From DIY to DAY (Do Anything Yourself) to Makeover

Out from their toolboxes and into the superstores come the family UK, spending money on anything from gazebos to jacuzzis, patio heaters to granny flats. TV programmes increasingly suggest that we 'makeover' where before we'd re-decorate. An Englishman's home might once have been his castle, but now it's his or her playground or mood room.

In this At your Leisure we look at the DIY and Garden market, analysing its popularity and how it has been achieved; we investigate what DIY jobs people are actually doing themselves and take a look into the future to see what the next big ideas are that might tempt us to lavish money on our homes. Finally, we identify the dangers that exist in the future for this growth market.

The UK DIY and Garden Industry

The DIY and Garden market is generally accepted to include the following: bathroom, furniture, decorating, window/floor covering, building materials, garden/leisure, hardware and lighting.

The market nearly doubled in the ten years from 1993 to 2003, from £8.7 billion to £16 billion. This makes it the fourth largest retail market after food and grocery, clothing and footwear and electricals. Forecast growth in the market is higher than in any other retail market, with spending expected to double again to £21.2 billion by 2008.

There are three main players in the UK retail DIY market: Focus/Do-It-All/Wickes (including Great Mills), B&Q (who also own the French firm Castorama) and Homebase. The market leader is B&Q, who are owned by the Kingfisher Group; Focus-Wickes are the second largest DIY retailer and Homebase, who are part of the Argos Retail Group are the next largest operator in the market.

Focus-Wickes is an interesting attempt to devise a strategy to expand from a base of retail and trade outlets. The Wickes brand is traditionally associated with builders merchants, whereas Focus' customer base is more family and household oriented. Together, the two brands are trying to converge, drawing two different customer types into one.

Why has the UK DIY and Garden Market Grown so Rapidly?

1. Demography:

Demographic change

There are more single person households.
People have more leisure time than in the past
As people's incomes have risen they have more 'discretionary income'.
Society is experiencing 'youthful ageing', where sixty is now the new fifty.
Gender no longer dictates role quite so much as in the past.
The UK has an ageing population - over 50% aged over 45 in in ten years' time.

These indicators contrast with recent years where there has been a greater concentration of 22-44 year olds. This younger age group tend to consist of first and second time house buyers, keen to spend to improve their property. There appears to be much less of a gap between the new 'younger' outlook of the over 45s and younger generations, than in the past.

Demographic change in the UK, 2001-2026

Age	Increase/ Decrease 2001-2026
0 - 14	-461 000
15 - 29	-106 000
30 - 44	-921 000
45 - 59	+616 000
60 - 74	+3 134 000
Over 75	+2 057 000

Source: Office for National Statistics

People are having fewer children, living longer, marrying less, divorcing more and staying single for longer. As a result, society is becoming much more fragmented.

Date	Average number of people in UK households
1921	5.4
2001	2.8

2. Economy:

The general economic boom in the UK in the late 1990s persisted into the following decade for the housing market and retail sector of industry, as interest rates were lowered to historically low levels. House prices are still rising, albeit at slower rates of growth, as the market expects further increases in interest rates.

The average UK house price has more than doubled in the last decade. These increases in the value of many people's largest asset have been translated into high levels of consumer confidence.

Year	Average House Price
1991	62,455
1992	60,821
1993	62,333
1994	64,787
1995	65,644
1996	70,626
1997	76,103
1998	81,774
1999	92,521
2000	101,550
2001	112,835
2002	128,265

Source: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Coupled with this wealth effect, there has been a growing tendency for consumers to see property as a more attractive form of investment than stocks and shares. There has been a fall in the value of the stock market since 1999: The FTSE Index stood at 6930 at the end of 1999, falling to 4527 at March 2nd 2004. Many people would prefer to invest in property than stocks and shares; but for those who decide not to move house and 'trade up' in the market, there has been an incentive to extend or improve in other ways their current home.

Taking advantage of rising house values, many people have re-mortgaged their homes. In essence, this has had the effect of extending the period over which they will repay the original loan, or borrowing more and repaying over the same period. But this phenomenon known as 'mortgage equity withdrawal' (MEW) has caused a continued boom in the retail industry and especially in the DIY and Garden market. Research suggests that nearly half of those people who increase or switch their mortgage, do so in order to make a major home improvement, such as building an extension.

3. Culture:

The rapid expansion of the DIY and Garden market can also be analysed from the view of the impact of change in society. Among the most significant of these are:

People's houses are seen as an investment, to be improved in the long term.
Consumers have become more design-conscious.
Houses have become the new pensions. The insecure pension industry and stock market in recent years makes people's houses more important.
There has been a growth in leisure activities such as visiting auction rooms and antique markets and architectural reclamation yards.
The 'grey' and 'pink' pound have grown in importance as the affluence of gay and lesbian couples and older consumers has been recognised.
1950s and 1960s homes are growing in popularity, often offering a cheaper alternative and offering less hard work to refurbish and more design opportunities than Edwardian/Victorian houses.
Decoration and refurbishment cycles have shortened and speeded-up considerably in recent years. Various reports suggest that the main causes of this heightened activity are: 'makeover' TV programmes, magazine articles and the DIY stores themselves.
People spend more time in their homes than used to be the case.
Separate dining and lounge areas are less common as people replace them with kitchen/diners. The kitchen increasingly takes more prominent role in the house.
Gardens are becoming regarded as an extension of the house. There is a growing trend towards outdoor living.
Consumers use DIY to adapt their homes to suit their own lifestyles.

Image: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, the king of the TV 'makeover'.
Image reproduced courtesy of Gryllis and Reade Marketing and Media Relations.

4. Technology:

The Internet has made specialist suppliers more accessible. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that many people now use the Web to research into DIY projects. This gives people greater confidence to tackle more difficult jobs around the home.

There is greater choice of materials than used to be the case. For instance, modern wallpapers allow greater adaptation of design, as they are easier to apply and remove than before. Technology has enabled safer and easier-to-apply paints to be produced.

Dulux's Web site boasts its 'Mouse Painter' which enables consumers to select from colour palettes to develop their own colour scheme for a room of their choice.

So What are People Actually Doing Themselves?

Of all DIY projects, the most frequently occurring activity is decorating a room. People decorate their house more frequently than in the past. According to recent research, 20% of people doing DIY projects do so because they want a new look for their home/garden. The implication of this finding is that the DIY and Gardening market is increasingly driven by 'wants', rather than 'needs'.

The Future of the DIY Market?

Some observers also point to the growth of secure, 'gated' accommodation as a growing theme in UK housing. This kind of maintained, safe community is common among the elderly, but is expected by some to grow, as society looks for new ways to provide a safe environment for the growing numbers of over 60 year olds. Here, then, we may see the development of a 'home as a fortress' concept.

Finally, some believe that at some point soon, the housing market will go into reverse and the UK will re-enter a 'bust' phase , last experienced in the early 1990s. If this happens, many expect consumer demand to fall in the DIY and Garden market, as more people switch from house to personal makeover. The growth of well-being services and beauty salons provide early evidence of this occurring.

At your Leisure - 29 March 2004