Exterior Remodeling Projects Deliver Greatest Return on Investment, Study Says

Royal Siding, vinyl siding remodeling ROI

Before embarking on a remodeling project, whether large or small, most homeowners ponder not just their design preferences and lifestyle needs, but whether the renovation will add value to their home. Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford sought to bring clarity to the question with a recent study that looked into the return on investment of common remodeling projects. The data show that, resoundingly, exterior remodeling and renovation projects deliver the largest return, with garage doors leading the way.

Industry experts continue to tout the strength of the remodeling market, as homeowners elect to renovate their existing houses rather than navigate high interest rates and low inventory for new homes. “With Americans spending more time at home than ever, the total amount spent on renovations and upgrades soared by nearly 27% between 2020 and 2022,” Today’s Homeowner said.

But with material and labor costs also high, understanding which projects provide the most value is more important than ever.

The study examined data from 70,000 homes in more than 1,200 markets, analyzing the cost versus value recouped for 34 different project types. Today’s Homeowner found that the average return for all projects is 69%. But the average cost recovered for exterior remodeling projects is 23% higher than interior projects; in fact, the top 10 projects reaping the best ROI were on the exterior.

“Curb appeal really matters when selling your home,” Realtor Suzanne Coddington, of Dickens Mitchener, told Today’s Homeowner. “It’s difficult to get buyers to see a home that has little or no curb appeal.” 

Garage door replacement was the only project category to reap a full 100% return on investment, followed by wood window replacement (95.5% cost recovery), screened-in porch addition (92.9%), fiber cement replacement (92.7%), and vinyl siding replacement (91.0%) and vinyl window replacement (91.0%).

“When considering new siding, look for high-quality, low-maintenance materials,” Steve Booz, Vice President of Marketing & Product Management for Westlake Royal Building Products, advised the Today’s Homeowner audience. “Some products offer insulation or locking seams for increased energy efficiency. And don’t be afraid to play with color, texture, different profiles, and contrasting trim — siding can be beautiful as well as functional.”

The remaining projects in the top 10 comprised an in-ground pool (90.1%), composite deck addition (86.9%), concrete backyard patio (86.4%), and wood deck addition (80.1%).

To view the full study results and expert commentary, click here.

Looking to elevate your exteriors with high-ROI materials? Browse Westlake Royal Building Products’ extensive selection of vinyl siding and accessories.

Westlake Royal Building Products Adds 11” Board & Batten Profile to Celect Cellular Composite Siding Line

Celect 11" Board and Batten siding

Westlake Royal Building Products™ has added the Celect 11” Board & Batten profile to the Celect® Cellular Composite Siding line. This new vertical profile can accentuate different sections of the house, including full walls, gables, and bump outs. 

Celect 11” Board & Batten is easy to install via a one-piece application that will fit with any Celect product. It’s available in 9” board x 2” batten strip x 10’ length, and is sold with 11 pieces (1 square) per box. This product is available in all 15 fade-resistant Celect colors and in Celect Canvas, ready to paint. 

“We are thrilled to add another anticipated product to our high-performing Celect line,” said Steve Booz, vice president, marketing at Westlake Royal Building Products. “The Celect 11” Board & Batten has been a highly-anticipated and requested addition to our portfolio of innovative exterior products and we are expecting a great response from designers, architects, builders and remodelers.” 

The Celect siding line replicates the beauty and aesthetics of wood while remaining low maintenance and durable for a lifetime. Celect features a patented interlocking seam design, which keeps moisture out and almost completely eliminates seams. All Celect products are backed by a limited lifetime and 25-year color-protection warranty, have a wind resistance of over 210 mph, use Kynar® Aquatec coating for superstar UV protection that reduces energy demands, and resist dirt, seasonal staining and insects. 

To learn more about Celect Siding and Trim products from Westlake Royal Building Products, visit https://royalbuildingproducts.com/celect

Show Village Cottage Showcases Innovations in Compact Footprint

Pro Builder Show Village Impresa cottage, Celect siding

Pro Builder’s Show Village returns to the International Builders’ Show this year, featuring five homes demonstrating the latest innovations in design and technology. Several Westlake Royal Building Products are featured on the Impresa Home, a compact, adaptable cottage designed as a lakeside retreat.

The 1,066-square-foot, two-bed/two-bath Impresa Home is designed to live large, with an open floor plan emphasized by dramatic vaulted ceilings, a spiral staircase to a loft flex space, and covered front and rear porches that extend the footprint and provide added relaxation and entertaining space. It’s designed as an ideal option for a first-time home buyer or a vacation/second home.

The house was manufactured off site by Impresa Building Systems in a factory/assembly line setting that decreases variability and increases speed and efficiency.

Impresa includes a tankless water heater, foam insulation, and wood flooring, along with several innovative products are several from Westlake Royal Building Products:

Celect premium siding on Show Village Impresa cottage

• Celect® Cellular Composite Siding and Trim:
The Celect premium siding featured on Impresa is made from recyclable, state-of-the-art cellular material that faithfully reproduces the texture, look, and solid heft of real wood, but is unaffected by mold, mildew, weather, and time. Celect insulates 70% better than wood, stands up to impact even under the harshest weather conditions, features a fade-resistant Kynar Aquatec® coating that withstands all weather conditions and climates, and is backed by a 25-year color protection warranty.

