Design and home renovation businesses are expected to see ‘healthy’ growth in 2016, according to new research.
A report from online home renovation platform Houzz revealed that nearly 500 UK-based professionals anticipated a 75% growth in revenue and 70% growth in profit.
Within the sector, growth was expected in 76% of design and build companies, 73% of architecture and design businesses, 72% of décor companies and 69% in all other groups.
Almost half of businesses (49%) in the Houzz community said they expected to see revenue grow by 10% or more. To accomplish this, businesses planned to increase marketing and sales efforts (58%), bring in larger budget projects (48%), offer new products or services (38%) and improve customer experience (37%).
Over a quarter (29%) said they also planned to increase their staffing levels in 2016.
“With a community of more than two million unique monthly users and more than 40,000 active home professionals, Houzz UK has unprecedented insights into the health of the home renovation and decorating industry around the globe,” said Nino Sitchinava, principal economist for Houzz. “Our research points to healthy growth in 2015 among architecture, design, renovation, decor, and other small home-related businesses in the Houzz UK community, and a positive outlook for 2016.”
This anticipated growth follows a ‘strong’ 2015 performance, with over two-thirds (71%) of residential renovation and design companies reporting increased revenue, while 60% reported an upsurge in profits.
Furthermore, almost three-quarters (73%) reported that revenues met or exceeded expectations in 2015.
However, more than half of businesses (59%) also reported that the cost of business had increased, driven by product/materials costs (50%), employee wages (47%) and marketing costs (37%).
In 2015, businesses revealed that the top challenges they faced were managing consumers’ concerns around cost (39%), difficulty finding prospective customers (30%), managing consumers’ expectations (24%) and increased cost of doing business (23%).