Home Depot, Lowe's results will give us a snapshot of how spendy homeowners are feeling right now

Home Depot and Lowe’s are both about to report their financial results for the first quarter of the year.

Those reports — out later this week — will give us some sense of how spendy homeowners were feeling in the first three months of the year, before much tariff-driven uncertainty had taken hold in this economy.

The types of projects homeowners have been choosing to take on could tell us a bit about how they’re feeling about this economy.

Back in April, Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies put out its latest report on the outlook for the remodeling market. 

And it looked decent — slow but steady growth through the next year — with spending around half a trillion dollars.

But it didn’t take into account the effects of the president’s so-called “Liberation Day.” Or of a downturn in existing home sales, said the center’s Carlos Martín. Which suggests “that there may be a bit of retrenchment in some of our remodeling home improvement activity,” said Martín.

Then there’s home repair activity, said Jaime Katz, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar.

“If you need to replace your refrigerator or your toilet, that sort of replacement can’t wait,” said Katz.

So, this sector has a cushion that’s pretty resistant to economic downturns. 

The projects that homeowners choose to take on, Katz said, have been trending a bit smaller.

“Maybe we’re not doing an addition to a house, and maybe we’re not doing a complete kitchen gut rehab, but maybe we’re redoing a bathroom,” said Katz.

Whether or not they can afford it, homeowners are at least interested in upgrades, Katz said. 

That’s playing out at Windows and Doors by Brownell in northern New England, where Kelly Krayewsky is the general manager. 

She said there have been tons of calls lately. Some customers get sticker shock and back out.

“We also have a handful of people who are eager to lock it in, lock their prices in, and know that they’re going to get their project executed under the terms we’re offering right now,” said Krayewsky.

Because, she said, they’re afraid that if they wait, prices will just keep going up.