Home Improvement Brands Must Focus on Millennial Homeowners

In the ever-evolv­ing land­scape of res­i­den­tial con­struc­tion and home improve­ment, one demo­graph­ic has become a piv­otal force: mil­len­ni­als. Born between 1981 and 1995, mil­len­ni­als are not only the largest gen­er­a­tion in the U.S. labor force but are also rapid­ly becom­ing the dom­i­nant gen­er­a­tion of homeowners. 

For home improve­ment brands, under­stand­ing and cater­ing to this influ­en­tial cohort is no longer option­al — it’s essen­tial for sus­tained suc­cess in the marketplace. 

Millennial Surge in Homeownership

Mil­len­ni­als are mak­ing sig­nif­i­cant strides in home­own­er­ship. As of 2022, over 50% of mil­len­ni­als owned homes, mark­ing a sub­stan­tial increase from pre­vi­ous years, accord­ing to the U.S. Cen­sus Bureau. In 2023/2024, mil­len­ni­als account­ed for 28% of home buy­ers, mak­ing them the largest group of home buy­ers, data from the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Real­tors shows.

This generation’s entry into the hous­ing mar­ket has been dri­ven by fac­tors includ­ing low inter­est rates dur­ing 2020 to ear­ly 2022 and the rise of remote work, which has allowed many to move to more afford­able areas. Despite more recent chal­lenges such as ris­ing home prices and high­er inter­est rates, mil­len­ni­als con­tin­ue to pur­sue home­own­er­ship with determination. 

Millennial Surge in the Workplace

Mil­len­ni­als are not just reshap­ing the hous­ing mar­ket; they are also trans­form­ing the work­place. As of 2020, mil­len­ni­als made up 35% of the U.S. labor force, sur­pass­ing both Gen­er­a­tion X and baby boomers, accord­ing to Pur­due Glob­al. Pro­jec­tions indi­cate mil­len­ni­als will con­sti­tute 75% of the glob­al work­force by 2025. 

Mil­len­ni­als are known for their tech-savvi­ness, inter­con­nect­ed­ness, sense of indi­vid­u­al­ism, desire for pur­pose, and mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism, accord­ing to researcher Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. Those traits dri­ve what they look for when work­ing with ven­dors, includ­ing home improve­ment pro­fes­sion­als and contractors.

What Matters to and Motivates Millennials

Mil­len­ni­als are the first gen­er­a­tion to grow up empow­ered by tech­nol­o­gy. They blur the lines of where and how to learn, com­mu­ni­cate, and engage with oth­ers. For exam­ple, mil­len­ni­als are like­ly to use the same social media plat­form to learn wood­work­ing as Microsoft Word. 

They grew up more con­nect­ed and empow­ered by social media than any pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tion. They have seen move­ments start­ed by a sin­gle post — real beau­ty cos­met­ic move­ment, #metoo, BLM — as they expe­ri­ence the real lives and work­places of peo­ple from around the world. 

Mil­len­ni­als were edu­cat­ed to believe they have the pow­er to dri­ve change and to mis­trust the insti­tu­tions of the past, such as finan­cial insti­tu­tions and main­stream media. As a result, they expect more from brands and each inter­ac­tion they have with you. 

Engaging Millennials through Push-Pull Marketing

To engage mil­len­ni­als effec­tive­ly, home con­struc­tion and improve­ment brands should adopt an omni-chan­nel, push-pull mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy that attracts mil­len­ni­als (pull) and reach­es out to them (push). Giv­en the inter­con­nect­ed nature of mil­len­ni­als, this approach works for mar­ket­ing to con­sumers and businesses. 

Here are the top three con­sid­er­a­tions for imple­ment­ing a suc­cess­ful mil­len­ni­al push-pull mar­ket­ing strategy: 

Brand Pur­pose: Mil­len­ni­als grav­i­tate toward brands with a clear pur­pose and stand for some­thing more than prof­its and sales. A OnePoll sur­vey found that 80% of mil­len­ni­als are like­ly to make a pur­chase based on the brand’s mis­sion or pur­pose. When Brun­ner devel­oped a push-pull strat­e­gy for Yella­Wood, mak­er of pres­sure treat­ed pine, we devel­oped the pur­pose of cre­at­ing five-star back­yards. Read the case study.

Dig­i­tal Pres­ence: Mil­len­ni­als are dig­i­tal natives. Home improve­ment brands need a strong online expe­ri­ence, includ­ing a user-friend­ly web­site, active social media chan­nels, and con­tent that’s engag­ing and rel­e­vant. For The Home Depot Rental, we used SEO and dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing to attract mil­len­ni­al con­sumers and con­trac­tors. Read the case study.

Per­son­al Empower­ment: Mil­len­ni­als are the first gen­er­a­tion to grow up in a ful­ly dig­i­tal ecosys­tem. They grav­i­tate to brands that empow­er their abil­i­ty to do as much as 75% of their research inde­pen­dent­ly. For ZEP, we worked with influ­encers to cre­ate a library of how-to prod­uct videos. Read the case study.

Looking Ahead: Gen Z on the Horizon

While mar­ket­ing to mil­len­ni­als is cru­cial now, it’s also impor­tant to estab­lish mar­ket­ing stan­dards in prepa­ra­tion for the next wave of con­sumers: Gen­er­a­tion Z. Born between 1996 and 2012, Gen Z is enter­ing the work­force and will soon fol­low mil­len­ni­als into the hous­ing mar­ket. Every­thing mil­len­ni­als demand from your brand will be inten­si­fied by Gen Z. 

Inter­est­ing fact: By 2030, Gen Z is expect­ed to make up 30% of the glob­al work­force. Brands will need to do more to win with this small­er demo­graph­ic, which will dri­ve the hous­ing mar­ket as baby boomers age out. 

Building a Millennial-Focused Future

To stay com­pet­i­tive and rel­e­vant, home con­struc­tion and improve­ment brands must pri­or­i­tize mil­len­ni­als as a crit­i­cal audi­ence. By adopt­ing a mil­len­ni­al push-pull strat­e­gy and focus­ing on brand pur­pose, pres­ence, and per­son­al empow­er­ment, home improve­ment brands can effec­tive­ly engage this pow­er­ful demo­graph­ic. And as Gen Z fol­lows close­ly behind, know­ing how to win with mil­len­ni­als today will ensure con­tin­ued suc­cess in the years to come. 

About Brunner

Brun­ner, a 2024 strate­gic part­ner of HIRI and a spon­sor of the HIRI Sum­mit, is a lead­ing inde­pen­dent inte­grat­ed mar­ket­ing agency that’s proud to have Good Peo­ple, Cre­at­ing Great Work for Our Clients. Brun­ner sim­pli­fies the com­plex­i­ties of mar­ket­ing by lever­ag­ing data insights to devel­op cre­ative solu­tions for clients’ mar­ket­ing chal­lenges. Brunner’s client port­fo­lio includes notable nation­al brands like The Home Depot Rental, Great South­ern Wood Pre­serv­ing, Mit­subishi North Amer­i­ca, Owens Corn­ing, and Rin­nai, among oth­ers. Brun­ner is head­quar­tered in Pitts­burgh, PA, with addi­tion­al offices in Atlanta, GA.