One in four people purposely look for cheaper homes with the intention of renovating them to add value in the future, the results of a new survey show.

Despite the positive thinking, however, ten per cent of those questioned by the researchers from Lloyds Bank said they've had major home improvement projects go wrong in the past.

The average cost of repairing the damage caused by a project gone wrong is around £3,200, despite the original work usually costing around £4,000, yourmoney.com reports.

Among the most popular planned projects are extensions and room conversions, with many of the respondents thinking that completing the work correctly will help them to significantly boost the value of their properties.

Marc Page, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank, thinks that homeowners should be careful. He said: "Most homeowners will dabble with home improvements at some stage, whether it's a DIY project or a major construction.

"What's important is to ensure the job is done to a high standard as botched job can be quite costly to rectify."

He went on to suggest that while value is a motivator, there are still many DIYers who are simply looking to make their properties feel more homely.

According to levickjones.co.uk, the same study found that 14 million people have either undertaken or plan to undertake major improvement projects in the next 12 months.