Changing Building Materials Preferences in the Post-COVID Housing Market

Earlier this month, Ed Hudson, Home Innovation’s Director of Marketing Research, presented “Changing Preferences for Building Products in a Post-COVID Market” at NAHB’s Leading Suppliers Council Connections meeting. He covered a wide range of findings and trends based on his analysis of long-term building products trend data, and the findings of recent national studies on buying habits of builders and households.

Ed’s presentation showed how changing preferences for building methods and materials are being driven by demographics, the tight labor market, supply chain disruptions, and changing consumer preferences leading up to, and beyond, the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation also addressed COVID’s impact on the advance of off-site construction and other approaches to speed up construction; lumber conservation methods; steps towards more defined spaces within homes; supply chain disruptions of some products and the advance of some alternatives; and continued advances in improving the energy performance of homes.

Source: Home Innovation’s Annual Builder Practices Survey; part of “Changing Preferences for Building Products in a Post-COVID Market.”

Some of the findings shared during the presentation included:

• COVID distancing measures ushered in a new need for privacy at home, resulting in a surge in homeowner interior door purchases to re-compartmentalize their homes. Further, the average number of rooms in a new single-family home increased in 2020 despite average home size declining.

• Builders accelerated their response to the waning skilled labor supply by putting more effort into attracting new employees by offering better pay and benefits.

• Wall panelization and roof trusses gained shares in the 2020 home building market.

• The pandemic spawned a need for homeowners to better organize their homes — the average number of closets in new homes increased in 2020, and DIY installations of closet storage systems for home remodeling grew by more than 60% compared to the previous year.

• In both new homes and remodeling, flat-panel cabinet designs made advances over raised-panel, and painted cabinets continued to gain ground at the expense of wood finishes.

• LVT/LVP flooring answered the design trend favoring wood flooring appearance in kitchens and wet areas while fulfilling the need for quick- and easy-to-install products for the booming DIY segment and tight labor market.

• Expanse of “continuous insulation” on home exteriors, particularly a layer of foam wall sheathing installed either under, or on top of a layer of plywood or OSB structural panel sheathing.

• Builders also put more effort into air sealing of new homes in 2020 compared to 2019 – exterior air sealing with housewrap and taped wall sheathing seams were the most commonly reported methods. 

Source: Home Innovation’s Annual Builder Practices Survey; part of “Changing Preferences for Building Products in a Post-COVID Market.”

This is just a small sample of the findings presented, and those were just a small sample of all the data gathered by Home Innovation’s market research team over the last year. If you’re interested in more detail on any of these topics or others, or if you’d like Ed to present his analysis of data specific to your particular market, get in touch.

The market for building products is still in high gear, and with supply chain issues continuing to cause uncertainty, it’s important for manufacturers and suppliers to continue to monitor the markets for new opportunities and threats. If you are seeking to better understand the dynamics and direction of the markets for your building products and services, reach out today to discuss how Home Innovation’s seasoned team of market research pros can help.

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