Interest in big home improvement projects is waning. That’s one takeaway from Home Depot’s uninspired first-quarter results.
“The size of the projects are getting a bit smaller,” Home Depot (HD) CEO Ted Decker told analysts on the company’s first quarter earnings call Monday.
“It could be that project [are] being deferred or it could be that the project is being broken up into chunks,” Decker said. “Rather than doing an entire room or an entire basement, you start working it in smaller chunks and that clearly impacts items per basket in overall activity. “
On a yearly basis, customer transactions slid 4.8%, but came in better than Wall Street’s call for a 5.36% drop. Customers also spent less per ticket than anticipated, recording a 0.2% gain against expectations of a 2.63% boost in average ticket sizes.
Big-ticket transactions, or those over $1,000, were down 6.5% compared with the first quarter of last year. Customers also shied away from flooring, kitchen, and bath during the quarter, another potential signal that they are downsizing projects.
DIY customers also outperformed the professional sector as demand shifted toward smaller projects, Home Depot said.
That jibes with other research on remodeling.






