5 DIY Jobs That Save You Hundreds of Pounds (UK 2026)
Five safe, teachable DIY jobs that save the average UK homeowner £200–£450 a year in avoided call-outs.
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Why these five?
These are not theoretical. These are the five specific DIY jobs where I have personally seen UK homeowners pay £50–£150 a time to a tradesperson for work that a fifteen-minute YouTube video and £5 of parts would have handled. If you do even two of these a year, this article pays for itself several times over.
Nothing here involves gas, fixed wiring or structural work. All five are safe, reversible and teachable. Tools cost around £25–£40 total, most of which will still be in your toolkit in twenty years. You will not need a plumber, electrician or handyman for any of them.
Job 1: Bleeding a radiator — saves £60–£100
Radiator cold at the top and hot at the bottom means trapped air is stopping water from circulating through the upper half. This happens every winter in most UK homes, especially in first-floor rooms. A plumber will charge you a minimum call-out (£60–£100 in Kent) for what is a genuinely fifteen-minute job.
How to do it
- Turn the central heating off and let it cool for 10–15 minutes.
- At the top of each radiator there is a small square slot on one end (usually the side, sometimes the top). This is the bleed valve.
- Hold a cloth or a small container under the valve. Insert the bleed key and turn it a quarter-turn anticlockwise (counter-clockwise). You should hear hissing as air escapes.
- When a steady drip of water comes out (not air, not sputtering — clean water), close the valve by turning clockwise. Do not over-tighten.
- Repeat on every radiator in the house, starting downstairs and working up.
- Finally, check the boiler pressure gauge. If it has dropped below 1.0 bar, use the filling loop under the boiler to top up to 1.2–1.5 bar. Turn the heating back on.
Tools needed: Radiator bleed key (£1–£3), an old cloth. That's it.
Job 2: Replacing a tap washer — saves £70–£120
A dripping tap that is not sealed by the usual "tighten the packing nut" fix almost always needs a new washer inside the tap body. This is a £0.50 part; a plumber charges £70–£120 to fit it.
How to do it (traditional pillar tap — hot or cold, not a mixer)
- Turn off the water to the tap. Under a sink you usually have individual isolation valves (look for a slotted screw on the pipe — quarter-turn anticlockwise to close). Otherwise, close the main stopcock.
- Open the tap fully to drain any pressure.
- Remove the tap head. Older taps: unscrew the top cap (often labelled H or C), remove the retaining screw underneath, pull the handle off. Modern monobloc designs: usually a push-fit cover you prise off with a small flat screwdriver.
- Under the handle is a brass hexagonal nut called the headgear. Unscrew it with an adjustable spanner — typically 18mm or 22mm. The whole internal mechanism will come out.
- At the bottom of the headgear is a small rubber washer held by a tiny brass screw. Unscrew, replace the washer with a matching new one (come in packs of mixed sizes — tap washer kit), tighten the screw back up.
- Reverse the disassembly. Turn water back on slowly and check for drips.
For mixer taps and ceramic-cartridge taps the fix is similar but you replace the whole ceramic cartridge (£8–£20) instead of a washer. Same principle, same skill level.
Tools needed: Adjustable spanner, flat + Phillips screwdriver, tap washer kit. Total £15–£25.
Job 3: Fixing a running toilet — saves £80–£150
A toilet that keeps running after flushing (or "ghost flushes" in the middle of the night) is wasting 100+ litres a day — enough to add £200+ to your water bill over a year if you are on a meter. It is almost always one of three parts: the flush valve (the rubber seal at the bottom of the cistern), the float arm, or the fill valve. All three cost under £15 and replace in 20 minutes.
Diagnosis
- Water constantly trickling into the bowl: Flush valve seal is perished. Replace the washer or the whole flush valve.
- Cistern filling and then refilling every few minutes: Water is leaking past the flush valve into the bowl. Same fix.
- Cistern fills to the top and overflows to the outside pipe: Float arm set too high, or the fill valve washer is leaking. Adjust the float screw or replace the fill valve.
How to do it
- Close the isolation valve on the supply pipe to the toilet (under the cistern, slotted screw — quarter-turn).
- Flush to empty the cistern. Mop out any remaining water.
- Unscrew the plastic nut holding the flush valve or fill valve in place (usually from underneath the cistern — get your head under there with a torch).
- Remove the old part, note the size, buy a matching replacement flush valve or fill valve from Screwfix or Amazon.
- Fit the new part, reopen the isolation valve, flush twice to check operation.
