When it comes to home maintenance, Australia is a procrastin-nation

Three million Australian households are putting off jobs around the home and the reasons may be more relatable than you think. SEE LIST

Carol Chapman used hipages to have a new fence built after putting the job off for more than one year. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Australia, stop procrastinating.

According to a new survey by online trade hiring platform hipages, about three million Australian households have put off a job for more than a year.

Topping the list of jobs with the biggest backlogs are those involving cleaning, with 73 per cent of Australian households found to have one or more of these projects outstanding.

This is followed by general home maintenance (67 per cent), garden maintenance (63 per cent) and painting (46 per cent).

More than one third of respondents have outstanding projects in pest control, plumbing and electrical.

Three out of the top four reasons homeowners are procrastinating involve money, with more than one third (38 per cent) of respondents saying they don’t have enough funds to start the job.

But keeping on top of jobs could save money ultimately.

Hipages chief customer officer Stuart Tucker said homes were important assets that need preserving.

“If you can afford to, it’s best to manage maintenance as soon as possible, as this usually has the least expensive outcome,” he said.

Concern it could turn into an “expensive job” accounted for 28 per cent delaying repairs or maintenance, and 23 per cent said they were worried about getting ripped off by a tradie. While some jobs don’t require a professional, the study found more than one in four homeowners (28 per cent) had attempted and failed a home repair or maintenance, only to need a qualified tradie to do the work.

“Aussie homeowners spend a whopping $3.53 billion annually on tradies to fix DIY gone wrong,” Mr Tucker said.

Homeowner Carol Chapman admitted it took her a year to have a fence built to keep her dogs in.

“I like to keep my house in good repair and anything important, like plumbing and electricity, I get someone in to take care of straight away,” Ms Chapman said.

“But we’ve been patching our fence up for years before I finally went and got someone to do the job.”

She said having the job completed was a huge relief, considering her two dogs Holly and Oscar use the garden area.

“I think it’s quite daunting to have to go through the initial process of having to get tradies out and getting quotes,” she said.

“I use hipages and they get you three free quotes, they also have reviews for the tradies and the reviewers have to have used that person.”

Originally published as When it comes to home maintenance, Australia is a procrastin-nation