How much homeowners spend on repairs and maintenance

What households are spending

Angi's 2025 survey of US homeowners found average spending on home projects of $12,472 per household, up from $12,050 in 2024, with the average number of projects rising from 9 to 10^[1]. That total covers maintenance, improvements and emergencies, and it includes work homeowners did themselves as well as work they hired out. It is not a measure of what reaches professionals, but it does show the scale of decisions each household makes every year.

The increase is modest after inflation, which matters for contractors. Customers are not spending freely; they are spending carefully, choosing which projects to do and when. Companies that make those choices easy, with clear prices, options and timing, get a larger share of a budget that is not growing much.

Planned and emergency spending behave differently

Regular maintenance was the most commonly planned project in 2025, named by 32% of homeowners, ahead of interior painting at 20%^[1]. Forty-four percent of surveyed homeowners completed at least one maintenance project, and 22% installed a new appliance^[1]. Planned work is booked in advance, compared on price and reviews, and fits the contractor's schedule.

Emergency spending is the opposite. It arrives when something fails, often at night or in extreme weather, and the customer calls whoever answers first. Millennial homeowners led emergency home spending in 2025 at an average of $1,519^[1]. Emergency jobs can carry strong margins, but they are unpredictable, hard to staff and more likely to end in disputes about price because the customer had no time to compare.

Budget pressure is real

Angi found that 56% of homeowners faced budget issues on maintenance projects and 55% on improvement projects in 2025^[1]. The Federal Reserve's household survey adds a sharper view: 63% of adults would cover a $400 emergency expense completely with cash or its equivalent^[2]. The rest would borrow, use a card they cannot pay off right away, sell something or not be able to pay at all.

For a contractor, that means many emergency calls come from households for whom the repair is a financial shock. How you present the price affects whether the job goes ahead, whether you get paid and what the review says. Three habits help: say the diagnostic or trip fee on the phone, give written options at different price points before starting, and offer a payment method that fits, such as card, a financing partner for larger jobs, or a deposit and balance.

Insurance covers less than customers think

About 5.3% of insured US homes had a homeowners insurance claim in 2023, down from 6.4% in 2020^[3]. Wind and hail caused the largest share of claims from 2018 to 2022, followed by water damage and freezing^[3]. Many repairs customers face are not insurable events at all: wear and tear, lack of maintenance and pest damage. Termites alone cause more than $6.8 billion in US property damage a year, costs not covered by homeowners insurance^[4].

Explaining this kindly and early prevents stalled jobs. When a customer asks whether insurance will pay, say what you see (sudden storm damage, gradual wear, pest activity), suggest they check their policy, and document the damage with photos either way. Do not promise coverage; it is the insurer's call, and a denied claim with your promise attached becomes your problem.

Turning emergency customers into planned customers

1. 01

   Fix the problem and explain the cause

   Customers who understand why something failed are more open to preventing the next failure.

2. 02

   Offer prevention at the visit

   A maintenance agreement, a seasonal inspection or a scheduled replacement date, with the price in writing.

3. 03

   Record the equipment

   Brand, model, age and condition on the customer record, so reminders and offers are specific.

4. 04

   Follow up once

   A message a week later asking how things are working, with the offer repeated.

5. 05

   Remind on the season

   Before peak heat, peak cold, storm season or pest season, contact past emergency customers with a booking link or a call.

Example: a fictional HVAC company handles 600 emergency no-cooling calls in a summer. It offers every customer a maintenance agreement at the visit and again in a follow-up message. If 12% accept, that is 72 new agreements, each bringing planned visits in the shoulder seasons and a customer who calls this company first next time. The emergency work paid for itself; the agreements are what make the next year steadier.

Seasons and weather shape the emergency column

Emergency spending clusters around weather. Heat waves fill HVAC phone lines with no-cooling calls, hard freezes break pipes and garage door springs, and storm seasons bring roof and tree damage. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30^[5], and NOAA recorded 5,432 hail events in 2025^[6]. Each of those events turns planned budgets into urgent ones for thousands of households at once.

Contractors can prepare in two ways. Before the season, contact past customers with a pre-season inspection offer, so some of the failures are found and fixed on your schedule. During the event, have a triage plan: who gets served first, what callers hear when you are full, and how you capture every caller's details so you can call back when capacity frees up. Homeowners remember the company that answered during the storm.

Who is spending and how they decide

Younger homeowners are a growing share of the market and decide differently. Angi found 70% of millennial homeowners reported difficulty finding pros in 2025, compared with 53% of homeowners overall^[1]. They search on their phones, read reviews and expect to book, confirm and pay without phone tag. Older homeowners are more likely to call and to value a familiar company.

• Offer more than one way to book: phone answered live, web booking and a reply to messages within the hour.
• Send a written estimate customers can approve on their phone.
• Show clear price ranges or starting prices for common jobs where your trade allows.
• Ask for reviews after every job; first-time customers rely on them.

Price changes when budgets are tight

Rising labor and parts costs force price increases, and budget-conscious customers notice. Explain changes in plain terms: what costs went up, what the customer still gets and when the new price starts. Give recurring and agreement customers notice before the change, and keep the price you quoted for work already approved. Customers accept increases they understand far better than surprises on an invoice.

What to do with this data

1. Split last year's revenue into planned and emergency jobs. Most owners have never seen the ratio.
2. Set a goal to move part of the emergency work into planned work through agreements and reminders.
3. Train technicians and CSRs to present options and payment methods without pressure.
4. Put insurance language in writing: what you will document, what you cannot promise.
5. Review prices yearly against your costs, knowing customers are budget-conscious, and explain changes plainly.

Home age is one of the biggest drivers of repair demand; see aging housing stock and repair demand. For the business-count side of the market, see the home services market overview.