Even as the building trade continues to have its struggles a new report suggests better times are coming…and coming soon.
“Home professionals are entering 2025 with renewed confidence and expectations for growth in both revenue and profitability after navigating two difficult years,” Marine Sargsyan, staff economist for the online design resource said in releasing the results of the 2025 U.S. Houzz State of the Industry report.
“Pros report that they’ve implemented new processes for operational efficiency and client communication, and made strategic investments in technology to address the challenges they faced last year,” she said, adding “this will better position them for an anticipated increase in demand, enhance their resilience amidst potential tariffs and leverage expected improvements in both local and national economic conditions.”
Based on data from over 1,500 professionals in the field, the study reports that the majority of firms in the construction and design sectors are forecasting a positive business outlook for 2025. This follows disappointing results last year when most firms missed their revenue forecasts, blaming declines in both the number of projects and the budgets for those that went forward.
Within the specific sectors in the survey group, specialty contractors were the most optimistic with about three quarters saying they were positive or very positive about their businesses for this year. Other subsets having positive outlooks included interior designers (70 percent), design-build firms (68 percent), general contractors (61 percent) and architects (60 percent).
Even as they projected better business in 2025, survey respondents said they remained concerned about increased costs in both product and material prices as well as labor shortages. The complete 2025 U.S. Houzz State of the Industry report can be seen here.
