What are the prospects for renovation and interior design companies in 2023?

Companies in the sector are mixed: 54% of them expect a good, even excellent, year 2023, while 34% anticipate activity similar to that of last year. Companies expecting an increase in revenues and profits in 2023 outnumber those expecting a decline (64 and 61% respectively, compared to 12 and 14%).

For Marine Sargsyan, economist at Houzz: “Professionals in the renovation and fit-out sector report reasonable growth prospects for their business activity in 2023, but nevertheless share concerns about the current economic situation. However, this year more companies are expecting an acceleration in their growth, although this feeling is less widespread than in 2022.

The Houzz UK 2023 Industry Barometer also reveals that professionals are willing to implement a variety of marketing, financial, and customer strategies to achieve their business goals, despite currently high expense and material costs.

Houzz UK Industry Barometer 2023 - Key Findings:

• Key forecasts for 2023: more than half (54%) of renovation and interior design companies anticipate a good, even excellent, year 2023 while 34% of them foresee activity similar to that of last year. Among professionals predicting a good or excellent year, craftsmen and general building contractors (63%) are the most optimistic, followed by interior designers (56%).
• Expected revenues and profits: among professionals across all sectors, 64% expect their income to rise in 2023, surpassing the proportion of those expecting it to fall (12%), a sentiment similar to the previous year.
• An increase in expected demand: 73% of businesses believe demand for their services will increase in 2023, while 15% expect a decline. 83% of interior designers and 79% of interior designers expect demand to rise this year, representing the most optimistic categories of professionals.
• An increase in charges: the proportion of companies in the various sectors mentioning an increase in charges (71%) is much higher than that indicating a decrease (5%), which represents an increase of 9 points this year compared to the figures for 2021 (71% in 2022 against 62% in 2021).
• A decrease in staff: one in eight companies (12%) recruited labor in 2022, compared to 17% in 2021. Accounting for 33% of companies that increased their workforce, craftsmen and general construction companies topped the list ranking of the companies that recruit the most, followed by interior designers.
• Improved product availability: in 2022, professionals were less worried about the availability of products and materials than in 2021. The proportion of companies citing this problem as one of the three main challenges encountered in the course of their activity fell by 4 points, bringing together 27% of respondents compared to 31% in 2021.
• The adoption of diversified strategies by professionals: nearly two-thirds of companies (63%) want to work on larger projects, and more than half of them (53%) want to improve their marketing and sales strategy in order to achieve their growth objectives in 2023 Businesses also plan to improve their customer experience (20%) and employee productivity (17%).

The complete Houzz UK 2023 Industry Barometer is available here.

More than 3 million home improvement and decorating professionals are listed on Houzz in more than 60 categories, including tradespeople and general contractors, interior designers, interior designers and architects.

*The Houzz France Industry Barometer was carried out among French renovation and decoration professionals, registered on Houzz. The study was conducted between December 2022 and January 2023. n=186