DIY (Do-It-Yourself) home improvement in New Zealand

Abstract

Do-it-yourself home improvement (DIY) is considered a defining characteristic of Kiwi identity and the New Zealand way-of-life, with a 2009 home improvement advertisement boasting that DIY is in our DNA. Since at least the 1950s, the national enthusiasm for DIY has spawned a major and multifarious home improvement industry which includes DIY television shows, home improvement manuals and magazines, how-to websites and hardware megastores, with DIY retail sales alone estimated at NZ$1 billion per year. Yet despite the obvious cultural and economic significance of DIY in New Zealand, the home improvement practices of New Zealand homeowners are not well-researched or understood. To address the research gap, this thesis presents a naturalistic and exploratory study of the DIY practices of 27 Christchurch homeowners. To support the study, a synthesis of the international academic DIY literature is presented along with a brief history of DIY in New Zealand. DIY activity emerges in the study as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon involving property owners conceptualising, planning and executing a range of practical projects associated with the production, maintenance and consumption of home. The deployment of a range of social science theories helps to demonstrate that the outcome of peoples‘ home improvement activities is the DIYed home – a socially and physically constructed place – personalised, adapted and to be enjoyed.