Prices for home remodeling outpaced inflation in the second quarter due
to labor costs
[October 01, 2025] By
ALEX VEIGA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — If it seems like its getting more expensive to
replace a broken door, kitchen fixtures or upgrade a major appliance,
you’re not wrong.
The cost of home repair and remodeling projects is up compared to a year
ago and running ahead of inflation overall, according to a report from
data analytics company Verisk.
The firm's latest Repair and Remodeling Index jumped 3.4% in the
April-June quarter compared to the same period last year. That's a
bigger annual increase than the 2.7% rise in inflation in the same
period, as measured by the Consumer Price index.
The index, which tracks costs for more than 10,000 home improvement
products, including appliances, doors, plumbing and windows, showed a
roughly 0.6% increase from the January-March quarter.
“While costs did continue to rise, they rose at a slower rate than in
the first quarter,," said Greg Pyne, vice president of Pricing at Verisk
Property Estimating Solutions.
Much of the increase in home repair and remodeling costs appears to be
driven primarily by higher labor costs for repair and remodeling work,
Verisk noted.

The second-quarter jump in costs for home improvement products coincided
with the Trump administration’s broad rollout of tariffs on imported
goods from many of the nation’s major trading partners. But the tariffs
didn't have the expected impact given they were postponed several times
and didn't fully take effect until early August, midway through the
third quarter.
However, homeowners looking to replace cabinetry could soon see prices
increase sharply, following a new volley of tariffs announced by
President Donald Trump last week that includes a 50% import tax on
kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities due to kick in on Wednesday. John
Lovallo, an analyst with UBS, estimates the tariffs on cabinets and
vanities could add roughly $280 to the cost of a home.
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Bathroom vanities are on display at a store Friday, Sept. 26, 2025,
in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
 The most labor-intensive types of
home repair or remodeling work registered the biggest quarterly
increases in labor costs. For example, the cost of replacing tile
flooring rose 1.2%, while the cost of remodeling a primary bath or
replacing vinyl siding each rose 1% in the April-June period from
the previous quarter.
Nearly all of the 31 categories of repair and remodeling work
tracked by Verisk saw costs increase at least slightly.
The latest index puts costs for repair and remodeling at almost 62%
higher than they were 10 years ago and more than 73% higher than the
first quarter of 2013, when the index debuted.
After declining the past two years, homeowner spending on
maintenance and home improvement projects increased in the first
half of this year, according to researchers at Harvard University.
The university’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ most recent
leading indicator of remodeling activity, or LIRA, estimates
spending hit $510 billion in the second quarter, a 1.8% increase
from a year earlier. However, the researchers project that growth in
spending on home improvement and maintenance will slow in 2026,
citing weakness in the housing market and slower construction of new
homes.
The housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage
rates began climbing from historic lows. Sales of previously
occupied U.S. homes sank last year to their lowest level in nearly
30 years. And, so far this year, sales are running below where they
were at this time in 2024.
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