Home improvement is the repairing, renovating or modernizing of the interior or exterior of a residential building. It may also include the addition of rooms or the conversion of commercial spaces into residential use. Home improvements can be done for a variety of reasons, including improving comfort and appearance, adding resale value or changing the function of a room. Examples of home improvements include painting, refinishing wood surfaces, remodeling the kitchen or bath, installing a deck or patio, and upgrading heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
Although more than 22 million homeowners completed at least one home improvement project in 2017, the bulk of the spending was driven by just three percent of owners who tackled high-end projects such as replacing a roof or modifying an HVAC system. These high-spending households also tend to be younger and live in more urban areas, according to data from the American Housing Survey (AHS).
Axiom’s survey of homeowner attitudes found that almost four in five homeowners say they can afford to do at least some of their planned home repairs or improvements without tapping into savings or going into debt. However, about three-fourths of those surveyed said they would be more cautious about hiring home repair or improvement professionals because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Axiom survey also showed that there has been a surge in several types of home improvement, mainly yard and landscape work such as trimming trees or building fences. Other popular projects cited by survey respondents were putting in a new deck, planting shrubs or flowers and laying sod.