BR Newsletter

According to a recently released report, 24% of Canadians intend to spend their spare cash on home improvements and decorating in 2010. (Nielsen Company – Stats Link Canada ID# 39269535 )

If you are surprised to hear that anyone has spare cash these days you can likely relate to the 23% who from the same survey admitted they did not have any spare cash at all!

While the percentage of potential renovators is encouraging, 2010 will still be a tight market. The renovation sector last year was powered through the recession by the Home Renovation Tax Credit. One fifth of the renovation market in 2009 admitted that the tax credit was a major influence on their decision to purchase. (Angus Reid – Stats Link Reference ID# 39268916 – For more references on the HRTC see our subject heading Home Renovation Tax Credit.)

Since this tax program is now complete it is important that renovators identify the other 80% of the market who are eager to purchase regardless of tax incentives.

The best free report available on the renovation market is the CMHC Renovation and Home Purchase Study.  It is an annual survey that is conducted in March and released in early June of each year. It includes detailed tables which cover variables such as the value of renovation purchases, most popular renovation projects, renovation intentions, reason for renovation, how the renovation was completed (contracted out, DIY) etc. Details are also provided by major metropolitan area.

Some of the tables also include data by household type such as income group, period of construction and age of owner. This additional data allows you to identify the characteristics of households most likely to renovate. This information can then be compared to the household characteristics of your local market. For more information on accessing local Census data see our Accessing Local Data from the Canadian Census Research Guide.

Another publication to consult is the 3rd Quarter issue of Housing Market Outlook – Canada. It includes a forecast of overall renovation spending for Canada and the provinces.  While the detail is not as great as the renovation Ssrvey mentioned above, the market outlook is valuable for both the numbers forecasted and the market conditions identified. You can access the 2009 Q3 issue here.

If you are a general contractor, you can also look at the Census profile for the occupation group “A372 Residential Home Builders and Renovators”. The definition of the renovator part of this heading is: “Residential home renovators own, operate and manage companies engaged in the renovation of existing residential homes.”   Profiles for individual trades are also available. For more information on this Census resource see my Blog article My Favourite Census Table

From an industry point of view, general contractors fall under the North American Industry Classification System heading 236110 – Residential Building Construction. For a definition see the NAICS manual entry for 236110.

While this information is helpful, if you specialize in a specific trade you will want to determine which of the detailed trade headings is more appropriate.  Again consult the NAICS manual at the Stats Can web site for these other headings.

Once you have established your NAICS code you can then use the SME Benchmarking Tool to get typical performance ratios for small businesses in your industry and province.

For advice on researching competitors look at our Researching Your Competition Research Guide.

We have a number of other references in our Source Lists related to the Renovation Sector.  You can view a free trial version of the available data under the subject heading “Renovation Sector”  (Stats Link Source List Subscribers click here.)

I hope this article is helpful in starting your research.

I have just added another Stats Link Canada Stats Pack.  This is a collection of 5 recently released stats related to small businesses and Canadian consumers.

The following topics are covered:

You can access this Stats Pack (2010-2) in HTML format on our Stats Link Canada web site. A PDF version is available at the the bottom of the linked page.

For more details and data related to these highlights use the Stats Link Canada ID numbers identified in the Stats Pack.

There are a number of detailed Census 2006 tables which you can access online free of charge.  (See our Census 2006 Research Guide for more information.)

One of my favourites though, at least from the point of view of assisting new entrepreneurs is the Detail Occupation Table by Selected Demographic, Cultural, Labour Force, Educational and Income Characteristics.

Many self-employed entrepreneurs start businesses that in many ways are actually outsourced occupations such as Graphic Designers, Virtual Assistants, Bookeepers, Web Designers, Photographers, Midwives & practitioners of natural healing etc

This Census table allows you to construct a statistical profile of your occupation including age, gender, income, self-employed (with and without employees), average weeks worked, industry of employment etc. The data is available at a nation, provincial and metropolitan area level.

So for example if we were interested in Graphic Designers in Hamilton Ontario this table would reveal:

There are 1145 in Hamilton, 755 of which are male. More than half are between the ages of 25 and 44 years old. Nearly one in five work from home. Unemployment ran at 3.9% in 2005 vs. the Hamilton overall average of 4.4%. Self-employment is popular with more than a quarter running their own business. Of these entrepreneurs, one in three have their own paid employees. The median employment income for all graphic designers working full-time in Hamilton is $35,250.

All this information can be helpful, in understanding income expectations, work demand, competition and industry demographics.

The above table provides a basic Occupation profile covering a variety of Census variables. For a bit more cross-referencing on wages and salaries alone see the following table:

Wage & Salary statistics by age, gender and education (Canada & provinces only)

This table allows you to assess the impact that gender, education and experience (as reflected in age group) have on salary levels within your occupation.

Both of these detailed occupation tables are organized by National Occupation Classification code. There are 720 different occupation headings. If you do not know your NOC code you are not alone! You can find it in the Stats Canada publication National Occupational Classification for Statistics (NOC-S) 2006

The online HTML version of this publication has a keyword search feature as well as an occupational hierarchy you can use to “drill down” to your specific occupation.

Now I would remiss not to admit that 2006 Census data is starting to get a bit old. Keep in mind however that these figures will not be updated until 2011 and even then the new data will not be fully released until 2013. Moreover these tables contain details that should not be ignored.

If you want a more current perspective, use the Census data as a baseline with which to start a conversation with members of your industry and outside stakeholders. How do they perceive the numbers have changed? Oftentimes you can use older data as a “currency” with which to peak the interest of possible contacts. ”I found these numbers from the Census and I was wondering if you could tell me whether you think they still reflect the realities of our industry today?”

Never dismiss quality data out of hand. There can always be a use for it!