Remodelers spend roughly twice as many dollars at lumberyards and specialty dealers than they do at big-box stores, results of a new national survey of 855 pros suggest.
The 2017 Remodeling Brand Use Study by Hanley Wood, the parent company of PROSALES, found that remodelers said they gave 36% of their building material expenditures to lumberyards or other building material dealers and 13% to specialty dealers or distributors. That 49% total compares with just 23% spent at warehouse home centers.
Purchases made directly from manufacturers and items bought from wholesale distributors each got 8% of the money spent by remodeling pros, while hardware stores and industrial/contractor supply stores took in 5% each. Nearly 64% of those surveyed identified themselves as residential remodelers, 31% called themselves residential general contractors, and the rest were replacement contractors.
The Farnsworth Group, an Indianapolis-based market research firm, conducted the poll in May and June on behalf of Hanley Wood. All the respondents said they got more than 50% of their revenues from remodel or repair work. Just under a quarter of the remodelers took in less than $100,000 a year, while 19% reported $100,000 to $250,000 in revenue, 17% did $250,000 to $500,000, 15% got $500,000 to $1 million, and the rest took in over $1 million annually.
The 855 respondents said they got 44% of their revenues from additions and alterations, 32% from major replacements, and 24% from maintenance and repair. Roughly 23% of the projects averaged under $5,000, 28.3% were worth $5,000 to $15,000, and 48.5% sold for more than $15,000.
Most of the survey's questions involved remodelers' opinions about various building materials as well as how important which of nine factors were when selecting a product. In virtually all cases, product quality and performance scored highest on a 1-to-7-point scale, while having the lowest price ranked worst.