(Newswire.net — June 11, 2016) — During the past year, Wichita has seen an increase in home repair and improvement projects. Whilst the number of projects are on the rise, the price per project is decreasing – a situation which economists believe has been brought about by improvements to the overall economy, encouraging more people to invest in homes. With the housing market in Wichita at its strongest for some time, 2014 to 2015 saw a huge 55% increase in the amount of homeowners requesting improvement work, according to HomeAdvisor, a national referral website which connects homeowners to vetted contractors.
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Increasing Home Improvement
The numbers were gathered by polling hundreds of different home improvement professionals in the Wichita network of HomeAdvisor. Brad Hunter, economist for HomeAdvisor, speculates that the reason behind the spike could well be that more and more people are feeling increasingly positive regarding both their present and future financial situations. During the recession, the majority of people deferred spending a lot of money on anything which was possible to defer on, including home improvement. Since most of the national economic numbers are now starting to look upwards and more and more people are enjoying a better financial situation, it makes sense that we are seeing an increase in money spent on improving homes.
Effect on Small Business
Numerous small businesses in the home improvement and construction industries have also been able to take away positive results from this spike. Whilst during the recession many small businesses were forced to close down due to being unable to make a profit, this increase in demand for home improvement means that things are definitely looking up for a lot of local tradesmen and contractors. Trevor Portier, owner of Paramount Construction in Wichita, says that his business has picked up this year compared to 2015, and he has also seen a huge increase in damage repair jobs since a string of hail storms this spring wreaked damage on homes. He also says that at this time of year, he has seen an increase in homeowners who are considering outdoor living projects.
Cheaper Projects
The economic improvements have definitely been beneficial all round, with increasing numbers of homeowners feeling confident enough in their financial situation to have home improvement work done, resulting in more small businesses and contractors finding that they have more work to do. Because of this, the cost per project is going down – perhaps because there is no longer a need for some contractors to charge higher prices in order to make a profit. It could also be a result of the fact that people are taking on smaller projects in favor of larger ones; maintenance and damage repairs, rather than home improvement projects, are the most common. For tradespeople and contractors, this could mean that a boom in work could be imminent, and it’s time to figure out how to keep your tools organized.
Are you planning a home repair or home improvement project for this year? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!