The Farnsworth Contractor Index for Q4 2025 shows contractors remain confident about near-term work, even as revenue expectations and growth soften compared to last year. Overall confidence in securing new business over the coming six months scored 8.3 out of …
Read More »
The latest data from the United States Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey show the homeownership rate rose to 65.3%. Despite this quarterly increase, the trend continues to reflect significant affordability challenges. With mortgage interest rates remaining elevated and housing supply …
Read More »
Independent retailers are coming into 2026 with a cooling renovation market and a cost-sensitive customer with a shift toward DIY. Dave King, executive director of the Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI), says those pressures hit independent retailers differently than big-box …
Read More »
Friedman’s Home Improvement, which operates four locations around Northern California, announced two new appointments to its leadership team. Sushil Singh has been appointed as vice president and Jake Wilson takes on the role of vice president of merchandising and replenishment. …
Read More »
Combining AI chat, task management and operations analytics—tied directly to a retailers POS inventory—FastQuery is an AI copilot built for independent home improvement retailers. FastQuery helps store associates quickly find product information like aisle numbers, price and comparable items using voice …
Read More »
The Home Depot recently discussed key priorities and a preliminary outlook for 2026 at its 2025 Investor and Analyst Conference, discussing financial and company goals for the upcoming year. The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2025 guidance, noting a forecasted sales …
Read More »
The number of open, unfilled positions in the construction industry was relatively unchanged in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The current level of open jobs is down from two years ago …
Read More »
Year-over-year declines in import cargo volume seen at the nation’s major container ports in recent months are expected to continue in 2026, according to the Global Port Tracker report recently released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates. …
Read More »
Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
