Closing Bell: The NYC Home Renovation Report

Last week the ICO, a membership association of construction contractors in New York City, published its NYC Home Renovation Spending Report. It’s an examination of homeowner spending on interior renovations in the city over the past year and shows that homeowners are spending a good chunk of money on interior projects. Here are some interesting factoids: Homeowners doing remodeling projects spent an average of $176 per square foot on labor (excluding materials); homeowners are storing up their home improvements, favoring large remodeling projects; 96% of renovation dollars were spent on remodeling; comparatively little was spent on single bathroom remodels or smaller reno projects; homeowners spent the largest chunk of their remodeling budgets (40%) on electrical, plumbing and HVAC work; homeowners spent an average of $20,701 on the labor for their bathroom remodeling projects; an average of $1,500 was spent on expediting. And according to the ICO, “The New York Metropolitan Area is the largest metro area renovation market: 31% larger than Los Angeles by sales volume. With 3.5 million homeowners who spend $12.5 billion per year, it accounts for over 12% of the total U.S. metro area remodeling market. The vast proportion of this is spent with professional renovation contractors (81%). Only 19% is spent on DIY projects.” You can read the full report here [PDF].
Photo via the Astoria Reno blog