I think New Zealanders would be historically overweighted towards DIY in terms of a mentality, coming out of number 8 wire, being in the middle of nowhere, being on a farm,'' he said. But as you become more urban, certainly look towards the Singapores and the Hong Kongs, even the Los Angeles' and New Yorks, people don't do DIY. You've got to have a minimum critical level of skill." As a consequence, the likes of Mitre10 and Bunnings were modifying their behaviours, changing their mix. "There's a noticable trend in the space to more consumer products, there are more toasters, there are more dishwashers," said Morris. "They're targetting both the tradesmen who are coming in there and also the punter who's a little bit too scared to replace their own toilet but who might just buy a toaster or hammer or something." Miitre10 has surveyed 100 customers from each of a range of its stores and asked them to rate their own DIY ability. "It's not a huge study but it indicated that 48 per cent of customers in Katikati rate themseleves as very good or better and in Ponsonby the number was 22 per cent," Hartmann said. "This appears to be global phenomenon. The UK's Daily Mirror reported [in January] that this year, DIY skills will be extinct by 2048 stating that DIY skills are becoming a lost art as technosexual men prefer to fix a PC than change a plug.'' It said that if interest in home improvement