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After the Covid pandemic ended and prices rose, Americans turned back to beautifying their homes with projects like painting or refinishing woodwork. Home improvement spending is expected to drop this year and 2024, as many homeowners are delaying projects. The recent downturn in remodeling may explain why Lowe’s and Home Depot posted disappointing profits and sales forecasts this week.
In San Francisco, where Madhani lives, most construction projects undergo a city process called discretionary review (DR). To legally change the size of their homes or add rooms, homeowners must notify neighbors within 150 feet and wait 30 days for them to object to the permit. Then they must spend hundreds of dollars to pay for the Planning Commission to review their permits at a public hearing. But even if the neighbors don’t object, the process can still drag on for months or years. It’s a big reason why the city ranks higher than all other cities reporting data to the state for how long it takes to get a building permit. The process can also alienate homeowners, as it did with Madhani. The city is working to reform the process and support new statewide laws that would eliminate it altogether for most small projects and remodels.