Home-Renovation Expense Keeps Rising as Companies Pass on Costs

Households squeezed by high grocery and gas prices are facing another hit: rising costs for home repairs and upgrades.

The cost of repairing or remodeling a home has risen steadily through October, with higher oil and energy prices, along with elevated interest rates stemming from the Iran conflict, pushing prices up. In the three months through June, it rose at the fastest quarterly pace since October 2024, according to insurance data analytics provider Verisk.

Repair bills could climb further as manufacturers of paint, plumbing fixtures, appliances and air conditioners — which already lifted prices last year due to tariffs — push through another round of increases to offset higher materials and freight costs.

“Just to put it in perspective, this quarter was the most significant inflationary period that we’ve experienced since mid-2022,” Armstrong World Industries Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Hershey said on an earnings call. The ceiling maker raised prices in November, noting its freight costs had risen about 20% from a year earlier.

Paint producer Sherwin-Williams Co. raised prices 8% in September and hasn’t ruled out further hikes. Pool Corp. did the same, as did HVAC manufacturer Carrier Global Corp., citing higher steel, copper, aluminum and freight costs, expecting inflationary pressures to persist into 2027.

Whirlpool Corp., which sells the KitchenAid, Maytag and inSinkErator labels alongside its namesake brand, will boost U.S. prices by 7% in December.

“We will have meaningful inflation to address in 2027,” construction tools make Stanley Black & Decker Inc. Chief Financial Officer Patrick Hallinan said on an earnings call. “We plan to do so with productivity measures and pricing actions, with a price increase likely around the turn of the year.”

The ability to pass along higher costs to consumers depends on the product, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Drew Reading. Homeowners are less able to avoid repairs and maintenance, though they may trade down on items like faucets or toilets.

That silver lining may put a floor under earnings. Roofing maker Carlisle Cos Inc. expects current pricing to become a tailwind as costs normalize in 2027. Price increases are expected to catch up with rising costs by the end of 2026. So far, higher prices have not hurt demand or prompted more pre-buying, CEO Christian Koch said in an earnings call.

Masco Corp., which makes faucets under brands including Hansgrohe, credited pricing with partly helping drive a 13% adjusted operating profit increase in the third quarter. Regarding potential price hikes in 2027, CEO Jonathon Nudi said pricing is the “last lever we pull.”

Existing price increases largely reflect earlier tariff and input-cost mitigation, Reading said. Accelerating copper, oil-based materials and freight costs create the potential need for Masco to raise prices in 2027.

That adds to a long-running squeeze on homeowners, with repair and remodeling costs already at a decade high, up about 64% since 2016 as of October, Verisk data shows.

Further increases are more likely to weaken demand for big-ticket discretionary items, Reading said.

Some households are already putting off larger purchases and repairing appliances rather than replacing them, according to Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer, though “at one point, people will replace it.”

Top photo: Workers install kitchen cabinets inside a home in Loudonville, New York. Bloomberg.