The decline in marriage rates is leading to a rise in the number of botched DIY jobs around Britain's homes.
That's according to property maintenance firms, with some claiming they have experienced a sharp increase in unnecessary call outs to fix simple DIY tasks that have gone wrong.

"It's almost always something that could be fixed easily if someone lived there who had a clue about do-it-yourself projects," said Will Davies, founder of property maintenance and refurbishment company aspect.co.uk. He claims that 30% of his call outs are unnecessary.

Attempting to avoid the potentially sexist view on this subject, Mr Davies added that having anyone in a home, male or female, that is competent at DIY would mean less failed attempts and less 'wasted' call outs to companies like his.

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show that an estimated 2.5m people between the ages of 45 and 64 are living alone, which is an increase of over 50% since the mid-1990s. The ONS also found that the same 2.5m people did not have children living with them who could carry out DIY tasks for them.

Mr Davies, whose company operates a 24-hour-a-day call out service, added that if adult children could help their elderly parents with DIY tasks it would be more convenient and would spare them the expense of a call out.