Renovators and Designers Bullish on 2020.
March 09, 2020
Houzz, which bills itself as the leading online platform for home renovation and design, has published its annual survey of the North American renovation market – and the numbers are encouraging to Canadian contractors. Renovation contractors – at least prior to the unknown effect on the Canadian economy of the coronavirus – were a confident lot coming into this year.
The 2020 Houzz Canada State of the Industry, released March 3, provides an outlook on 2020 prospects as well as a review of 2019 performance for general contractors, renovators, designers and architects. It was based on a survey of 205 Canadian residential renovation businesses. Here are some of the highlights.
Renovators and designers maintain a positive outlook on 2020. According to the study, more than three-quarters of residential renovation and design companies on Houzz predict that they will have an increase in gross revenues in 2020 (77%), reflecting improved expectations from a year ago (70%). Interior designers and decorators have the most positive outlook, with more than four in five businesses anticipating an increase in gross revenue (83%).
General contractors experienced the highest cost increases in 2019. The Houzz study says that nearly three-quarters of businesses reported an increase in the costs of doing business in 2019, such as products and materials and employee wages (72%). General contractors experienced the greatest impact (79%), compared with architects and interior designers (63 and 52 percent, respectively). On a related note, managing customer concerns over cost was a top business challenge (35%).
Almost 1 in 3 renovators and designers plan to add employees in 2020. Hiring will be up over 2019, the Houzz report says. Nearly a third of residential renovation and design companies plan to hire new employees in 2020 (34%). General contractors anticipate the most widespread increase in headcount (42%). Interestingly, a smaller share of companies across all industry groups hired in 2019 (24%).
Revenue growth was widespread in 2019. While revenue continued to increase in 2019, there was a slight reduction in the number of businesses reporting an increase (61 per cent in 2018 versus 58 per cent in 2019). That said, a majority of businesses met or exceeded expectations in 2019 (56 per cent), including 5 per cent of businesses who saw results that were significantly higher than their expectations.
Houzz, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, connects some 2.5 million active home renovation and design professionals. The study was based on online surveys conducted by Houzz between Dec. 4, 2019 and Jan. 14, 2020.
