Industry Research
Renovation Barometer
2020Q2 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Architectural & Design Sector
Findings from the Q2 2020 Houzz Renovation Barometer, which tracks residential renovation market expectations, project backlogs and recent activity among businesses in the architectural and design services sector.
The Expected Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects decreased significantly to 35 in Q2 (compared to 68 in Q1): The decline is a result of grim expectations for project inquiries at 31 (down 36 points relative to Q1) and expectations for new committed projects at 39 (down 29 points relative to Q1). Among the two reporting business groups, architects reported a 21-point decline in overall expectations to 42 relative to Q1, while interior designers’ expectations declined more dramatically to 22 (down 53 points relative to Q1). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator decreased to 3.6 weeks nationally at the start of Q2 (relative to Q1): The overall backlog for the architectural and design services sector is 1.1 weeks shorter than the same period last year. Among the two reporting business groups, architects’ project backlog decreased to 3.6 weeks (down 0.6 weeks relative to Q1), and interior designers’ backlog decreased to 3.7 weeks (down 1.5 weeks relative to Q1). Backlogs vary from 3.3 weeks (West North Central division) to 4.0 weeks (East North Central division) across the nine Census divisions. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Recent Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects decreased to 44 in Q1 (compared to 62 in 2019 Q4): The overall indicator follows from recent project inquiry activity, which decreased to 39 in Q1 (down 24 points), and new committed projects, which declined to 50 in Q1 (down ten points). Among the two reporting business groups, overall recent activity decreased to 41 (down 18 points) for architects and decreased by 15 points to 50 for interior designers. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q2 2020 Barometer was fielded from March 26 through April 8 and garnered responses from 360 architects and 603 interior designers on Houzz. n=963 in the architectural and design services sector. See detailed methodology here (PDF).