HIRI tracks project motivation

Retirement, marriage and sudden financial windfalls have the power to change a person for better (or worse). They also have the power to boost home improvement spending.

Homeowners have many different reasons for planning projects to redo, repair, replace or maintain areas of their homes. And, according to research from The Home Improvement Research Institute, the simple need to repair and maintain leads the way as a motivator -- and by a significant margin.

Topping the list of motivators for project planning from the first quarter of 2016, not surprisingly, is the simple need to repair or replace an area of the home –--evidence that nothing motivates spending like a leaky roof, or some other home malady that needs immediate attention.

As the chart below shows, need (25.1%) is followed by routine maintenance (23.4%), and a desire to upgrade (22.9%).

From there, life choices, fate and other factors beyond the four walls of a home begin to kick in, led by increased finances (15.8%)

Motivators for project planning – First Quarter

• 
  Need to repair/replace: 25.1%


• 
  Routine maintenance: 23.4%


• 
  Want to modernize/upgrade/redecorate: 22.9%


• 
  Increased finances: 15.8%


• 
  Retirement: 4.8%


• 
  Marriage: 4.2%


• 
  Decreased finances: 4.1%


• 
  Moved or plan to move: 3.7%


• 
  Birth or adoption of a child: 3.5%


• 
  Building a new home: 3.5%


• 
  Employment relocation: 3.4%


• 
  Disaster: 3.4%


• 
  Selling home: 2.4%


• 
  Started a home business: 2.3%


• 
  Injury or illness: 2.1%


• 
  Death of a household member: 1.7%


• 
  Child moves out: 1.6%


• 
  Widowed: 1.5%


• 
  Parent moves in: 1.4%


• 
  Adult child moves back: 1.2%


• 
  Divorce: 1.2%


• 
  Victim of crime: 1.0%


• 
  Other motivators: 1.0%

Source: HIRI Project Sentiment Tracking Survey

HIRI’s Project Sentiment Tracking Survey, an ongoing omnibus survey of adults in the U.S. about home improvement projects they are planning. For more information, visit HIRI.org.