Continuity of the cycle?

Heidi Biehl
The expectation was that the year 2004 would bring enough of a backlog of demand for renovation work after two problem years for the DIY retail sector in Austria. But the economy is not firing properly, the unemployment figures are continuing to grow and consumers’ eagerness to buy still leaves much to be desired. The meagre tax reform that has been brought forward provides relief only for those with the lowest income and a reduction in corporate taxes. And the long winter is delaying the start of the gardening season. Perhaps the hoped-for improvement will not come until 2005.
But the sector should give thought to the question of what the situation will be like in ten years’ time. No other sector relies so heavily on families continuing to produce young DIYers who are both willing and able to renovate, maintain and decorate their homes and gardens with their own two hands. They start off as beginners undertaking simple elementary jobs, then progress to become increasingly experienced DIYers capable of carrying out numerous tasks satisfactorily, and some of them finally become advanced DIYers, able to do almost everything themselves. However, it often happens that little time is left for this hobby because of the pressures of their own career, so it is back to contractors again for certain jobs. After reaching retirement age, DIYers again have sufficient spare time to do everything themselves, though sometimes their plans are upset by problems related to either age or health. This is when the assistance of the young, up-and-coming DIYers in the family is needed. Such is the cycle that has existed in Austria for at least 25 years now.
This means that the computer-hooked teenagers of today, whose dexterity largely results from pounding the keyboard or clicking their mouse, should take their place in this cycle within about the next ten years. Will they actually be ready to makeover their own home, and later on their garden, by their own physical effort? Perhaps this computer generation will indeed accept such activities as compensation for their sedentary lifestyle, but that is a very big “perhaps”…