When Lily Wang bought a 405 square foot second-hand flat in Sai Ying Pun last month and set aside a HK$60,000 budget for interior decoration, her mind was concentrated on finding a contractor to remodel her new home.
The 30-year-old office worker said she would not shop around for piecemeal renovators or even attempt a do-it-yourself project because the city's fast pace of living had squeezed her of the time and energy to consider the DIY approach.
If that attitude reflects the mood of the Hong Kong marketplace, it will come as a disappointment to DIY retailer B&Q Asia, which opened for business in Hong Kong last year. Parent Kingfisher of Britain is the largest DIY retailer in Europe and the third largest in the world.
B&Q Asia's Hong Kong office is run by chief executive Steve Gilman, who spearheaded the group's drive into the region by opening stores on the mainland and in Taiwan before taking charge of the Hong Kong store opening - a task which was presenting a new set of challenges, he said.
'Revenues to date are below the target we went for,' Mr Gilman said, although he would not disclose the numbers. 'We might have been a little optimistic with our target.'
Hong Kong home-buyers, it seems, are taking a little longer than customers in the group's other Asian locations to warm to the DIY concept. However, Mr Gilman believes it is only a matter of time before this happens.