Outdoor living trends for 2025
System Pavers, an outdoor remodeler based in California, is forecasting 2025’s top outdoor living trends that will help shape the building materials industry in the upcoming year (and beyond).
Aaron Brundage, the company's director of operations, shares: “We are at the forefront of an innovative time of change for the outdoor living industry as homeowners’ expectations and priorities shift. The options available and requested by homeowners are now technological, prioritizing comfort, aesthetics and functionality."
The top 3 outdoor living trends Brundage and his System Pavers’ colleagues anticipate for 2025 include:
Smart spaces. More and more homeowners want to take the convenience of smart technology outside, using it for their porches, backyards and patios and revolutionizing how they experience their outdoors.
By incorporating smart technology into outdoor spaces, homeowners can effectively create seamless extensions of their indoor living areas, while increasing the emotional, mental and physical benefits of spending more time outside. From remote-controlled fireplaces and lights to Alexa-enabled spaces and pergolas that can open and close from the touch of a phone, homeowners are utilizing technology previously only used indoors to make their outdoors more convenient, accessible, and enjoyable than ever before.
Composite decking. As homeowners continue to have resale value at the top of their minds, investments in long-lasting materials are a big priority.
Many people have moved away from wooden decks in favor of composite decking, which is a sustainably-made combination of recycled wood and plastic that can last as long as 50 years. While wood decks are initially a cheaper option, they require ongoing maintenance, such as staining, painting and repairs that can add up over the years.
Composite decking is largely warp- and stain-resistant and requires far less upkeep. This allows families to spend more time enjoying their decks while adding to the long-term value of their homes.
Phased multi-use spaces. Outdoor spaces increasingly incorporate multiple features, including sitting areas, fire pits, pergolas, decks, swimming pools, kitchens, and more, as opposed to a single-use space.
Homeowners have started to do these larger projects in phases, allowing them monetary flexibility and the ability to live in their space, assessing priorities as they go. This gives the most flexibility, as homeowners can make changes to their overall plan to better fit evolving lifestyles. When it comes to entertaining, there’s also been an uptick in customers investing in top-tier products for their multi-use outdoor spaces, which is expected to continue. System Pavers is seeing that outdoor cooking enthusiasts increasingly want upgraded outdoor kitchen features such as Kamado grills, smokers, and pizza ovens for hosting in style.
“While we can’t predict the future, based on our thousands of conversations with homeowners in 2024, we anticipate that these trends will be at the forefront of homeowners’ minds for quite some time. I could not agree more with my colleague Aaron that this is an incredibly exciting time for the industry, and also for the homeowner who now has the ability to truly bring their outdoor living dreams to life,” shares Robert Frost, operations manager at System Pavers.
