Q1 2016 Houzz Renovation Barometer Finds Shortages Persist Across a Wide Range of Skilled Trades, Leading Many Firms to Take Action to Attract Young Talent
Blackline Renovations recently participated in this survey about the renovation industry- read the results!
Houzz Inc., the leading platform for home remodeling and design, today released the Q1 2016 Houzz Renovation Barometer, which tracks confidence in the home renovation market among industry professionals. The Q1 2016 Barometer readings reflect strong quarter-over-quarter confidence for all industry groups, with readings of 68* or higher, indicating a seasonal uptick in market activity. The readings for Q1 2016 are in line with scores for the same quarter in 2015, with the exception of architects and outdoor specialty firms that report somewhat weaker confidence scores in Q1 2016. All industry groups report a rosy outlook for the second quarter of the year. Labor continues to pose a top challenge for renovation-focused firms, with nearly four in five general contractors, remodelers and design-build firms reporting moderate-to-severe shortages across a wide range of skilled trades, consistent with 2015 Barometer findings. Three in four firms reporting shortages are hiring employees or subcontractors in those in-demand trades. In order to attract young workers, 39 percent of remodeling-focused companies are offering on-the-job training. Another 21 percent are leveraging social media to help promote job opportunities to new talent. Some firms are taking more extensive measures, such as partnering with local colleges to offer training programs, attending recruiting events and/or giving talks at local colleges and/or high schools to reach potential future hires (8, 8, 6 and 6 percent, respectively). “While Barometer readings continue to reflect year-over-year market improvements across industry groups, these gains are somewhat less widespread than those we saw in the same period of 2015,” said Nino Sitchinava, principal economist at Houzz. “Consistent with our projections in the Houzz State of the Industry report at the beginning of the year, we are seeing early evidence that 2016 will be a year of more moderate yet steady growth for residential renovation and design businesses.” Chris Black, owner of Blackline Renovations in Dallas, TX said, “We are seeing a shortage in trim carpenters, concrete, and demolition jobs. Individual trades don’t really want to do the smaller jobs, which is causing a rise in cost for smaller projects and also can cause delays.” The impacts of these shortages is far reaching and the full effect remains to be seen.
Additional findings from the Q1 2016 Houzz Barometer include:
- Year-Over-Year Gains Persist: The Barometer posted high year-over-year readings of 70-78 in Q1 2016, roughly in line with scores for Q4 2015 (72-76). While confidence continues to be high, four of the six industry groups report somewhat weaker scores in Q1 2016 relative to Q1 2015.
- Quarter-Over-Quarter Uptick in New Business Activity: The majority of firms report quarter-over-quarter growth in the number of new business inquiries and the number and size of new projects in Q1 2016 (Barometer readings of 73-79, 69-75, and 62-70, respectively). Expectations for quarter-over-quarter gains in Q2 are sky-high across all new business metrics, particularly among general contractors and remodelers, building/renovation specialty firms and outdoor specialty firms.
- Finish Carpenters in Shortest Supply: Consistent with 2015 Barometer findings, general contractors, remodelers and design-build firms report that carpenters are in the shortest supply across the U.S. (cited by 45 percent of all firms). Other in-demand trades include framers (27 percent), tile specialists (22 percent), plumbers (19) and drywall professionals (19 percent).
The full Q1 2016 Houzz Renovation Barometer can be found here.
Sincerely,
Chris Black
President
Blackline Renovations
214.773.5566
Chris@BlacklineRenovations.com
Please check out our new website: www.BlacklineRenovations.com
