Home-renovations-body-renewal

For most of
our lives, home renovations involve making our home more exciting, inviting and
valuable. New decks make room for summer BBQ fun, kitchen refreshes give us
room to entertain and extensions make room for our growing families.

But, it isn’t
swimming pools and baby rooms that are driving the latest renovation boom; it’s
older adults, like you and me, fighting to stay independent and mobile for as
long as possible. Because, let’s face it, who wants to end up in an assisted
living facility if they can “age in place?”

Just How Much Are We Spending on Home Improvements?

A lot! In the
U.S. alone, in 2017, we spent $424-billion on home renovations and improvements.
This represented a 10% increase over the prior year.

According to
the authors of the Harvard
report, some of this increase can be attributed to landlords making
improvements to their current apartments. But, the biggest new category of home
improvements – and one that is destined to increase in the future – was older
adults repairing and securing their own homes.

As the report said,
“Homeowners age 55 and over have dominated the home remodeling market for
nearly a decade, overtaking middle-aged owners as the primary source of home
improvement spending. Even though homeowners aged 35–54 still spend the most
per household on average, their share of market spending has shrunk from well
over 50 percent in 1995–2005 to just 41 percent since 2015.”

This trend is
also contributing to the overall growth of the market. According to the study,
over the last decade, spending by older adults grew 150% to $117-billion,
annually. This growth rate vastly outpaced the 9% average for the overall home
renovation market during the same period.

Another Example of Subconscious Ageism in the Business
World?

With seniors
(and I use this term loosely), spending so much on home renovations, you would
think that builders, building supply companies and consultants would be all
over this opportunity. But, if you take a look on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube
and Google Images, you will see that the only “home renovations” that advertisers
want to talk about are the ones that feature 20-something Millennials,
particularly those who have chosen to live in tiny homes.

The truth is
that ageing isn’t a sexy topic. It’s not something that people like to talk
about. But, I can’t help but think that the renovation industry is missing a
huge opportunity here. Someone is going to come along and dominate in this space…
and they are going to make a lot of money in the process.

Home Renovations Aren’t Enough to Keep Us Safe… We Need
to Renovate Our Bodies Too!

As the report
pointed out, one of the main reasons that older adults are spending more than
ever on home renovations is that we are eager to “age in place” and want to
make our homes comfortable and, above all, safe.

On the surface,
older adults who install panic buttons, stair lifts and anti-slip mats are on
the right track. After all, falls are one of the leading causes of older adults
losing their independence – and 1 of 3 of over-65-year-olds will experience a
fall at some point.

But, based on
my years of work with older adults, I would argue that building a safer castle
is only part of the solution. If we really want to stay healthy and independent,
we need to renovate our bodies, not just our houses.

In a future
article, I will provide some additional tips on how to improve your balance and
strength. But, here are just a few suggestions for activities that almost all
of us can handle:

Don’t get me
wrong. I’m all for making our homes safer. It’s just that safety devices are
only part of the story. We can’t bubble wrap our lives… so, we need to harden
our bodies.

Were you surprised that older adults are spending so much on home renovations? Why or why not? Do you plan to do any home improvement work in the near future?