How Homeowners Are Coping with Rising Prices

I’ve seen families rip out cabinets and just… not put anything back. Save ten grand, hope IKEA doesn’t fall apart. Kitchen renos were $25,500 in 2020, now it’s $33,600 (thanks, Hipages). Ask a tradie for a quote and it’s $26,900 more than your memory. Not even rare anymore.

Re-Prioritizing Home Improvement Projects

Vision board? Toss it. Who’s gutting five rooms unless they want to refinance for a tile mural? One client literally ranked repairs by “most embarrassing for guests.” Ensuite wins, second lounge left to rot.

It’s all weird math now: track every price hike, obsess over roof vs. kitchen, stack up quotes (always three—“mates rates” means nothing now). I’ve watched people sell gym gear and bread makers to pay for new taps. Hipages says job requests jumped 10.4% for 2025, but nobody’s finishing what they start.

It spirals. People do “waves” of renos. By phase two, prices have jumped again, so the living room gets axed for some urgent leak. Picking what’s urgent is survival, not design.

Adjusting Project Scope and Timelines

Booked a tradie for anything non-emergency? Good luck. Contracts now say “price valid for 14 days.” Suppliers tack on fuel fees—my March flooring order jumped mid-delivery. Total circus.

Everyone I know shrinks projects after the deposit. Outdoor decks shrink by a third. My neighbor swapped Italian tile for basic subway when the freight quote landed. “Just finish before 2026,” she said. Renovation loans hit $202,270 on average, but the delays are the real pain. “Stage one” and “stage two” sound like highway projects, not homes.

Nobody trusts timelines. My own schedule looks like a scavenger hunt—wait for plumber, pause for insulation, pray for dry weather. No doubling up crews; everything’s staggered, everyone’s recalculating. Best advice? Overbudget. For money and patience.

The Most Affected Remodeling Projects

Homeowners just stare at quotes like they’re reading ancient runes. Kitchens spike fastest, big jobs go sideways, and patch jobs rule. Hardware stores still play lo-fi and hand out $10 paint buckets like it’s 1999.

Kitchen Remodels and Their Soaring Expenses

Saw a neighbor get destroyed by a quartz countertop quote—estimate jumped 30% mid-job. Cabinets drag on forever because lumber prices bounce around like a pinball. Even basic appliances? Marked up because “supply chain issues,” which is apparently a joke now.

Harvard Joint Center says average kitchen spend was $4,700 in 2023 (was $3,300 in 2019), but all I see is people swapping paint and lights. Real remodels? Five figures easy, unless you cut every corner. Contractors tell me clients walk away after demo, rooms left gutted because tile costs go nuts—$12 a square foot turns into $18 overnight.

If you drained your emergency fund last year, maybe skip the kitchen. People fill the gap with credit cards, but with rates over 20%? I’d lose sleep.

Major Renovations Facing Cost Pressures

Another porch abandoned halfway—“unexpected lumber surcharges.” Verisk’s Remodel Index tracked nearly 4% jumps for everything from windows to HVAC. Want to knock down a wall or add a bathroom? Get three quotes, minimum—prices drift higher every week.

Last month, an electrician told me wire costs more now, and copper thefts are back. Owners 65+ now make up 27% of spenders (Harvard JCHS), so retirees outspend first-timers and force accessibility upgrades. Permits and inspections eat budgets, and if code changes mid-job—don’t ask about the time drywall had to come down for a surprise rewire.

Here’s a rough look at material price hikes:

Necessary Repairs Delayed or Downsized

Clients call, begging to patch a roof and hope it survives another storm. People slap on spare shingles, hardware stores sell out of sealants by January. Money dries up. Even urgent repairs get delayed—windows taped, water heaters limping along.

Someone whispered they lost home insurance—underwriters now want proof you fixed old pipes or replaced ancient furnaces before renewing. But cash goes to the “bare minimum”—stop leaks, delay seismic work, ignore masonry. Makes future costs even scarier.

People split big projects into three tiny ones, finance a chunk now, hope for a tax refund to finish. Retirees might have more urgency, but younger owners juggle credit debt and can’t risk losing a job with bills like these.