Residents have been warned by a specialist that home improvements on areas such as kitchen sinks often may not be as simple as they had hoped. As a result, people who are wary of undertaking DIY work themselves should simply leave it to a registered professional, particularly if the task concerns gas or electrics, according to a spokesman from MyHammer. Jim Hustwit, UK country manager at the company, explained The two key areas that we look at are the electrics and gas those are certainly areas which you should never attempt to do. You have also got to make sure you are getting somebody who is actually qualified to be doing the work. However, Mr Hustwit noted that there is more leeway when it comes to tasks such as shelf installation, as they can often be completed independently. Research from Bondpay has revealed that 64 per cent of people would be willing to use cash to pay for home improvements in order to avoid the VAT rise.