DIY is dead.

[Ocean1]

"You've got to have a minimum critical level of skill."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...lf-a-dying-art

"DIY skills will be extinct by 2048, DIY skills are becoming a lost art as technosexual men prefer to fix a PC than change a plug.''

It said that if interest in home improvement kept falling, 20 per cent fewer men will know basic handyman skills by 2030 and DIY will be unknown by 2048.

They also pointed out that only 32 per cent of men under 25 were able to fix the last practical dilemma they had in their home compared with 83 per cent of over 55s.

Seventy one per cent of men in their 70s learned basic DIY skills from their fathers. Now only 44 per cent of men are taught DIY as they grow up with a steep decline expected to continue.

"GQ columnist Jane Moore lamented the threat to masculinity in May 2010 in a piece called "the dying art of DIY'' in which she complained her hubby was incapable of assembling a garden hose.

"It seems to me these real men stereotypes are increasingly hard to find,'' she wrote.

She referred to a survey in which 80 per cent of women felt frustrated that their men weren't better at DIY.

...As if we hadn't noticed...

[Latte]

I quite enjoy Damage It Yourself, have taught myself to plumb, wire, gib/stop etc

Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to do it well Gib all cracked, toilet backs up occasionally - Least the house doesn't leak (yet)

[AllanB]

Don't worry - men will still DIY their love life ........

[superman]

I seriously doubt it will become a trend to stop doing it yourself.

Maybe it's just because I've grown up on a lifestyle block where you don't even tell the council what you're doing

[bogan]

bah, there will always be some bastions of diy, farmers and bikers are the first to spring to mind. It's those fucking metrosexuals taking the manliness out of being men I reckon those who cannot diy should be ridiculed relentlessly for their lack of masculinity, that'll fix it

[nudemetalz]

you gotta be DIY-qualified when you own a Guzzi...

[James Deuce]

Good. It's the single biggest drain on ACC. It will cost more before it does eventually die, as skill level is exceeded by ambition more and more. But this is where any ACC cost cutting should be targetted.

[superman]

should be ridiculed relentlessly for their lack of masculinity, that'll fix it

Ah yes my father constantly takes part in such acts "Those bloody poofdas!"

[SMOKEU]

These days a lot of guys take their car to a $100 an hour mechanic just to change the engine oil.

Bunch of pussies.

[martybabe]

]http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4862084/Do-it-yourself-a-dying-art[/URL]

Lordy, generations of those without willies have been trying to domesticate the Male gender into a cleaning, washing up, cooking, baby minding kind of modern man thingy. In the fullness of time, they lament the fact that they can't find a Man that can wield a hammer without bringing the house down

Dem womens need to make up the're bloomin minds they do. It is a proven fact that only men that are dexterous with a lump hammer and chisel have a high sperm count, so there won't be any future generations not to do DIY, unless we distribute free tool kits pronto tonto.

DIY isn't the only thing that will be lacking in the future either IMO, it seems that hardly any one these days offers traineeships in the manual trades, come the day we'll all just sit around looking at each other cause no one will know how to do anything apart from press buttons.

[ducatilover]

I DIY everything....
I hate paying for things, I can cook damn well, fix anything with a hammer and swear words, do my own mech work/panel beating, work on the house if need be, get my own fire wood (when I'm not being a lazy cooont) and I'm only a spring chicken.

[jim.cox]

Gib all cracked, toilet backs up occasionally - Least the house doesn't leak (yet)

Sounds like you'd be right at home in Christchurch

[jasonu]

Looks like a move closer to the American way. No one here does DIY, especially repairs. The cost of a new item is usually not much more than trying to make a repair. eg rebuild kit for a clutch master cyl $15 vs a new unit with a warrenty $35. Fix a leaking tap??? Farrgeddaboudit, buy a new one for $10. Hardly anyone here knows which end of the hammer or screwdriver is the business end.

[The Stranger:Me]

"Seventy one per cent of men in their 70s learned basic DIY skills from their fathers"

Here in lies a goodly portion of the problem. You need a father to actually learn from him.

Mind you. Looking at houses recently for a friend I must say that it's perhaps not such bad thing to see DIY in decline. I'm sure anything they saved in labour and buying the cheapest materials they would loose in house value.

FFS don't DIY it unless you have at least a little knowledge AND some pride in your work please.

[Swoop]

...where you don't even tell the council what you're doing

#1 rule. Tell the bastards nothing!