The Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI) surveyed homeowners in the fourth quarter of 2021, asking what home improvement projects they were planning that quarter. The survey strives to better understand consumer project sentiment so home improvement retailers can better serve those customers. Here are the four biggest takeaways from the latest survey.
- Homeowners still want to take on home improvement projects. Nearly 76 percent of homeowners planned on doing a home improvement project in Q4, typically a slower time of the year for DIY projects.
- Outside factors are fueling the boom. Homeowners are still working on projects they wanted to do in 2020 but couldn’t because of contractor timelines or other reasons. Also, many homeowners have opted to remodel rather than move because of the lack of housing inventory and increased prices.
- Maintenance and repair are the biggest motivators. Q4 saw a slight increase in “light” project planners (those planning 1 to 2 projects in the quarter), including many of whom were performing repairs.
- Homeowners plan to use professionals but move to DIY. More than 54 percent of projects were planned as DIY but historically nearly two-thirds of projects are done DIY. This indicates that projects planned to be done professionally often either end up being done DIY or do not get done at all.
