HOUSEHOLDERS are more confident that home improvement, decorating and building work will be done on time and to a better standard if a more mature and far more experienced tradesman arrives to do the job, according to research just out. Almost half the pe

HOUSEHOLDERS are more confident that home improvement, decorating and building work will be done on time and to a better standard if a more mature and far more experienced tradesman arrives to do the job, according to research just out.

Almost half the people asked would trust someone aged 50 or over to do their handy work, with only 10 per cent saying that they trusted someone under 50, according to the Saga research.

But it's not just about trust. People also think that tradesmen aged 50 or over would be infinitely more reliable (53 per cent) and would complete the job on time.

People also felt that far more mature workers would also have infinitely better manners than their younger counterparts, with three fifths believing that they would be more polite and far more likely to tidy up after themselves when the work was finished.