Houzz Inc. released the 2022 Houzz U.S. State of the Industry.* The report provides an outlook on 2022 and review of 2021 performance for residential renovation and design businesses based on data reported by more than 2,800 professionals in the Houzz community. Companies across all industry sectors have a confident outlook for 2022, with more than two-thirds anticipating this will be a good or very good year, and that demand for their services will continue to increase. This follows strong 2021 results with revenue growth at a four year high across the industry, outpacing expectations for the year.
“Following a busy year for the home renovation and design industry, the findings from the Houzz State of the Industry show that professionals are bullish that momentum will continue through 2022,” says Marine Sargsyan, Houzz senior economist. “The positive outlook is prevalent across industry groups from architects and designers to builders and landscapers, despite headwinds in the form of labor and product availability and price volatility. Accumulated home equity and other industry fundamentals continue to drive demand for improvements to aging housing stock and upgrades that will enable homeowners to stay in their homes long into retirement years.”
2022 U.S. State of the Industry: Major Findings
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Confidence in 2022: The majority of residential construction and design companies on Houzz predict that 2022 will be a good or very good year (71 to 77 percent). For the first time since 2018, architects have the most positive outlook among the seven sectors surveyed, with nearly four in five expecting a good or very good year (77 percent). This is followed closely by general contractors (73 percent), design-build companies (73 percent) and specialty building and renovation firms (71 percent).
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Revenue growth surpassed expectations in 2021: In 2021, businesses reported their highest year-over-year revenue growth in the last four years (9 to 12 percent), with five out of seven groups reporting double-digit revenue growth. Three-quarters of companies across all business sectors reported that revenue growth was at or above their initial expectations for 2021 (71 to 77 percent). Businesses across all industry groups anticipate continued growth in 2022 of five to nine percent.
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Increased demand anticipated: More companies across all seven industry groups believe that demand for their services will increase in 2022 (41 to 54 percent), rather than decrease (six to 11 percent). Interior designers are the most confident that demand for their services will improve (54 percent).
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Hiring is on the rise: More residential renovation and design companies (18 to 34 percent) hired employees in 2021 than in 2020 (9 to 24 percent). Design-build firms were the most likely to hire in 2021 (34 percent), followed by general contractors, builders and remodelers (28 percent) and landscaping and outdoor firms (27 percent). Hiring is expected to continue across all industry groups in 2022 (18 to 40 percent).
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Labor shortages impact cost: Companies across all industry groups expect labor availability to worsen in 2022 (41 to 55 percent), which affects the cost of labor. In fact, companies across all seven industry groups also expect labor costs to increase in 2022 (49 to 64 percent). Construction businesses are particularly concerned. The percentages of general contractors, building and renovation specialists and design-build companies that expect labor availability to worsen in 2022 have increased by 11, 11 and 10 points, respectively, compared with expectations a year ago.
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Price volatility and availability of products and materials top challenges: All industry groups listed price volatility of products and materials as one of their top challenges. Availability of products and materials is among the top challenges by six of the seven industry groups. General contractors, design-build firms, and building and renovation specialists cite price volatility (47 to 55 percent) and availability of products and materials (37 to 40 percent) as the leading challenges they faced in 2021, followed unsurprisingly by increased costs of doing business (28 to 35 percent). More than half of companies across the seven industry groups expect product and material costs to rise (53 to 72 percent).
The complete 2022 Houzz U.S. State of the Industry report can be found here [Link to be provided on Monday, March 14].
There are more than 2.7 million active home renovation and design professionals on Houzz, including architects, interior designers, home builders and design and build firms.
* The Houzz U.S. State of the Industry was conducted among home renovation firms in the Houzz U.S. community that offer services related primarily to residential renovation and/or design. Companies were grouped into seven industry sectors including, architects, interior designers, general contractors and remodelers, design-build firms, building and renovation specialty firms, landscape and outdoor specialty firms, and decorating specialty firms. The study was fielded from December 30, 2021 to January 26, 2022. N=2,805.