Eldorado Stone RoughCut

• Eldorado Stone®:
Eldorado Stone’s RoughCut mimics limestone with embedded, fossilized artifacts and a roughly cleaved, pronounced face. Shaped for bold, traditional statements with clean contemporary lines, the color Loire Valley resents a sophisticated gradient of ivories and muted creams with touches of sand and rust.

• Kindred™ Outdoors + Surrounds
The Angelo Mantel Shelf from Kindred Outdoors + Surrounds boasts elegant, sweeping curves. The mantels are available in four colors representing natural limestone and in a smooth or textured surface.

Westlake Royal Roofing, United Steel stone-coated steel roofing

• Unified Steel™ Stone Coated Metal Roofing:
The Unified Steel stone-coated steel roofing offers Class 4 hail impact resistance and a hurricane wind-performance rating. It comes in five distinct profiles and is 100% recyclable.

Learn more about Impresa and the other homes in Show Village here.

How Are Color Trends Shifting Into 2023?

Westlake Royal Roofing Solutions

Color permeates every aspect of our lives, sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently, and often plays a critical role in our emotional, mental, and even physical state. Few places is that more evident than in our homes: inside, color sets a mood and makes a personal statement; outside, it sets the tone and nurtures a lasting impression.

Perhaps that’s why we as a society are so invested in color trends. Each year, paint manufacturers and color specialists release their “Colors of the Year,” a bit of a pulse on the consumer psyche (see our coverage of this year’s announcements here).

Color trends for homes don’t move as fast as industries like fashion and automotive. But they still ebb and flow, delivering a look into the tastes and preferences of new-home buyers and DIYers alike.

We checked in with two color experts—Renee Labbe, director of design strategy at Los Angeles-based Broadside Studios, and Kate Smith, color expert and president of Sensational Color—to see what’s on the mind of American consumers as we head into 2023.

Ongoing Macro Trends

Labbe notes that we’re under the umbrella of three ongoing macro trends, with each evolving in its own right. (These trends are based on research conducted by Labbe and Broadside focusing on roofing as a core element as part of an extensive Westlake Royal Roofing Solutions research initiative to understand what is influencing home design and roofing preferences today, so as to refine roofing offerings and respond directly to customer wants/needs.)

Naturalism: Naturalism represents how we connect to the environment and comes through in natural colors and palettes you might expect. But within that, Labbe is seeing a trend toward more nourishing colors that are rural-inspired and create a contemporary escape. The simplicity and elegance of trendy blacks isn’t going away, for example, but is making room for dark greens, weathered looks, and rustic reds.

Ease: Emerging around 2015-2016, Ease represents a move toward simplicity as a real-life antidote to our hectic online lives and frenzied social media airs. “If you’re getting constantly hit with images and details and you look up from your phone and see a space that’s clean and simple … the palette is one to two colors as opposed to five to six,” Labbe says. “This trend is a way for your eye to take in the totality of a look without having the take in all the bits and pieces of a design because it was so simplified. … And your brain relaxes.”

Glamour of Opposites: Around 2016, we started to see a simultaneous trend that was a bit more in your face, a mish-mash of traditional and modern, with blocky and curvy existing side by side. This aligns with a time when consumers began making their voices heard as well as business disrupters like Uber and Door Dash. “We’re seeing this ability to change the old guard, change the system and reinvent it in a way that works for the people,” Labbe explains. “Design became this place where we could express an explosion of creativity.” On the exterior, this trend is coming through in the form of what Labbe describes as disruption and merged aesthetics. For instance, in a “clean traditional” or “quiet modern” style, the elevation remains traditional, but in a way that’s ornamented and with a palette of color choices that’s more modern or contemporary. There’s also more neutrality in color, with a two-color palette versus a traditional Craftsman home that may have three to five saturated tones. Today’s neutrals are high contrast, such as white with a strong black, brown, or gray.

Westlake Royal Roofing Solutions
The pandemic has dramatically shifted home architecture preferences as consumers needed to use their homes in more ways than ever before. Photo courtesy of Westlake Royal Roofing Solutions.

This also shows in a blending of styles, such as a traditional façade with modern elements built in, a home with gabled roofs but a box-shaped entry, or a remodeled home with a traditional style original paired with a modern shape with similar colors to ensure cohesiveness.

Tips For Using Color Trends

When considering color trends, Smith explains that it’s important to approach reports like a menu—browse, pick a color as shown, or customize it to suit your tastes. “Use the color as your inspiration point,” she says. “If you want to use it exactly, that’s fine, but there may be similar tones that fit your home better.”

As Labbe mentioned, color trends last longer than we often think, especially in the home space. Gray, Smith points out as an example, isn’t as “hot” as it was a few years ago, but remains popular. Blue-green continues to attract the eye (and can be found in PPG’s Color of the Year Vining Ivy) and goes great with neutrals as an accent on the exterior or front door.

In fact, Smith says consumers don’t need to be overly concerned about using a trending color for fear it will become quickly dated. What puts a timestamp on it, she explains, is the combinations of colors. Think chocolate brown and aqua from a few years ago—it was the way that everyone was using them. “When looking at how to use these trends, use them in a way that no one else is using them, and then you won’t have to worry about looking dated,” she advises.

Trends are fun, Smith adds, but consumers are much more willing to go their own direction today. “In the end, trust your gut.”