A new study conducted by Houzz, called the Renovation Barometer, shows that confidence among remodelers, builders, architects, and designers are on an upswing this year. Professionals already agree that this turn of events only signals good things for the home improvement market.
It could be good news for homeowners as well. In this two-part blog, NEXT Door & Window, your experts in replacement windows in Naperville, IL explains.
Tracking Confidence
Online platform Houzz recently launched the Renovation Barometer, designed to record quarterly changes in business activity in the home improvement market. Over 2,000 architects, designers, general contractors (GCs), remodelers, design-build firms, and landscape specialists participated in the study. So far, it’s also been an effective way of gauging confidence among professionals in the industry.
The Barometer uses “readings” to track gains and decreases in business activity. A reading over 50 means more firms are reporting an increase in number and size of inquiries, projects, and orders than those who are reporting a decline.
The scores recorded for this quarter are pretty telling. Below, we discuss some of the findings that stood out.
Key Findings
According to this quarter’s report, professionals experienced a significant gain in business confidence for the first few months of the year. There’s been as much as 26% increase in professional confidence when compared to the final quarter of 2014.
GCs and remodelers—including replacement windows and doors companies—were 11 to 15% more confident at the start of 2015 than they were during the last three months of 2014. More firms also reported an increase in business activities this quarter than last year.
In terms of number of inquiries, GCs and remodelers scored a reading of 79 this quarter, compared to only 68 in Q4 of last year. The reading for the number of new projects and orders has also seen an increase—from only 65 in Q4 of 2014 to 75 in Q1 of 2015.
There was also a significant gain when it comes to the size of these new projects and orders. Last year’s final quarter only registered a reading of 64 for GCs and remodelers, a whopping 14 points lower than this year’s score of 70.
Positive Outlook
All in all, the surveyed professional groups are looking forward to even better readings for the second quarter of 2015. Many also believe that the reported gains in business activity means that more homeowners are getting a newfound appreciation of the services performed by these professionals.
NEXT Door & Window, your leading replacement windows company in Naperville, thinks so too. Watch out for part 2 of the blog to learn more about this study and what it means for you as a homeowner.
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