“This year, in our annual survey, we found that the average spending on household services for households that have taken on projects has increased to $ 13,138, an increase from last year’s survey results of homeowners who have completed projects spent USD 9,081 on average, “said Mischa Fisher, Chief Economist at HomeAdvisor.
“This year’s revenue growth in expenses and projects is a story of rising costs of supplies, rising labor costs, and homeowners moving their expenses to their homes from things like entertainment and travel,” continued Fisher. “While the cost of projects has increased year over year, we’ve also found that homeowners are spending more too. The acceleration of home buying this year and the underlying drivers of consumer spending like demographic changes, the renovation of baby boomers to local age, the changing needs of millennials to raise their growing families, a greater cultural focus on home design and home entertainment, aging living space inventory levels, and a lack of new home construction – among many other fundamental factors – have already resulted in higher DIY, house maintenance, and home emergency repairs and continued this year. “
Homes have always been important, but one century’s global pandemic has fundamentally changed the relationship we have with our homes. These factors, combined with a shift in household needs as a result of coping with COVID-19, such as 27% more outdoor living needs, 40% more home entertainment, 50% more work from home and 68% more home cooking resulted in one Shift in spending patterns, with 33% shifting the commuting budget, 48% the vacation budget, and 52% the dining budget to household services.
Additional findings are:
- The three most important completed home projects are bathroom remodeling, interior painting and laying of new floors.
- The main reason for spending on home improvement was because the home was better suited to lifestyle needs, 41% of all consumers surveyed. This is in contrast to 2019, where the main reason was to replace or repair damage, defects, or decay, suggesting that COVID-19 is affecting people’s lifestyles.
- Despite the strong development in spending, 30% of the projects were not started or completed due to COVID-19.
- 85% of Americans spend more time at home due to COVID-19, 67% spend significantly more time at home, resulting in 63% noticing more areas for improvement in their surroundings.
- 68% of people eat more home cooking due to COVID; 52% have invested part of their restaurant expenses in home improvement projects; and a kitchen remodel is the most wanted home improvement project. 27% of people say they would remodel their kitchens if given $ 10,000 for home upgrades.
- 71% of people would like to see COVID-related business updates from home professionals, and 73% say knowing that a home service provider is sharing COVID-related information and actively promoting security measures affects their hiring decisions.
- The main reason projects went over time or over budget was because of products or materials that took longer than expected to arrive. 24% of respondents cited this as the main reason for projects being delayed or over budget.
This report also identified many of the generational trends sparked by the COVID pandemic outbreak, including a focus on home services for millennials.
“Millennials are spending the most on home improvement projects this year,” said Fisher. “On average, millennial households are almost spending or almost planning on spending $ 10,000 about home improvement projects this year. Homeownership rates for millennials have risen significantly as COVID-19 has re-emphasized the importance of home ownership and many businesses are moving to flexible work location options. Not only are millennials quick to become homeowners, but they also spend more on home improvement than any other generation when they do. “
The report is based on HomeAdvisor’s True Cost Guide, an online guide for homeowners to access the real costs reported by consumers for home projects, as well as results from an annual homeowner survey.
