Recently I was at a Christening party with family and friends. I got talking to a young housewife and she was telling me that she was having some home improvements carried out, and was shocked at the cost of paint. During the ensuing conversation I discovered that she was re-decorating her living room, which was a standard sized room approximately 6 meters by 4meters, three walls, one with large sliding doors taking up almost half the wall space, and a large window taking up about three quarters of the last wall, in addition there was a shelved unit to be painted in this room.
It transpired that she went to a new “specialist” paint shop near her home and they told her they would sent out an interior designer to assist with the colour selection. The fee for this designer was €85 but would be allowed off her paint purchase, should she decide to go ahead. All went well and the designer checked out her full house to determine the lady’s taste. A colour was selected for her living room, and the lady subsequently went back to the shop to purchase her “top brand” paint which was recommended.
The cost of the paint was €245 for a ten litre bucket and two smaller tins for the unit. She then employed a recommended painter at a further cost of €450 for the job (two day’s work ) That was a total of €695 to decorate what is a small standard living room. Wow!
Now I have to state that this couple were recently married, only starting out in life, and living in a standard 3 bedroomed house. Hadn’t exactly made their millions as of yet!!
To purchase the same quantity and colour of paint from your local hardware store would have come in at maximum of €100, and most local painters would charge an average of €125 per day. One could, of course have done the painting oneself, with no extra cost and job done for €100 a saving of €595 on the work, and the self-satisfaction that comes with the end DIY job.
Earlier I had been asked by a young local man if I might recommend any plumbers as his drains were blocked. I told him it would cost in the region of €90 to €120 to call out a drain cleaner, but he could purchase a full set of drain rods for only €35 at his local hardware store. He went on to tell me that he did not know how to clear a drain, and in fact he did not even know where the drain was. I told him his local hardware store manager would talk him through the use of the rods and the location and description of his main drain………..he phoned for a drain cleaner and it cost him €120.
There is hardly a day goes by that I don’t see a total waste of money by people. It appears that the day of DIY is gone, but why? We live in a time when money is scarce, where it is very difficult to make ends meet, and where financial problems seen to follow each other day by day and week by week. With this in mind I have decided to do some DIY blogs in an endeavour to assist all those non DIY people. These blogs will be available at the “Latest News” section on the end of Hardware Ireland website. Any feedback is always appreciated: info@hardwareireland.ie.
