Facing stiff competition from homebuyers eager to get into their first house, more homeowners are taking an interest in do-it-yourself projects to fix or upgrade their home instead of trying to find something new.
But home improvement projects take an input of time, money, and skills—things that not all buyers have handy before starting a home improvement project, no matter how small.
Home services projects of late have been unpredictable due to the cost and limited availability of construction materials; in fact, spending has increased to $13,140, up from $9,080 in 2019, due to these factors.
Budgeting is key for any project and failing to properly do so can derail best-laid plans quickly, so HomeAdvisor [1] conducted a survey of 947 people to learn more about their outlook on home improvement projects and how accurately they were able to budget for specific projects.
According to the survey, 65% of Americans find home improvement projects to be stressful, this includes 15% who indicated the thought of these projects was “very stressful”.
HomeAdvisor found that the top six benefits of improving your home were: home function, home value, home comfort, home safety, home aesthetics, and home energy use.
“According to our survey respondents, improving a home’s function and completing necessary repairs are the top benefits of home maintenance projects—with 29% of people agreeing,” the report said. “Behind completing necessary repairs, improving home value (25%), and improving home comfort (15%) were the second and third most popular perceived benefits of home maintenance projects, respectively.
“Interestingly, a 2019 Angi survey [2] also found that the top reason people listed for home improvement spending was to replace or repair a problem,” the report said. “So perhaps, while home spending has increased year over year, people’s motivations have remained steady.”
Going green was one thing that was not on the minds of most DIYers. The survey found that only 8% of homeowners would consider a project based on the energy savings it would generate.
“This could be cause for concern, given that residential energy consumption accounts for roughly 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and the average household spends $250 per year in wasted energy alone. Cutting back on energy consumption can make a huge difference not just on homeowners’ wallets, but also on the amount of fossil fuels that are burned each day.”
“For example, if every American household swapped one incandescent light bulb for an efficient compact fluorescent lamp, it would produce the same reduction in carbon emissions as taking 1.3 million cars off the road.”
But when it comes to estimating popular home improvement costs, over 25% of people underestimate interior painting costs, 24% severely underestimate landscaping costs and 40% underestimate window installation costs.