Page 4 - Green Builder July-August 2020 Issue
P. 4
EDITOR’S NOTE By Matt Power
The Inside Scoop Editor-in-Chief
Caption. Text
Remodeling Rises as Industry
Stalwarts Rally
Interest in remodeling is protecting the shelter industry from COVID-19’s worst
outcomes. Meanwhile, a few manufacturers are getting serious about reducing
CO impacts for future resilience.
2
F YOU’RE LIKE ME, you’ve done a lot of Where’s the money going? Redening work
deferred maintenance over the weeks and spaces; upgrading kitchens and replacing appli-
months of COVID- lockdowns—replacing ances; creating special space for exercise and
appliances, putting in new ventilation, xing Zoom conferencing; increasing storage and pantry
I broken faucets and addressing nagging spaces; adding or upgrading bedrooms.
issues with how space is organized and used. The new housing market, also, has so far stayed
And I’m not alone. Interest in remodeling and ahead of crippling coronavirus damage. According
do-it-yourself (DIY) will probably remain strong, to Census data, privately owned housing
unless things getmuch, much worse. So far, sales at completions in June were at a seasonally adjusted
DIY stores and interest in remodeling project have annual rate of ,,. This is . percent above
surged. We know this thanks to our data research the revised May estimate of ,, and is .
tool, COGNITION Smart Data, which weighs senti- percent above the June rate of ,¡¡,.
ment and other metrics in markets all over the U.S. The long-term outlook for new housing,
however, remains a mixed bag. Many builders
have furloughed or laid o¢ workers. The pandemic
is far from over, and it’s premature to predict where
we’ll be in six months.
Meanwhile, a few building product manufacturers
have not been idle. They’ve taken note of the
pandemic’s chilling insight into how quickly a
Climate Change disaster might unfold in the U.S.
That’s what makes this year’s list of Eco-Leaders
di¢erent. We used as criteria companies that have
integrated “net zero” goals into their planning and
operations. They’re taking positive steps to reduce
their greenhouse gas footprint, and increase the
resilience of their brands and services.
We’re not out of the woods with COVID- —not
even close. But in the inevitable list of “silver linings”
that could be recorded years from now, once the
mobile morgues and heart-rending stories of family
tragedy fade into history, perhaps one footnote
will be that certain corporations began to take the
Self inspired. According to COGNITION Smart Data, Green Builder Media’s market intelligence existential threat of Climate Change seriously. And
division, do-it-yourself projects have increased by up to 75 percent in some markets since the their leadership created a new wave of change. They
onset of the pandemic—even with high levels of concern about spending. showed the way to redemption and renewal. GB
2 GREEN BUILDER July/August 2020 www.greenbuildermedia.com
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