This Is What Homeowners Want In 2018—Is Your Field Service Business Prepared?

What we learned about house trends from the Home Show and why your field service business needs to pay attention.

Efficiency was on the tip of everybody’s tongues at the Home Show in Indianapolis. The show, running from January 19-28, featured HGTV stars, a showcase home, tiny home village, and many, many exhibitors. Well over 100,000 people attended, in a frenzied hunger for inspiration.

The Indianapolis Home Show appeals to homeowners seeking ideas and guidance for their own home. Some are in the middle of a large scale renovation and others simply want to see what new products and services are all the buzz. The Home Show sets precedent for the housing industry, homeowners, and field service industry workers alike.

Industries that target homeowners (construction, plumbing, electric, HVAC, and more) should have had their eyes and ears on red alert last week so as to gain perspective for what homeowners want for 2018. Home trends can shape the market for particular services, products, and features. If your business isn’t doing it, you can bet your last dollar that somebody else is—and reaping the rewards for it too.

Tiny Houses

Efficiency rang through the walls of the Indiana State Fairgrounds like a well-oiled bell. A village of tiny homes served as an island of grass and wood in the middle of the West Pavillion. This hobbit-like village looked like it was straight out of a storybook. Five tiny home builders displayed their finished work, complete with fine finishings and furniture to set the stage.

The tiny house movement, a lifestyle branching out of minimalism, started around 2014 and has since taken hold of America’s heart. The rise in tiny house popularity was triggered by the economic collapse in 2008 that left many Americans struggling to put a roof over their head. Financial strain was a burden many Americans faced in the years after. The solution? Smaller roofs.

The American economy has recovered a bit, but it seems like the tiny house movement is here to stay—just with some added fixtures and minor embellishments. Adorned with granite countertops and high-quality built-ins, tiny houses have taken a clear shift from their humble beginnings.

Tiny houses are characterized by being environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient, compact, and transportable. These are all features businesses catering to homeowners need to take note of and act upon. This can be done by specializing in smaller scale units, energy-efficient models, and eco-friendly systems. The tiny house feeling can also be applied to houses of a larger construction. The ideas behind the tiny house are ones larger households wish to incorporate into their houses as well.

Houses of Green

The crowds at the Home Show in Indianapolis were green—both with envy of all the finest fittings and with, well, going green. One could practically hear all the exhibitors yelling “Energy-efficient!” at all the passersby. Their unspoken admonishments were received warmly, however, as “efficient” seems to be everybody’s favorite word.

For homeowners, going green means cheaper utility bills and a nice morality boost for those who are environmentally concerned. It can also be a means for people to become more self-reliant, similar to the tiny house movement.

Almost every aspect of a person’s house can go green, down to the decorations and stuff that fills space. While your field service business might not need to learn about DIY’ing picture frames and vases, you might want to listen close to the rest of this.

Areas of the house that can easily adopt the “color” change can be found in electric, geothermal, water conservation, appliances, and HVAC units. This means that your field service business should be incorporating this into its business strategy. Specializing in energy-efficient solutions angles you as the know-how king or queen of this subfield. When somebody searches “energy-efficient HVAC”, your name should be the one that pops up first. Offline, your field service business can offer energy-efficient solutions alongside traditional ones.

Get Smart

No, no. This isn’t a Smart Service sales pitch! (Though Smart Service could help you manage your field service business through easy scheduling and QuickBooks integration.)

We’re talking about smart homes.

All the gifted Alexa and Google Home devices sold last Christmas should have been signal enough that our concept of “home” is evolving to something more connected. Smart speakers are nifty devices that use artificial intelligence to control your house, and in turn, change it into a home. Smart technology can include smart thermostats, smart lighting, smart sound systems, smart security, and smart cleaning appliances.

While everybody is hungry to turn their homes “smart”, not many people know how to do so. Whether your focus is in smart HVAC technology, smart lighting, smart security, or something else, understanding smart home technology and knowing how to incorporate it into a smart home system is a service you can easily adopt in your field service business plan.

To Conclude

Efficiency was on the mind and in the eyes of everybody at the Indianapolis Home Show. This trend is certain to be on the minds of American consumers throughout 2018 and will likely continue to be present in the future market as well. Paying attention to industry trends—and staying ahead of the competition—is important for those field service businesses wanting to enter 2018 with a bang.