Are homeowners now more concerned about sustainability?

Whether driven by the pandemic, or the ‘David Attenborough’ effect, now, more than ever, the general public is more concerned with being environmentally friendly. We have considered why and what it means for builders and tradespeople.

Sustainability and eco-friendly building materials are nothing new in our industry. But for many years, these ‘green’ products seemed to be reserved for the minority of customers taking on huge self-build projects. Think Grand Designs.
But now, things are changing. Looking at various studies into consumer attitudes to sustainability, today, more of the general population are making environmentally conscious choices.

The impact

A big study by BCG found that 70% of people are more concerned about addressing environmental challenges as a result of COVID-19. In particular, they’re now more aware of the impact of human activity on our climate and how affecting the environment affects human life. In the study, 40% also said they intend to make more sustainable choices in the future as a result.

Looking at building products specifically, another study found that a third of consumers want homes of the future to be more eco-friendly and consumers are willing to pay up to 5% more for environmentally friendly products.

Why now?

As the BCG report found, people are now more aware of their environment and their impact on it, but what’s changed?
Being (mostly) at home for the past year or so has had a big impact on homeowners. As well as making them spot all the changes they’d like and building work they need doing, it’s made them care more about where they live.

Today, we’re much more focused on the quality of life we have, making sure we ‘do our bit’ to look after each other and our planet, and I think that’s why sustainability is more important than before.

What it means for trades

Because of this change in mindset, you’re likely getting more requests for building materials that improve the health and wellbeing of a home than you ever had. Before, things like air quality or access to green places were really on the general population’s radar, but our worlds have changed.

To help you meet these requests, over the coming weeks, we’ll be telling you more about systems and solutions that we can add into your estimates to help you create better homes for customers – better in terms of thermal performance, indoor air quality and acoustics.

In the meantime, you can find out more about creating better, more comfortable homes (in every sense!) on the Multi Comfort website here and as always, your estimator is on hand to answer any questions or queries you might have.