bought a pot of paint, but the road was completely blocked by crowds of DIY enthusiasts stocking up for the Easter weekend. They clearly had far more ambitious plans than mine, with stacks of laminate flooring, shelving and tiles crammed into their cars. One family was even trying to pack the kitchen sink into the boot. The spring weather has triggered the seasonal desire to give a lift to our homes, and with Easter marking the official start of the house-selling season homeowners are using every trick in the book to attract the highest possible offer.

Out go the tired carpets, the busy curtains and pine country-style kitchens. In come smart laminate floors, pared-down blinds and pale kitchen units. Walls are given a fresh lick in a fairly neutral hue. The garden is tidied, the front door repainted and the new letterbox polished. How can buyers resist? Quite easily, apparently.

According to recent research by B&Q, we could be wasting our time. The study by the DIY chain, along with the estate agent Haart, tells us that sellers could lose Pounds 47 million this year because they have failed to do the right jobs. It's down to the old style-versus-substance debate. We are spending too much time and money on cosmetic improvements at the expense of all the boring maintenance work that we would all rather forget.

B&Q cautions that superficial improvements might attract a good offer (buyers make up their minds within eight seconds, it seems), but unless homeowners spend as much effort to get the fundamentals right they risk losing their sale if problems show up on the survey. About 10 per cent of buyers choose to have a full survey, of which one in ten shows that about Pounds 4,700 of maintenance is required.

Getting your house in order is sound advice considering the state of the property market. Prices might be rising again and buyers outnumbering sellers, but we are hardly in the throes of a boom. Buyers are still cautious and pricesensitive. They might be prepared to overlook small problems if they sense there is competition from other buyers, but in most cases, if the property is less than perfect, they will demand money off or insist that the problem is put right.

Unexpected jobs can be hugely timeconsuming and more costly than those sorted in advance. Apart from time lost in the sale process, you do not want to embark on lengthy home improvements once the clock is ticking in the solicitor's office.

B&Q says the most common problems in 1900s properties are rotting windows that need replacing (see Homework on page 27), rising damp and woodworm.

Mid-20th-century homes often have faulty electrics that need replacing completely, aluminium-framed windows that are no longer popular, or lofts still not insulated.

If, after sorting out the fundamentals, we still feel like another round of home improvements, we should proceed with caution. Another doom-laden report, this time from the Federation of Master Builders, indicates that we waste Pounds 500 million every year on dodgy DIY and disastrous building projects. The root of the problem is the failure to plan.

We spend longer deciding on a holiday or buying a car than working out how to tackle a major building project such as a loft extension or a conservatory. The results of the survey show that many homeowners believe that, because of bad planning, their home improvement has taken them longer and cost more than if they had thought about it and paid for a professional in the first place. To make matters worse, many confess that they are unhappy with the result.

When it comes to selling your property, a bodged job might actually be worse than leaving well enough alone. The best home improvement advice, however, does not come from builders or DIY experts, but from those on the property front line the estate agents. Ed Mead, from Douglas & Gordon in West London, says that the single most productive thing homeowners can do this weekend is not to add to their homes but to subtract.

"If you are looking to improve one thing, then get rid of half the stuff in your house. If you start decorating you start a chain reaction. You do up one room and the rest of the house risks looking shoddy by comparison. So you move on to the next. It's much easier and quite effective to have a clear-out and a clean."

Most people want to move homes because they have outgrown their present property. They want more space for their stuff when the best solution is to have less stuff for their space. The best home improvement might be to hire a skip.

*The Federation of Master Builders has produced a free booklet with Sarah Beeny, of Channel 4's Property Ladder, outlining all the basics you need to consider before embarking on home improvement work.

Call 08000 152522 or www.findabuilder.co.uk