Home Renovation Still a Hot Business Opportunity

Especially if you're in the Prairies.

According to a study by RBC/Ipsos Reid, 75% of homeowners in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are preparing to renovate within the next two years, compared to 67% of Canadian home owners nation-wide.

And why are people keen to get some home renovation done? The primary reasons among those who intend to renovate in the next two years are:

• esthetics (61 per cent),
• safety/maintenance (28 per cent),
• enjoyment (25 per cent),
• and increasing value (23 per cent).

Bathrooms (35 per cent) and kitchens (29 per cent) remain the most popular of all renovation projects. These results are consistent with previous years.

Read more about the RBC Study on Renovation.

While the study points out that this is a decline in the number of Canadians planning home renovations over previous years, it's still a whole lot of houses that need things done to them - spinning off a whole lot of business opportunities.

You can see from these statistics why construction and renovation-related trades have consistently made my best business opportunities lists of the year. (See Best Business Opportunities 2007 and Best Business Opportunities 2006, for example.)

And why I've listed home renovations as Business Opportunity #1 in my article Top 10 Home-Based Business Opportunities.

But don't forget that you don't have to be a drywaller, plumber or general contractor to profit from the home renovation trend. Notice that esthetics was the top reason for wanting to renovate - meaning there's lots of opportunity out there for interior decorators, designers, and craftsmen such as reupholsterers. Bath and window fashions will continue to be big, too.