Americans have become much more determined to tackle their own home improvement projects in recent years. Our very own Danny Lipford — host of Today’s Homeowner TV and radio shows — has this to say on the topic:
“The explosion of digital DIY information and popular home improvement TV shows is empowering and inspiring homeowners to try more ambitious projects on their own. The main motivation is typically saving money but is followed closely by the great feeling of accomplishment.”
Money-saving efforts amid inflation are clear, according to our research. In a 2023 survey, nearly 71% of homeowners said inflation caused them to DIY rather than hire a professional.
With rising DIY interest, the Today’s Homeowner team was interested in learning the most popular projects. We identified the most common DIY projects using internal traffic data on Today’s Homeowner and then pulled Google Trends data to see how interest in those projects varies geographically. We were surprised to learn that installing flooring is the most popular DIY home project, as it’s much harder than other DIY tasks.
Read on to learn the top DIY project in your state and how Americans are increasingly taking on DIY projects with more potential cost savings. You can also check out our Methodology section below to learn more about how we analyzed data across states.
Key Findings
- Americans are tackling harder DIY projects: Installing flooring is the most popular home improvement task nationwide, followed by installing tile.
- The top DIY project, installing flooring, could save homeowners $784 on average, while the second-most popular project, installing tile, could save $1,200.
- Southerners enjoy their privacy, and they’ll pay for it; more southern states are searching for “how to build a fence,” the second-most expensive DIY project, than any other region.
- Amateur plumbing is on the rise, with “how to fix a toilet” as the top-searched DIY term nationwide for roughly 27 months within the last five years.
The United States of DIY: The Most Common Projects
We looked at 10 unique DIY projects to determine if homeowners in different states prioritized different projects. Below is a look at the most popular DIY project in your state.
Americans are searching “how to install flooring” more than any other DIY home project term, winning in 11 states according to Google Trends data. “How to install tile” was the second-most popular search term, winning in 10 states. Interestingly, these terms seem to be winning predominantly in the Midwest, which could indicate that Midwesterners are more likely to try harder DIY projects.
In third place was a tie between “how to fix toilet” and “how to caulk.” For a closer look at which term won in your state, check out the table below.
A Closer Look at Trending DIY Projects
While learning the most popular DIY search term in every state is interesting, our research revealed other home improvement trends worth mentioning.
Southerners Enjoy Their Privacy
Southerns are searching for backyard privacy more than any other region. “How to build a fence” was the top term in four Southern states, including Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
Perhaps people in the South are spending more time in their backyard — the search term “how to build a patio,” also only appeared in southern states, ranking as the top-searched in Louisiana and South Carolina.
Additionally, of all the regions, Southern states had the widest variety of DIY search terms, with eight of the 10 search terms we analyzed appearing as a winning term in at least one state. However, it’s worth noting that there are more states in the South (17) than any other region.
Amateur Plumbing is On the Rise
While “how to fix a toilet” tied for third most-searched in terms of the states, it has reigned as the top-searched spot weekly more than any other term.
Looking at weekly Google Trends data between July 2018 and 2023, “how to fix a toilet” was the most-searched DIY trend for 107 weeks — more than any other term. For context, the current top-searched term, “how to install flooring,” was the winning term only 29 weeks, and “how to install tile” only 48 weeks.
Is Wallpaper Back in Style?
Wallpaper is no longer reserved for Grandma’s house. The search term “paste wallpaper” was the fifth most-popular search term, winning in six states, predominantly in the South and Northeast, but also in Hawaii.
Across the nation, wallpapering regained popularity in 2020 when individuals were spending more time in their homes. The term held the most-searched DIY term over 11 weeks between September 2020 and February 2023.
Americans Leaning Into More Difficult Projects Amid Inflation
In our study previously cited, we found that many homeowners are turning to DIY for home improvement projects to manage rising costs.
Inflation also led them to take on more difficult DIY home projects, according to Google Trends data. The top-searched DIY home term nationwide is “how to install flooring,” with “how to install tile” close behind. These are much harder DIY home projects compared to painting bedrooms or restoring furniture.
DIY Projects Where You Can Save the Most
One of the most common reasons for DIY-ing is to save money on hiring a professional. For the three projects we considered, the potential cost savings exceed $1,000, with “how to build a patio” seeing the largest savings by far, at $7,100 on average.
The table below shows how much money you’ll save by choosing to DIY instead of hiring a professional.
For some of those lower savings amounts — like $200 for fixing the toilet — you may want to consider whether the savings is worth the time and effort it will take you to complete the task on your own. If you have a reliable warranty protection plan, you should check to see if a fix or replacement is covered under your plan.
Expert Advice for DIYers
Today’s Homeowner is all in favor of empowering homeowners to tackle their own improvement projects. But Lipford says, be careful not to get ahead of yourself.
“Enthusiastic DIYers should proceed with baby steps and arm themselves with plenty of research,” Lipford says. Below are his top three tips for homeowners tackling larger DIY projects:
- “Expect the unexpected. Rarely do projects turn out perfectly every step of the way.
- Don’t overestimate your abilities! Be realistic with your skills and the time you have available to do the work.
- Consider subcontracting part of the project and take on the rest yourself. You will still save money and have that great feeling of accomplishment.”
If you need help with any DIY project, Today’s Homeowner has hundreds of articles and videos to walk you through it, no matter how big or small the project. You can also find a trusted pro near you to help bring your home improvement ideas to life.
Methodology
We used Google Trends data from August 2022 through July 2023 to find the top home improvement project in each state.
Google Trends is a tool that allows users to compare search terms to discover how popular they are at a certain time and against other terms. Google presents data for each term on a scale of 0 to 100. We analyzed terms for “how to [project]” for 10 different queries to see what was most searched for in each region.
We used internal search traffic to Today’s Homeowner “how to” pages to identify the most popular DIY projects. The pages that received the most unique visits/sessions in June of 2023 were used in our Google Trends queries, so the selected projects reflect the ones people are currently attempting to perform. The terms we analyzed were as follows:
- “How to install tile”
- “How to fix a toilet”
- “How to caulk”
- “How to build a fence”
- “How to get rid of rust”
- “Paste wallpaper”
- “How to install flooring”
- “How to build storage”
- “How to get rid of bugs”
- “How to build a patio”
Those figures were then normalized by comparing them to the anchor word “home improvement.” This word served as a control variable, preventing places and terms with the most search volume from ranking the highest. The final score we ranked represents how popular the project terms (how to build a patio, etc.) are relative to the control term (home improvement). For each state, we found the project with the highest score.
Fair Use Policy
We encourage journalists and reporters to share our findings on DIY trends across states. If you choose to do so, please link back to our original story to give us proper credit for our research.
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