Who’s Hiring Pros for Home Services in 2024? [INFOGRAPHIC]

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DIFM Trends for 2024

In the past year, 44% of home­own­ers com­plet­ed a home main­te­nance project. Land­scap­ing and gen­er­al home clean­ing topped the list of tasks, with near­ly four in five home­own­ers hir­ing a pro­fes­sion­al for at least one of their main­te­nance projects.

Tasks that require spe­cial­ized exper­tise — such as HVAC, pest con­trol, plumb­ing, and elec­tri­cal work — are among the most pop­u­lar ser­vices for DIFM projects. For these types of tech­ni­cal jobs, two-thirds to three-fourths of home­own­ers rely on skilled pro­fes­sion­als to ensure qual­i­ty and safety.

Top Motivators for Hiring Pros

Many home­own­ers seek pro­fes­sion­al ser­vices because they lack the spe­cif­ic skills or tools need­ed for cer­tain home main­te­nance projects. Phys­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions, safe­ty con­cerns, and a focus on high-qual­i­ty results are also key moti­va­tors for hir­ing a licensed provider. These prac­ti­cal con­sid­er­a­tions illus­trate the last­ing demand for skilled con­trac­tors, even in a cul­ture where DIY is high­ly popular.

Building Trust in 2025: The Value of Word-of-Mouth

As per­son­al refer­rals con­tin­ue to be a pri­ma­ry method for select­ing ser­vice providers, it’s essen­tial for busi­ness­es to fos­ter pos­i­tive word-of-mouth. Encour­ag­ing refer­rals through loy­al­ty pro­grams and pro­vid­ing excel­lent cus­tomer ser­vice can go a long way. Incor­po­rat­ing tes­ti­mo­ni­als and peer reviews into mar­ket­ing mate­ri­als, web­sites, and in-store dis­plays can also help rein­force your company’s rep­u­ta­tion and trustworthiness. 

Our 2024 Home Ser­vices Study offers a com­pre­hen­sive look at why, how, and when home­own­ers are choos­ing to hire pro­fes­sion­als for home main­te­nance over DIY solu­tions. By under­stand­ing these trends and needs, home ser­vice providers can bet­ter serve home­own­ers and adapt to chang­ing demands, ulti­mate­ly posi­tion­ing them­selves for a suc­cess­ful 2025.

Who’s Spending and How Much? DIFM Spending by Demographic

Home­own­ers from a vari­ety of back­grounds are invest­ing in DIFM projects, but spend­ing and ser­vice pref­er­ences vary based on demo­graph­ic fac­tors. Our Home Ser­vices Study iden­ti­fies four key groups of home­own­ers that reg­u­lar­ly hire home ser­vice providers:

Affluent Young Homeowners (Millennials, $159K+ income): 

This group val­ues high-qual­i­ty, licensed pro­fes­sion­als and is will­ing to pay for pre­mi­um ser­vices. Their top main­te­nance pri­or­i­ties include clean­ing, lawn care, win­dow upkeep, and plumb­ing. Com­pa­nies cater­ing to this demo­graph­ic should con­sid­er offer­ing pre­mi­um, advanced ser­vices and prod­ucts like smart home tech­nolo­gies, high-effi­cien­cy appli­ances, and lux­u­ry main­te­nance supplies.

Middle-Income Seniors (Baby Boomers, $80K – $159K income): 

Spend­ing rough­ly $6,500 annu­al­ly on pro­fes­sion­al ser­vices, mid­dle-income seniors are the sec­ond-high­est spenders in this mar­ket. Their focus is on hir­ing pros for phys­i­cal­ly demand­ing or risky tasks. Com­pa­nies tar­get­ing this seg­ment can pri­or­i­tize prod­ucts and ser­vices that reduce phys­i­cal strain, enhance acces­si­bil­i­ty, and part­ner with con­trac­tors for nec­es­sary main­te­nance support.

Affluent Middle-Aged Homeowners ($80K – $159K income): 

Though this group spends 56% less than the oth­er afflu­ent seg­ments, they pri­or­i­tize pro­fes­sion­al help for time-con­sum­ing tasks that require spe­cial­ized tools or exper­tise. Effi­cien­cy, dura­bil­i­ty, and qual­i­ty are key fac­tors when engag­ing this seg­ment, as they are bud­get-con­scious but val­ue their time.

Low-Income Seniors (Under $40K income): 

With an annu­al spend of approx­i­mate­ly $2,600 on home ser­vices, this group typ­i­cal­ly hires pro­fes­sion­als for essen­tial but phys­i­cal­ly chal­leng­ing tasks. Afford­able ser­vice options and financ­ing solu­tions can help cap­ture this segment’s busi­ness by mak­ing crit­i­cal home main­te­nance more accessible.

What Are Homeowners Spending on Specific DIFM Projects?

For cer­tain home main­te­nance projects, DIFM spend­ing can vary sig­nif­i­cant­ly based on the type of work involved. Roof and gut­ter main­te­nance, for exam­ple, is among the high­est annu­al expens­es, with an aver­age cost of $1,390. Of that, approx­i­mate­ly $1,200 goes to con­trac­tors, with the remain­ing $200 spent on mate­ri­als. Plumb­ing is anoth­er top cat­e­go­ry, where home­own­ers invest over $1,000 per year on aver­age to cov­er both sup­plies and con­trac­tor costs.Lower-cost DIFM cat­e­gories include pest con­trol, win­dow clean­ing, and snow removal, which are gen­er­al­ly less expen­sive but still nec­es­sary to main­tain a home.

Challenges and Opportunities for Service Providers

While the DIFM mar­ket offers a wealth of oppor­tu­ni­ty, some chal­lenges remain. Cost trans­paren­cy con­tin­ues to be a con­cern, with 25% of home­own­ers cit­ing dif­fi­cul­ty in under­stand­ing ser­vice costs in the past year. Look­ing ahead, 41% of home­own­ers list bud­get con­straints as a fac­tor that could pre­vent them from com­plet­ing nec­es­sary main­te­nance in 2025, with an even high­er impact on those earn­ing less than $40K annually.

Ser­vice providers can address these chal­lenges and build stronger cus­tomer rela­tion­ships by offer­ing trans­par­ent pric­ing, ser­vice plans, and extend­ed war­ranties. Man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail­ers with part­ner­ships with Pros can sup­port in address­ing these chal­lenges with their part­ners to improve cus­tomers’ expe­ri­ences and build Pro loy­al­ty to their program. 

Cur­rent­ly, about a quar­ter of home­own­ers pur­chase war­ranties for crit­i­cal sys­tems and appli­ances, and this approach helps them man­age costs more effec­tive­ly. Ser­vice plan offers and extend­ed war­ranties — espe­cial­ly for high-main­te­nance prod­ucts like HVAC sys­tems, plumb­ing fix­tures, and elec­tri­cal sys­tems — are an effec­tive way to attract cost-con­scious homeowners.