Tools needed: Water pump pliers, flat screwdriver, torch, replacement part. Total around £20–£30 including the part.
Job 4: Draught-proofing windows — saves £80–£200 a year on heating
This is not a call-out job — nobody will come to your house to fit draught-stripping — but it is the single highest-return hour of DIY labour most UK homes have available. A £10 roll of self-adhesive EPDM foam strip around leaky sash or casement windows saves 10–15% on winter heating bills in a poorly-sealed house. That is £80–£200 per year saved, in perpetuity.
How to do it
- Identify which windows leak. On a windy day, hold a lit candle near the frame edges. The flame will flicker where air gets in. Alternative: a thin strip of tissue paper will do the same.
- Clean the frame edges where the strip will stick. Isopropyl alcohol or white spirit — not water. The adhesive will not bond to dust or grease.
- Measure and cut the EPDM weather strip to length. Peel and stick it to the fixed frame (not the moving part), compressing against the window when closed.
- For gaps under doors, use a brush-strip door seal — screwed or self-adhesive.
- For chimneys that are no longer in use, a chimney balloon stops the permanent updraft that is quietly emptying your lounge of warm air.
Kent context: Period properties in Faversham, Canterbury and the Weald — Victorian and Edwardian sash windows are beautiful and catastrophic for draughts. One good weekend of draught-proofing is the single biggest heating cost reduction available to these houses short of full replacement glazing.
Tools needed: EPDM weather strip, scissors, cloth for cleaning, tape measure. Total £10–£25 for a whole house.
Job 5: Replacing a smoke alarm — saves £60–£90
A standalone battery-powered smoke alarm (the sort that sits on the ceiling and beeps every so often) has a sealed 10-year battery in modern designs. When it reaches end-of-life it will chirp every 30–60 seconds — annoying but also a legal safety issue in rental properties. Replacement is a screwdriver and a stepladder, takes five minutes, and costs about the same as a pint in Central London.
How to do it
- Climb up. Twist the alarm anticlockwise (counter-clockwise) — most modern alarms unclip from a base plate with a simple twist.
- If the alarm is mains-wired (a cable comes out the top of the base plate), STOP — this is a qualified electrician's job under Part P. Call a sparky.
- If it is battery-only, unscrew the old base plate from the ceiling and mount the new one using the same holes. A BS 5446 10-year sealed alarm like FireAngel or Kidde is the safest buy.
- Clip the new alarm into the base plate, press the test button, write the install date on the side with a marker.
- Test monthly. Replace after 10 years.
Legally required: one on every floor of a rental in England, and strongly recommended in owner-occupied homes. See our smoke alarm guide for specific picks.
Tools needed: Screwdriver, stepladder, new smoke alarm (£10–£20). That's it.
Total savings, totalled
| Job | Trade call-out cost (Kent) | DIY cost | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bleed radiator | £60–£100 | £3 | ~£75 |
| Replace tap washer | £70–£120 | £15–£25 | ~£80 |
| Fix running toilet | £80–£150 | £20–£30 | ~£90 |
| Draught-proof windows | N/A (DIY only) | £10–£25 | £80–£200/year on heating |
| Replace smoke alarm | £60–£90 | £10–£20 | ~£65 |
When NOT to DIY these jobs
The tools worth buying for all five jobs
- Plumbing tools — bleed key, basin wrench, adjustable spanner, washers
- General toolkit — screwdriver set, pliers, stepladder
- First-time buyer toolkit bundle
- Best DIY plumbing tools UK 2026
FAQs
Is it safe to bleed radiators with the heating on?
No — always turn the heating off first. The system should be cool enough to handle safely but still pressurised. Bleeding while the pump is running can draw more air into the system rather than letting it out.
My tap is a mixer — do I still replace a washer?
Most modern mixer taps use a ceramic cartridge rather than a rubber washer. The cartridge is a single sealed unit you replace whole (£8–£20). Same basic skill — undo the handle, undo the retaining nut, swap the cartridge, reassemble.
Why does my cistern refill every few hours even when nobody has flushed?
Almost always a failed flush valve seal allowing water to leak slowly past into the bowl. The cistern then detects low water and tops up. Replace the flush valve washer or the whole flush valve — £3–£15 part.
Does draught-proofing really make that much difference?
Yes, especially in older UK homes. The Energy Saving Trust estimates proper draught-proofing saves £45–£90 a year on heating in the average home; for a poorly-sealed Victorian terrace it can be £150–£250. The strip itself pays for itself in a single winter.