Homeowners looking to update their home or add personality are just as likely to take on projects themselves as hire professionals, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2019 Remodeling Impact Report: DIY. The report finds that 53% of homeowners who completed a home-improvement project hired a professional, compared to 47% who did the project themselves. The report finds that millennials are the most likely generation to take on home-improvement projects themselves, the Lansing State Journal reports.
The report found closet renovations, basement conversions to living areas, refinishing hardwood floors, and kitchen upgrades are among the most popular DIY projects. However, homeowners typically hire professionals for HVAC replacement, full kitchen renovations, master-suite upgrades, new wood flooring installation, and roofing projects, according to the report.
According to the report, homeowners reported a “joy score” of 9.9 for projects done themselves (joy scores range from 1 and 10, and higher figures indicate greater joy from the project). That is compared to a score of 9.6 for projects completed by professionals. DIYers also expressed a greater sense of accomplishment with a finished project, with 97% of respondents indicating a major or minor sense of accomplishment, compared to 93% of those who hired a professional.
Nearly three-fourths of generation Y and millennial consumers (73%), over half of generation X (51%) and 50% of younger baby boomers choose do-it-yourself home projects. Seventy percent of the silent generation indicated that they hired a professional to complete their project—the highest of any generation.
The NAR report pulled answers from responses to an online survey conducted between April and August 2016. A total of 2,287 homeowners completed the online survey. The joy scores presented in the report were calculated by combining the share of respondents who were happy and those who were satisfied when seeing their completed project and dividing the share by 10 to create a ranking.
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