Homeowners facing freezing festive period

The nation’s homeowners are set to endure a bleak winter, with thousands having to tolerate cold showers because of the unaffordable high cost of hiring tradespeople.

Direct Line Home Response 24 research reveals that one in 10 British homeowners have been without hot water or heating because of tradespeople’s high hourly rates - with nearly half of them going without during the winter months. In addition, one in 10 homeowners (9 per cent) have been left unable to find a tradesperson actually willing to come out and fix the problem.

As a result, close to three in 10 (28 per cent) of these have been forced to take cold showers or go without heating for five or more days at a time.

The Direct Line HR24 research also revealed that 63 per cent of homeowners have no idea what the ‘going rate’ is for tradespeople. As a result, 20 per cent of people who have hired a tradesperson have been forced to fork out over £50 an hour, with four per cent having to pay in excess of £100 an hour.

This is despite many homeowners shopping around for the best rates, with 36 per cent getting three quotes when looking for a tradesperson, and a further 33 per cent getting two.

Faced with such costs, 29 per cent of homeowners prefer to wait until after peak periods before hiring help - even if their property requires urgent repair work, such as no electricity or running water.

Despite high rates, reputation tops the list of considerations when choosing a tradesperson for 36 per cent of homeowners, followed by a personal recommendation (32 per cent).

Andrew Lowe, head of Home Response 24 Insurance, Direct Line, commented: “There is no way that people can predict when they will be faced with a home emergency that needs to be dealt with quickly and professionally. Going without heating or hot water is never pleasant - particularly not at this time of the year - but finding a tradesperson, let alone someone who is reliable and reasonably priced - can be problematic.

“To avoid the risk of a freezing festive period, we would recommend that people have their book of trade contacts to hand or consider one of a number of services that have engineers on hand 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”

Average hourly rates for tradespeople:

1. London £53.19
2. South East £48.45
3. Midlands £48.00
4. National £47.82
5. Yorkshire £44.54
6. Scotland £42.76
7. East Anglia £42.69
8. Wales £41.67
9. North West £37.91
10. South West £33.33
11. North East £32.89