BLD Marketing, a results-based, digital-first, full-service strategic marketing agency serving the building materials category exclusively throughout North America and abroad, is offering the building and construction industry a window into the current thinking of consumers when it comes to how and where they would commit design dollars to build or renovate a home in 2024. Conducted in collaboration with Researchscape in late winter 2024, the BLD Marketing 2024 Home Design Features Omnibus Study asked consumers about their preferences on everything from the exterior of the home and the windows to their priorities on the interior of the house and in the back yard.
Among the results:
- Another Brick in the Wall: A majority of respondents (51 percent) selected brick when asked to choose exterior cladding for their new or renovated home. Vinyl siding came in second (22 percent) followed by engineered wood (13 percent) and fiber cement (11 percent). Thanks to major advancements in material science, a host of building product manufacturers offer a wide variety of engineered solutions for the home’s exterior that mimic the look of traditional materials. Recent trends find both builders and homeowners mixing the cladding options for a multi-faceted look for the facade.
- Staying with Tradition: Although white window frames have been a staple in modern home construction for decades, colored window frames have grown in popularity, providing designers and homeowners with new aesthetic possibilities. Despite this, 46 percent of the survey respondents said they would choose white window frames if they were replacing the windows in their current home or building a new home. Black (17 percent) was the second-most popular color, followed by brown (6 percent), blue (5 percent), and gray (5 percent).
- Embracing Color Out Front: The choices were more varied when survey respondents were asked to choose a new color for the front door for their existing home or a new home. White (21 percent) led the results, but black (14 percent) came in a close second followed closely by red (13 percent), brown (13 percent), and blue (8 percent).
- Fences Make Good Neighbors: When asked to select a priority for upgrades in the backyard for a new or existing home, survey respondents selected a fence (29 percent) as their first investment. Landscaping (27 percent), the lawn (26 percent), a deck (24 percent), and a patio (21 percent) also scored highly in the survey. By comparison, only 9 percent selected a shed as their priority in the back yard, and only 7 percent chose a fire pit.
- Focused on the Heart of the Home: The kitchen is often referred to as the heart of any home, and the survey demonstrates many consumers are still focused on that part of the interior. Consumers were asked to rate their No. 1 priority feature in a new home or in their renovated home, and modern kitchens came in first at 32 percent. Energy efficiency (24 percent) ranked second, followed by hardwood floors (20 percent), an open floor plan (19 percent), and luxury bathrooms (17 percent).
“The BLD Marketing Home Design Features Omnibus Study delivers some interesting findings and provides cues to architects, designers, builders, and building product manufacturers on what matters to homeowners when it comes to their primary residence,” noted David Sladack, president of BLD Marketing. “The results show that homeowners still give a nod to traditional aesthetics, but newer, modern options are gaining traction. This is particularly the case when it comes to infusing color and marrying different looks such as stone, wood, and brick on the home’s exterior. Energy consumption is also clearly top of mind for homeowners, and that has a whole host of implications when it comes to design and product choice.”
The BLD Marketing 2024 Home Design Features Omnibus Study surveyed 1,081 consumers in a wide range of geographies, age ranges, and demographic categories. The full survey results are here.
For more information on BLD Marketing, visit www.bld-marketing.com.
