Women More At Home With D-l-Y

Sixty-five percent of women are more involved in home improvement than ever before, while 55Vo are performing more actual improvement or repair work, according to a recent survey by Owens Corning.

"We've seen a remarkable shift in the role women play in the home buying and home improvement process," said Karen Strauss, director-global marketing, Owens Corning. "Fifteen years ago, the industry assumed that men made the major decisions when it came to home improvement and women only selected colors and styles. Today, many women play the lead role in the entire project, from identifying the needs to collecting information, hiring and managing a contractor, and purchasing and installing materials. "

Nearly 90Vo of married women are involved in perceiving and gathering information on the idea, while l27o of their husbands came up with the idea on their own. About 43Vo handled finding and hiring a contactor, while 6S%ohelpd manage the confractor.

Women influenced nearly 807o of all purchasing decisions and were in- volved in 63Vo of all materials installation, with l3%o installing materials by themselves.

Young women are entering home improvement faster than any other audience. Among women under 45, 80Vo say their role in home improvement has increased in recent years; 72Vo are doing more actual work, 37Vo are more involved in initiating projects, 4OVo are more involved in shopping for products, and 36Vo are more involved in installation.

The top projects for women over the past five years are painting and wallpapering (7IVo), remodeling a bath/kitchen (30Vo), adding insulation (l1%o), replacing a roof (32Vo), and replacing windows (25Vo).

While 33Vo ranked painting/wallpapering the most enjoyable project, 2lVo ranked it the least enjoyable.

Nearly 75Vo of women say they are just as good or better than men at home improvement. Thirty-three percent say they are as or more skilled than their husbands, particularly young women (37Vo), and 32Vo say they do it themselves because they can't get their husbands to do it.

When it comes to home improvement, women say they are more detail oriented (82Vo), research projects more carefully (69Vo), more fiscally conservative (62Vo), more willing to ask for directions or professional help (94Vo), and have more patience (84Vo) than their male counterparts.

For home improvement information, women turn to friends (64Vo), past experience (56Vo), books (497o), contractors or builders (48Vo), magazines (44Vo), and home improvement retailers (34Vo).

Gypsum, Plastics Rising

North American demand for gypsum products is forecast to increase 2.2Vo annually to a value of $3.7 billion in the year 2001, while foamed plastics will grow 3Vo yearly to over $16 billion.

Improved infrastructure spending will increase the use of gypsum in cement, although less residential construction will restrict growth for gypsum board, the primary outlet for crude gypsum.

The biggest gowth among foamed plastics will be foamed urethane due to its insulation and cushioning applications.

EAX to 714-852-0231

or call (714) 852-1990 or mail to Building hoducs Digest, 4500 Campus Dr., Suite 480, Newport Beach, Ca.92660-1872.

Building Products Digest - October 1997

Name (Please print)

Company

Address City State _ Zip $$

Phone FAX

For more information on products or companies (see list at right), circle the appropriate Reader Service FAX Response number(s):