With people staying home for the pandemic there has been an increase in home renovation projects, DIY projects and external landscaping. Home improvement stores have been seeing increased sales based on the numbers of people having work done or doing work on their homes.  The vacation and children’s camp budgets are now being used to improve the quality of life in the home. Spending more time at home inspires people to create spaces they want to be in. In plastics, we see strong demand for PVC window, door, siding and composite decking products. 

  • Tired of looking out your old windows? Now is the time to replace them. 
  • Looking for more curb-appeal? – Re-side your home with PVC siding. 
  • Spending more time outside?  How about a new composite or cellular PVC deck?

Major projects that require workers to come into the home have been postponed as people are not comfortable having outside people in their homes and many municipalities are regulating who and what can be done.  That backlog will rebound when the Corona Virus is under control.  External projects like siding, windows and landscaping projects have been bolstered by people spending more time at home. Many people have become do-it-yourselfers for countless indoor projects and explored if they have a green thumb in landscaping projects.  One recent survey showed that during the pandemic one in three homes took on an unplanned home renovation project under $1500 and one in six planned a renovation project over that amount. Many of the companies supplying and selling these kinds of products are seeing strong growth and robust sales.  Pella windows, one of the largest residential window and door manufacturers in the US, is adding a 324,000-square-foot facility in Ohio to meet demand.

Housing starts and completions while slow in the beginning of the pandemic are now beginning to look on positive and buoyed by continuation of low interest rates.  Anecdotally, I have seen housing trends change in my area.  A larger number of people in the city are looking to move to the suburbs causing a housing shortage in desirable locations.  And people in the suburbs are looking to find rural lake houses for additional quarantine options.  People are looking for increased outdoor space or just something different as work and school from home look to be here for a while.

Housing and construction projects in general create a demand for pipe and profile equipment on the used market. We are seeing a strong demand for single screw and twin screw extruders, vacuum tanks, pullers, cutters and saws.  We currently have several pieces of profile extrusion equipment for sale from a plant closing (Complete List Here) that we expect will not be around long.