The Role of Women in Home Improvement

Every two years the Home Improvement Research Institute releases a new report on how women spend money on home improvement.  The 127-page reports costs $895.  If you'd rather save your cash for home improvement purchases, I'll give you a few of the highlights. 

Spending decisions made by the female HOH (head of household) account for 36.7% of all of the money spent on home improvement products.  Whereas male HOHs only account for 25.5% of the cash spent.  Are guys tighter, or are they making fewer big ticket decisions?  I'm not sure.  What do you think?

But wait, there's more!

When there's a project that involves stripping (wahoo!) or refinishing furniture, women are the product choosers 68% of the time.  If it's carpet replacement, women do 67% of the selecting.  Planning a garden - 58% - and remodeling a bathroom - 57%.

Overall, women are doing more projects and men are doing less, but both are turning to professionals for help more often in the counter-DIY trend known as DIFM (do it for me).  Or as my mother used to say, "I'm too old and too rich to do that job myself."  Where's the fun in that?

Okay and here's a curious statistic: When asked who initiates the projects, male HOHs say they initiate 41% of the time, and female HOHs say they initiate 40% of the time.  Who initiates the other 19% of the time?  Offspring?  Relatives?  Or are those the projects that never get done because both HOHs are avoiding the job?

On the whole, there are distinct areas in which women are making most of the purchasing decisions:
Wall, window, ceiling and floor coverings
Carpeting, tile, hardwood and laminate flooring
Major household appliances
Kitchen and bath remodels

And here are the things that women avoid purchasing:
Plumbing products (they don't know what they're missing)
Power tools and accessories (the best part of home improvement)
Lumber and building materials (who ever met a board they didn't like?)