As loyal readers will know, whenever we can, we like to undertake our own research that is completely self-funded and free to view in our dedicated reports section and in blogs and commentary here on our website. Over the years, this has received many plaudits, particularly across the trade sector (“…a fantastic resource for data that not only drills into the views of the trades as a collective, but also into the specifics of individual sectors – covering topics such as mental health and COVID-19…”), so it is great to be able to provide some more free insight into our favourite sector once again.
This time we have taken a rather novel approach. We have undertaken two similarly themed consultations – one with homeowners and one with tradespeople. This will allow us to compare the opinions of these two groups, across themes such as how to build confidence, biggest homeowner concerns and key decisions when selecting trades. We will be able to assess the varying degrees of importance placed on certain factors by these two groups and help to ensure the trade is continuing to support homeowners in the best way possible.
But as well as the serious stuff to come, it’s also nice to look at the lighter side too and we asked homeowners to spill the beans over how they kept their trades ‘fed and watered’ whilst working in their homes. The image below feeds back from this homeowner point of view where we can see that almost 9 in 10 supply their hardworking tradespeople with cups of tea and coffee. Around half of our audience are proper good eggs, that keep their favourite workers fuelled with a selection of cakes, biscuits, and snacks, hopefully helping to eliminate that mid-morning hunger pang, and a sympathetic 9% are even preparing lunches and bacon sarnies – well done to these guys, you are the toast of the town!
While the youngest cohort do not seem to cut the mustard with regards supplying the hot drinks, this audience are really stepping up to the plate with regard to supplying the lunches, bacon sandwiches and snacks. At the other end of the age range, at the homes of the older generation, the trades can almost guarantee they will be treated to liquid refreshments, but the chance of a lunch or bacon sandwich is pretty much pie in the sky!
As sure as eggs is eggs, when we asked the same question to the trade audience, to assess what they were typically offered, the results were extremely well aligned to the homeowner (like two peas in a pod), providing us with additional confidence in the surety of these results.
Hopefully this has whetted your appetite, so look out for our future reports, blogs, tweets and Instagram posts that further share some of these insights – (you can be assured of fewer food-based idioms in future!)
For more information about Eureka’s work in the home improvement space please click here.
