COVID-19 Contractor Research Insights
The contractor market continues to see improvements in June, with improve project activity and optimism.
June saw only 57% of residential contractors reporting project delays or cancellations compared to 87% last June. This is been a constant trend that started last August as contractor activity begin picking up. Pent up demand along with new demand is creating a strong contractor environment that looks to continue for many months to come.
Availability and homeowner financial concerns are leading causes of delays or cancellations. While some homeowners are flush with cash, there is still a segment of homeowners that have financial limitations they must address. Availability and Labor continue to bounce up and down and will be critical areas to watch as contractor activity continues to remain strong.
In-store purchase have made a come back in recent months, but not at the expense of online purchases. Larger contractor firms continue to buy products online at a much higher rate than smaller firms. Like DIYers, online will continue to be a critical resource for all trades for shopping, researching and buying.
Project requests and Project sizes continue to slowly increase over time. Homeowners have high equity, low rates and limited options for home buying, so our expectations is to see larger home remodel projects in the market.
You can check out Contractor sentiment for more insights on contractor business expectations in our Farnsworth Contractor Index.
Like DIYers, the severity of COVID concerns impacting their business is decreasing among Contractors. While it's still present, it's not dominating their behaviors like it was last year.
Additional 2021 Survey Questions
June saw vaccinated contractors increase to 47%, which is well below DIYers. Larger firms see higher percentages receiving and planning to receive the vaccine. There is now more parody across all four Census regions.
.png)