Industry Research
Renovation Barometer
2020Q2 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Construction Sector
Findings from the Q2 2020 Houzz Renovation Barometer, which tracks residential renovation market expectations, project backlogs and recent activity among businesses in the construction sector.
The Expected Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects declined to 18 in Q2 (compared to 74 in Q1): This is a result of both expectations for project inquiries and expectations for new committed projects declining to 18 (down 60 points and 52 points relative to Q1, respectively). Among the two reporting business groups, expectations declined significantly for both build-only and design and build remodelers. Expectations of build-only remodelers declined to 14 (down 58 points in Q2 relative to Q1) and to 21 (down 54 points relative to Q1) among design and build remodelers in Q2. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator remained steady at 5.4 weeks nationally at the start of Q2: The overall backlog for the construction sector is 1.1 weeks below year-over-year levels. Among the two reporting business groups, backlogs remained the same among build-only remodelers at 5.0 weeks and declined slightly among design and build remodelers to 5.8 weeks (down 0.1 weeks relative to Q1). Backlogs vary significantly from 3.5 weeks (West South Central division) to 6.4 weeks (Middle Atlantic 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 48 in Q1 (compared to 65 in Q4): This follows project inquiry activity, which declined to 46 (down 21 points relative to Q4) in Q1 and a decrease in new committed projects to 50 (down 12 points relative to Q4). The overall recent activity indicator was driven by the two business groups, with build-only and design and build remodelers reporting a decrease in recent activity (down 22 points to 42 and down 11 points to 54 in Q1 relative to Q4, respectively). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q2 2020 Barometer was fielded from March 26 through April 8 and garnered responses from 342 build-only remodelers and 750 design and build remodelers. n=1,092 in the construction sector. See detailed methodology here (PDF).