The cost of house repairs is rising fast says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and it’s not all due to general price rises.

The cost of repair and maintenance work has risen during the last year by a massive 15 per cent and that’s ten times more than the Retail Price Index).

The average weekly wage in the construction industry has risen to 12 per cent higher that the average across all industries and is still rising rapidly but this cannot account for the massive rise in household repair costs.

The increase is partly due to the scarcity of skilled tradesmen such as bricklayers, plumbers and electricians who put up their prices when there are more jobs than they can deal with. With the high rate of exchange of homes, more of us are considering repairs or improvements important in order to get the best sales prices.

However, the biggest factor in price rises may be cowboy builders who are even more ruthless in taking the unsuspecting householder for a ride.

Can homeowners avoid the cowboys and keep costs down?

• Don’t delay in tackling maintenance and repairs. Delay inevitably makes things worse. For example, failure to redecorate the outside of a house usually means woodwork rots, and the cost of repair rises sharply.
• Don’t delay in getting quotations and advice. If your builder knows you aren’t in a hurry he may not be so inclined to overcharge.
• Always get several quotations, three is good but four is better. You’ll be surprised at the difference.
• Don’t assume the cheapest will be the worst; it may simply be that you found a tradesman who is honest.
• But the vital thing is to ask for names of previous customers so that you can check the quality of the work. A reputable builder will be pleased to give you the information. Do speak to the previous customers and see how they got on.