Industry Research
Renovation Barometer
2025Q1 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Architectural & Design Sector
Findings from the Q1 2025 Houzz Renovation Barometer, which tracks residential renovation market expectations, project backlogs and recent activity among businesses in the architectural and design services sector.
The Project Backlog Indicator is 7.3 weeks nationally at the start of Q1 2025: The overall backlog for the architectural and design services sector is longer by 2.1 weeks compared with last year (5.2 weeks). This year-over-year increase is driven by architects who report longer wait times, up 2.7 weeks from last year. Interior designers also report longer wait times, up by 1 week from Q1 2024.
Backlogs vary across all regional divisions among businesses in the architectural and design services sector. Businesses in the West North Central division (including Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebraska) reported backlogs of 3.1 weeks, while backlogs in the East South Central (including Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi) were much longer (8.4 weeks).
The Recent Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects increased to 58 in Q4 2024 (compared with 54 in Q3): This increase is attributed to an uptick in both project inquiries and new committed projects (up 4 points for each to 56 and 59 from Q3, respectively). The indicator is only up 1 point to 61 for architects. In contrast, interior designers report a 10 point increase in business activity, with the indicator climbing above the 50-point line and reaching 53.
The Q1 2025 U.S. Houzz Renovation Barometer was fielded from December 16, 2024 through January 11th, 2025 and garnered responses from 254 architects and 352 interior designers on Houzz (n=606 in the architectural and design services sector).
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See Related Stories:Houzz is the leading platform for home building, remodeling and design, empowering industry professionals and homeowners with the tools they need to make every project a success. Houzz Pro provides home industry professionals with a business management and marketing SaaS solution including estimates, CRM, project management.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
See Related Stories:Houzz is the leading platform for home building, remodeling and design, empowering industry professionals and homeowners with the tools they need to make every project a success. Houzz Pro provides home industry professionals with a business management and marketing SaaS solution including estimates, CRM, project management.
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The Expected Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects declined to 68 for Q1 2025 (compared with 71 for Q4 2024): This is driven by a 7-point decline in expectations for project inquiries (from 73 for Q4 2024 to 66 for Q1 2025) and stable expectations for committed projects (69 points). Architects are especially cautious about business activity, reporting a 12-point decrease in expectations for Q1 2025. Interior designers, on the other hand, are more optimistic, reporting an 11-point increase in expected business activity (from 61 for Q4 2024 to 72 for Q1 2025). A score above 50 points indicates that a larger number of firms expect their business activity to improve rather than decline compared to the previous quarter. See additional sub sector data in the report (PDF).