It is costing Brits around £1.5 billion to fix botched DIY jobs.
That is the finding of a study by debt management company Kensington Financial Management Consultants, which has found that many people could do with some electrical or plumbing training.
Around a third of Brits were found to spend their bank holidays doing some form of DIY task, one in ten of which will go wrong.
Mark Love from the consultancy group said: "With the housing market struggling to improve there has been an increasing trend of 'improve, don't move'.
"The average house decreased in value by £62 every day during the last 12 months, so it's probably only really worthwhile doing jobs that are absolutely necessary."
For people who are worried about damaging their homes, getting electrical training or taking a course in skills such as carpentry could help to improve the chances that their DIY will not lead to permanent damage.