Virtually everything you need to know about refurbishing or renovating your home – indoors or outdoors – can be seen at London’s Olympia this weekend 28 – 30 September. Also there are lots of things to consider if you are thinking of building a new place to live.
So don’t miss the National Home Improvement Show because it has so much for you to see. And many bright ideas for you to look at for your home, especially when it comes to energy efficiency and reducing your carbon footprint.
In additional the NHIS is jointly sponsoring a very special award for the best privately owned extension and built in the last two years. The other award sponsors are the National Home Improvement Council Educational Trust and TrustMark.
To coincide with the show a National Home Improvement Survey was carried out by in conjunction with Toolstation. The survey ran throughout June 2012 – August 2012, targeting over one million people who are actively involved in home enhancements from small DIY/decorating projects to larger home improvement developments such as extensions, conversions and landscaping.
The second instalment of this annual survey follows the launch in 2011 and tracks the state of the home improvement market. The survey covers audience spend, the type of projects being undertaken, the barriers holding back home improvements along with attitudes towards different parts of the home and awareness of energy saving products/initiatives.
The results have provided an important snap shot of the home improvement market and underline the sentiment that householders are still more willing to improve their current home rather than move to a new home.
For instance, over the last twelve months, the drive for updating the interiors and looking at extending the property has more than doubled compared to results from 2011. (16% looked to update the interior in 2011 compared to 37% in 2012, while plans to extend their property have increased from 4% to 9.4%). Increases were also seen in large scale project like kitchen/conservatories (from 22% to 31%) and smaller scale projects (from 34% in 2011 to 51.5% in 2012).
The survey highlights that the main driving force for any home improvement is the desire to create a better quality of life and lift spirits rather than the need for more space or changing lifestyle.
Lack of money is the major barrier for a vast majority of respondents for not doing a home improvement project, although it is not as high as in 2011 (down from 68% in 2011 to 65% in 2012).
This is also mirrored in the average spend on home improvements which, more importantly has increase from £9,616 in 2011 to £11,707 which is an increase of 21%.
More information: www.improveyourhomeshow.co.uk/