Industry Research
Renovation Barometer
2022Q2 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Construction Sector
Findings from the Q2 2022 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 decreased to 67 in Q2 (compared to 79 in Q1): The expectations for both project inquiries and new committed projects declined significantly quarter-over-quarter (from 80 to 65 and from 78 to 69, respectively). Among the two reporting business groups, expectations decreased (compared to 83 in Q1) among build-only remodelers, which is down 10 points from the highest reported by the group in the last five years. Design-build firms have more tempered expectations for the business activity in Q2 than the previous quarter. The expected business activity indicator declined from 75 to 62 points, compared to Q1. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator reached 12 weeks nationally at the start of Q2: Backlogs are at their all time high since 2017, and are 2.7 weeks longer than a year ago. More specifically, the overall backlog for the construction sector has nearly doubled compared to the same period in 2019. Among the two reporting business groups, the backlogs are at 7.2 weeks for build-only firms and are at 16.8 weeks among design-build firms. Compared to the same period last year, wait times are shorter by 1.3 weeks and longer by 6.7 weeks among build-only and design-build firms, respectively.
Geographically, backlogs vary from 9.4 weeks (East South Central division) to 13.8 weeks (East North Central division) across the nine Census divisions. Backlogs in the construction sector are at or longer than a year ago across all nine Census divisions. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Recent Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects increased to 71 in Q1 2022 (compared to 65 in Q4 2021): This follows increases in project inquiry activity to 70 in Q1 (compared to 66 in Q4 2021) and new committed projects to 72 (up 8 points relative to Q4 2021). The overall recent activity indicator for the construction services sector was driven by an increase reported by build-only remodelers. Recent business activity rose significantly to 72 among build-only remodelers in Q1 (compared to 58 in Q4 2021). Design and build remodelers reported a slight decrease in recent activity to 71 in Q1 (down 1 point relative to Q4 2021). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q2 2022 U.S. Houzz Renovation Barometer was fielded from March 27 through April 7, 2022 and garnered responses from 147 build-only remodelers and 376 design and build remodelers (n=523 in the construction sector). See detailed methodology here.
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