UK households who 'put off' task this week face getting £20,000 bill

James Rodger
·2-min read

UK households can avoid a £20,000 bill with small home maintenance tasks this bank holiday. The cost of maintaining our homes has increased by 3.5 per cent in the past year, with new research revealing that 1 in 3 homeowners put off small maintenance jobs around their house.

The leading tradesperson platform has launched a Beginners’ Guide to Home Maintenance, which has been designed to shed some light on the cost of the top six small maintenance tasks, and how to crack on with them to avoid a hefty bill if left unattended for too long.

6.4m UK households are set to needlessly spend £20,000 by putting off home maintenance tasks. Gutter cleaning, deep cleaning and roof inspections are most common jobs that Brits put off. Checkatrade publishes the Beginners’ Guide to Home Maintenance to ensure there’s no excuse to delay.

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The research, commissioned by leading tradesperson platform Checkatrade, reveals the top jobs that homeowners postpone are cleaning drains and gutters (27 per cent), deep cleaning (24 per cent) and calling someone in to inspect the roof (23 per cent).

The guide will also be key to explaining tasks that some homeowners aren’t comfortable with, after 19 per cent of those surveyed put it down to a lack of understanding of basic tasks. Checkatrade’s Beginners’ Guide to Home Maintenance reveals the cost of the most common home maintenance jobs and the cost of delaying them.

Gutter cleaning and maintenance will cost £120 immediately, while roof inspections cost £250, chimney sweeping costs £65 and boiler servicing costs £100, while gardening and deep cleaning can cost £500. The costs works out at £1,100 - way beneath a £20k bill.

If you put off a roof inspection, you face paying £12k for a new one, while to soft wash a house and fix water damage will cost £1,500. If you need emergency repairs, it will cost £600 and a new boiler will cost on average £1,000. If you need a new carpet or to replace furniture damaged by soot you’ll need to pay £2,000.

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