Home improvement spending showed modest improvement in August, offering some welcome news for residential painting contractors heading into the final months of the year. The National Association of Home Builders reported a 2.5% spike in spending on residential improvements from July to August based on U.S. Census Bureau data.

Remodeling spending remains below where it was a year ago, and homeowners are still navigating high borrowing costs and broader economic uncertainty. But another recent report suggests there may be reason for longer-term optimism among contractors.

New research from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies found that homeowners have gradually shifted away from doing improvement projects themselves.

DIY projects made up nearly 25% of home improvement spending in the mid-1990s. By 2023, that share had fallen to 15.9%, the lowest level recorded in the researchers’ data. Meanwhile, inflation-adjusted spending on professional projects more than doubled over the same period of time. The dual trend is particularly pronounced when it comes to discretionary expenditures like room refreshes and kitchen and bath remodels.

The report identified several factors behind the trends. Homes are getting older and often require more complicated work. Homeowners are getting older, too, making them more likely to hire professionals for projects they might once have tackled themselves. And as home values continue to rise, homeowners have access to more capital to fund professional improvements. 

For painting contractors, the broader takeaway may be more important than any single month of spending data. 

Even in an uncertain economic environment, homeowners still need to maintain and update their homes. And over the long run, they have become increasingly willing to call in professionals to do the work. 

In that context, the July-August data offered an encouraging sign that demand for professionally-executed discretionary home improvement projects may be picking up again.