As home improvement demand surges in 2019, contractors can be more and more selective about the jobs they take on. Most businesses would love to take on more jobs, but struggle to find talent to fill their company's needs, Business West reports. Skilled labor, especially young skilled labor, is difficult to find for many remodeling contractors across the country. Despite a continued shortage of labor, several industry groups remain high on the short-term future of the remodeling industry.
The Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI), which issues quarterly state-of-the-industry reports, is bullish on the rest of 2019. According to HIRI’s quarterly Project Sentiment Tracking Survey of 3,000 homeowners, several trends stand out:
- About 75% of homeowners are planning one or more projects in the next three months — the highest project-planning incidence since tracking began in 2012, according to the organization.
- The top motivators for projects include repair, replacement, and routine maintenance.
- The average homeowner plans to complete 4.3 projects in the next three months.
- The top projects include kitchens, windows, driveways, exterior paint, and roofs.
Energy efficiency remains a trend at the forefront of home improvement as well. Each year, Fixr, an online home-improvement community, polls experts in the home-design industry to discover what the upcoming trends in home design and building will be. This year, the site polled industry experts on what they believe are the top ways that homeowners will utilize design trends and new innovations to help lower their energy bills in the coming years.
The poll revealed that ducts and windows are the two most effective places to save through air sealing, heat pumps are the most popular method to heat an energy-efficient house, tankless heaters are the most efficient way to heat water, solar power remains the most common way to utilize renewable energy in the home, and cellulose and fiberglass are tied as the most popular ways to insulate an attic.
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