3 ways coronavirus may affect home improvement plans

Like most everyone on the planet, I’m concerned about coronavirus (COVID-19).

I’m concerned for so many reasons, but for this blog, let’s just talk about the non-life threatening topic of how coronavirus may affect everyone’s home improvement plans.

Building product supplies may become more scarce.

While it’s hard to say there is a bright side during a terrifying pandemic, the bright side of possible limited construction supplies is that maybe we’ll start sourcing local products.

Scarcity has already hit Lysol spray and hand sanitizer in the United States. It may be just the beginning.

China supplies about $10 billion worth of construction goods to the United States. The tariff dance from the past few years were already having an effect, according to Associated General Contractors of America. Now that some factories are closed in China, contractors in Australia are already reporting a pinch in supplies. Without an end in sight, we should be prepared to face supply-chain shortages in the US, too.

As the livelihood of our family’s and 650,000 other remodelers in the United States depends on a healthy remodeling market, it’s best that we are prepared for how the coronavirus may affect home improvement.

Home desires may change.

The way we use our homes may change, if we are facing a lengthy time without public events and/or are self-isolating.

We may want to alter how we use spaces, and we may need to alter areas of our homes to safely isolate and accommodate family members who may have COVID-19.

I’m also suspecting that we’ll be using our private outdoor areas more than usual, since we may not be able to attend public outdoor events due to cancellation or self-isolating. These outdoor areas have become serious creature-comfort living spaces in the past decade, and I suspect the interest in creating outdoor family rooms will be rising in the coming months.

Household income may drop.

Home improvement projects, DIY or contractor-hired, may be cancelled or delayed due to financial reasons. Whether it’s self-imposed or enforced, quaratining can affect household income for those who can’t work at home.

Beyond the immediate and most important concerns of being able to pay for housing, food, and medicine, there’s the trickle-down effect of lower household incomes. After we try to pay for essentials, there may not be enough for those extras in life like planned home improvement projects.

When there’s less money floating around, it may eventually affect the household income of every worker, even freelancers and those who can work from home.

We’d love to know what you think.