DO IT YOURSELF? NOT IF YOU'RE UNDER 35!
Home maintenance competence gap opens up between generations
One in four adults can't change a light bulb without help
1 October 2007
If you're under 35 and you can change a fuse, balance a radiator and fit a washer on a leaking tap, you're in a minority.
New research* from Homeserve, the national home emergency experts, reveals that a "home intelligence" gap has opened up between today's young adults and people of their parents' generation. One in four adults under 35 said they would need to call in assistance to change a light bulb! The findings also show that incredibly 15 million adults don't know how to do at least one of the following: switch off the power in their home, turn off the gas supply or turn off the water supply.
The research also found that 51% of people under 35 confess to using their parents and other family members as unpaid tradesmen. This suggests that increasingly cosseted lifestyles have created a generation of people less able to handle basic maintenance tasks around the home.
Homeserve's HQ Test, which has been developed alongside the research, actually allows people to measure their "Home intelligence Quotient". It can be completed online at www.homeserve.com/HQ and visitors can get their score immediately. As with the IQ Test, a score of 100 is average. Early indicators from a pilot of the HQ test suggests that the average HQ of under 35s is around 120 while those over 35 seem to average at a significantly higher figure of 150.
"The downward trend in home maintenance competence or 'home intelligence' is inevitable given the hectic lifestyles we lead today" said Jon Florsheim, CEO of Homeserve. "Turning to the experts is nothing to be ashamed of - younger people have different priorities and they don't want to use their spare time fixing leaks and unblocking drains. It's just that the older generation were brought up to be a little more self-sufficient".
Examples of gaps in competence between the generations include:
| TASK | PERCENTAGE OF ADULTS UNDER 35 WHO CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT ASSISTANCE | PERCENTAGE OF ADULTS 55 - 75 WHO CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT ASSISTANCE |
|---|---|---|
| Turning off water supply in event of a burst pipe | 38% | 29% |
| Eradicate mice | 50% | 36% |
| Clear blocked drain | 42% | 33% |
| Balance radiators | 44% | 37% |
| Clear blocked gutters | 52% | 41% |
Source: Homeserve/ Gfk NOP, September 2007
Homeserve, who offer insurance cover for, among other things, plumbing, drains and electrical wiring, handled over 1.2 million home emergencies last year alone. The decline in home intelligence is evident in the fact that Homeserve manages an increased number of emergency claims and jobs every year. It also has seen more and more people opting for a home emergency insurance policy with policy numbers more than doubling over the last three years (From 2.9m in March 2004 to over 5.8 million in 2007).
Ends
For more information please contact:
Steve Marinker
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
0207 282 2841 / 07779 031 936
Laura Edgecumbe
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
0207 282 2895
Editors Notes
* Research conducted for Homerserve by GfK NOP among 1002 adults 15 - 17 September 2007
** To work out your HQ, complete the questionnaire at www.homeserve.com/HQ.
About Homeserve
Every forty seconds a Homeserve engineer comes to the rescue of a British household.
With over 3,000 directly and indirectly employed engineers Homeserve offers the UK's only national emergency home repair service backed by a 24 hour claims handling and repair network.
Homeserve also offers insurance cover for plumbing, drains, electrical wiring and gas central heating. It has over 5.8 million policy members in the UK and a further 1.2 million in the USA and France.