Nationally, The Home Depot and Lowe's both reported fourth-quarter profits in 2001 more than 50 percent higher than the previous year. The Tampa-based Home Improvement Research Institute is predicting that home-improvement product sales in the United States will reach a record level of nearly $188 billion when 2001 figures are released.
Tool manufacturers have made DIY easier by marketing reasonably priced, multifunction tools such as Black & Decker's Firestorm cordless multitool (drill, sander and saw, about $120).
Installations are simpler today, too. Laminate floors have become much easier to install with new, interlocking pieces that don't require glue, and modern kitchen and bath faucets have flexible hoses.
But the most recent surge in DIY popularity may be attributed to the events of Sept. 11.
"DIY has been a popular way to increase equity in the home for many years," says Melissa Birdsong, Lowe's director of trend forecasting and design. "Before 9/11, we were seeing a downtrend in DIY consumer interest. The trend was to buy it yourself and have somebody else do it. But post-9/11, the economy began turning down, and it became more important for people to improve their homes for less."
Birdsong says there may have been other factors besides the terrorist attacks, such as rising home equity and low interest rates, but the tragic events served as a catalyst for consumer interest in DIY. As a result, "cocooning," or a preference to stay at home with family instead of traveling, has been "reinterpreted," she adds.
"It's not necessarily getting away from things anymore but just a comfort level, a place that's less stressful," she says. "Home is a place for gathering instead of going out all the time. That spurs home improvement as well."
In fall 2001, Rick Cote, an air traffic controller who lives in El Dorado Hills, Calif., built an outdoor kitchen and entertainment area where his family and friends can gather. He estimates that he saved about $10,000 by doing it himself. He learned to set tile at a two-hour seminar at The Home Depot and says his education in installing the grill came courtesy of Barbecues Galore.
"Barbecues Galore really gave me some good insight and let me crawl underneath their setups," he says. "I learned enough to be dangerous at the two-hour seminar at Home Depot."
Cote says he had to retouch the grout after his first attempt. The entire project took him about four weeks, but he says he would sometimes take four or five days off in a stretch. He estimated about 100 work hours. "At the time, there were tense moments, but now there's a lot of pride," he says. "The neighbors are bugging me to build one for them."
Birdsong says more women have become DIYers in recent years, and women are now tackling "heavier" tasks such as laying ceramic tile and plumbing.
Pam Swanson was nearly crushed during one of those "heavier" tasks when a 165-pound section of decorative column landed in her arms during a family DIY landscaping project. "We were trying to hook it up to the winch, and my son, being a teenager, didn't have a good grip on it, and it slipped," says Swanson, an elementary school teacher. "I caught it in my arms temporarily. It was one of those adrenaline-rush things. I actually held it in my arms for a few moments."
Swanson says her husband, Keith, a geotechnical engineer, nearly drove a forklift into the lake behind their home, and their inability to perfect coloring and stamping concrete forced them to call in experts. But the finished back yard, with its four columns, a conversation pit and stairs to the lake, was well worth the effort and saved them about $25,000.
"It took almost a year, but it turned out just beautifully," Swanson says. "We really do enjoy it and take a lot of pride in that we did it ourselves."
Elaine Yamada has completed several home-improvement projects, including refinishing and building furniture, and building a garden shed, a deck, an arbor and a water feature in her back yard.
"I used to watch my parents do many projects while I was growing up," she says. "Both my parents were avid do-it-yourselfers. I've dabbled in almost everything. I just can't seem to pay someone else for what I'm able to do."
Age also has something to do with calling in pros or doing it yourself, says Vince McDonald of Sacramento's McDonald Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning.
"I think the Home Depots have a lot to do with people trying home improvements themselves," says McDonald. "In years past, they didn't think about it; they just made the call (to hire a professional). Most of the calls we get today are from older people, probably age 60 or more. The young people don't call. They figure a way, call a friend or a friend of a friend. When you get older, you think, 'I'm not messing with that thing anymore.' "
Owning an older home also presents unique home-improvement problems, says Tugaeff of The Home Depot. "If you have a new house, the problems usually aren't too bad, but an older house you might run into dry rot, asbestos, lead-based paint and things like that," he says. "It helps to know what you might be getting into."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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