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There’s no better time to renovate than amid a pandemic—and according to a new report by Houzz, we’re spending more on remodeling than ever.
According to the 10th annual Houzz & Home report, which polled more than 70,000 respondents on their renovation habits, our home improvement budgets ballooned by 15% over the past year—up to a median of $15,000 per household.
This splurge in renovation spending makes sense, since for many Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the perfect alignment of desire and time: 44% said they had wanted to redo a room in 2020 and at last had the time to do it, versus 38% in 2019.
“While the pandemic caused initial concern for the residential renovation industry, many homeowners finally had the time and financial means to move forward with long-awaited projects in the past year,” says Houzz senior analyst Marine Sargsyan.
Plus, 56% of respondents reported that they plan to renovate even more in 2021.
And those little DIY endeavors that served as fun hobbies during lockdown seem to be getting upgraded to heftier projects. In fact, higher budget rehab projects saw an increase of $85K or more in 2020, compared with $80K in the two years before that.
For more on how—and where—Americans are spending their renovation dollars at home, read on. Here are three top trends noted in this Houzz report.
Garden and deck improvements
We spent a lot of time in our yards in 2020, doing just about everything we could think of—from entertaining friends to hosting book club meetups—so it makes sense that outdoor spaces are prime spots for improvements.
In 2020, renovating backyards, porches, and gardens leaped 6 percentage points, to 57%, as homeowners dug into the soil to put in new fencing, flower beds, borders, driveways, and verdant lawns.
Cassy Aoyagi, president of FormLA Landscaping, says her company saw consistent demand for outdoor projects through 2020, while 2021 portends people might spend even more as they upgrade their DIY efforts to hiring a pro.
“Where we’ve seen an uptick is from people who may have once chosen the DIY route in a small spot but who are now willing to spend $5,000 to have it done right,” says Aoyagi.
Outdoor living spaces also saw an increase in upgrades last year, with homeowners sinking 25% more into deck and porch redos ($2,500 and $1,500 respectively). Even mundane gutters, exterior paint, windows, and siding benefited from more spending.
Smart gadget upgrades
Will most of us ever go back to the cineplex? Maybe not, considering the surge in smart home technology purchases. Streaming devices and TVs saw the biggest increases at 14% and 12% in 2020. And high-tech purchases also extended into outdoor living spaces, including light fixtures, speakers, and sound systems, because there’s nothing better than lounging under the stars to listen to tunes or watch a movie.
Closet makeovers
Home offices needed to be rehabbed during the pandemic, of course, as working from home became the norm. These spots were also 10% more costly in 2020 as homeowners spent $1,100 on average. And almost as much was allocated on the humble closet, where people spent a median of $1,000 to tame the piles of clothes within.
This closet makeover craze suggests that Americans have shifted their focus from more public spots like living rooms and kitchens to private nooks and crannies that could help them get through their day a little easier.
“I’ve had several clients this year who’ve already renovated their kitchen, deck, and family rooms but were still living with vintage or builder-grade closet systems,” notes Darla DeMorrow, author of “Organize Your Home With SORT and SUCCEED.”
How people paid for their home improvement projects
In 2019, 37% of homeowners used credit cards to pay for their home renovations, but in 2020 this number dropped a lot—to just 29%. And rather than let a tax refund linger in a savings account, it was a popular move to use this dough for small projects in the $5,000 range, rather than putting them on plastic.
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