Content about Home Improvement

According to a quarterly survey of tens of thousands of home improvement professionals, more than 60% of pros shop at big boxes.

The survey, the TraQline PRO report from The Stevenson Co., also found pros -- including general contractors, painters, plumbers and landscapers -- are motivated by competitive prices when buying home improvement materials.

The TraQline PRO findings include:

An investigation into the death of a Michigan bathtub refinisher in 2010 has uncovered more than a dozen other fatalities that may be related to the same chemical compound. In the Feb. 24 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers looked at the effect of methylene chloride, a paint-stripping product for aircraft maintenance marketed for use in aircraft maintenance. 

The European DIY-Retail Association (EDRA) added seven new members in 2011, bringing the latest tally to 92 home center companies. 

In its end-of-year message, EDRA General Secretary John W. Herbert, described the day-to-day routine of the group, now in its second year as an independent association. "We are heavily involved at our Cologne office dealing with the increasing number of network inquiries from our members, which include company and store visits, statistics, best practices and trends."

Tax credits for energy efficiency home improvements like insulation, replacement windows, and upgraded HVAC systems will end on Dec. 31, and Congress has not yet renewed them for 2012.

This warning from the Alliance to Save Energy gives homeowners less than a month to take advantage of as much as $500 in tax credits on their 2011 federal tax returns.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, during a hearing held earlier this year, told Congress: “We’re not Sherwin-Williams paint. We don’t cover the earth equally.”


The exchange confirmed HCN’s position that slogans matter — a case we made in this space back in 2009. Among the notable slogans highlighted here were those of Sherwin-Williams (Cover the Earth), McCoy’s Building Supply (Go Build Something) and Lowe’s (Let’s Build Something Together).


Siding and roofing were the areas that saw the biggest year-over-year percentage gains in planned home improvement activity, according to the latest tally from the Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI). 


The most common planned project? Lawns, with a 14% incidence rate, and landscaping/fencing, with a 12.1% rate.


These gainers give a clear indication that the consumer’s home improvement thoughts are gravitating toward the outdoors and the home exterior.


A survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 consumers conducted by San Francisco-based research firm MarketTools suggests that their next home improvement project will most likely take place in some room other than the kitchen or bathroom.


Almost a third of future projects were described as “other room” in the study, conducted July 8 to 10 using MarketTools ZoomPanel of opted-in consumers. 


RONA, the largest Canadian retailer of hardware, renovation, and gardening products, has expanded their in-store paint recovery and recycling program to British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. RONA says it's now the first retailer to collect and recycle old and unused household paints from consumers in Western Canada.

Thanks to the inclusion of Black & Decker's performance in the combined results of Stanley Black & Decker, the New Britain, Conn.-based tool maker reported a 142.8% jump in fourth-quarter net income to $178.0 million, up from $73.3 million.

Sales for the quarter were $2.4 billion, up 149% compared with $969.4 million for the same period last year.

Hardlines, the Toronto-based information service for the retail home improvement industry, presented its 2010 Newsmaker Award, and Hardware Merchandising magazine handed out seven Outstanding Retailer awards to Canadian hardware/home improvement retailers during the annual Hardlines Conference in Toronto.