Each year the residential housing oriented website, Houzz.com, surveys homeowners to learn what upgrades people want to make to their homes. Here’s some data from their 2018 landscaping survey.
People Want to Entertain Outside
Upgrades to the “outdoor living” areas, such as patios, is the most common desire. After making landscape upgrades, 51% of the surveyed said they spend more than half of their entertainment time outside. The majority of landscape projects, reported at 70 percent, are made to the backyard living area.
When upgrading outdoor living areas people are focused on:
- Ample seating with lounge furniture
- Dining furniture
- Benches
- Fire places or pits
- Ceiling fans
- Patio heaters
- Café (string) lighting
- Rugs
Folks want an appealing, comfortable, and spacious environment. A fairly new category to the list, 18 percent also want quality sound systems and outdoor TVs.
People Want to Improve Their Home Value
Backyard projects help increase home value by adding enjoyable living space. Front yard projects help by elevating a home’s curb appeal. 39 percent of recent landscape projects were for that purpose. The three main features people bought were:
- Upgraded and more planting beds
- Attractive borders
- More shrubs
- More perennials
The primary reason people engaged a landscaper last year was to upgrade/repair elements of their landscape. This was both due to landscapes that have deteriorated over time, or have been damaged by Mother Nature. Others just wanted bigger and better landscapes. Both clearly illustrates the fact that the landscape renovation trend is continuing.
