Home Depot's Spring Strategy Urges Customers to Improve, Not Move

The customers walking into Home Depot this spring are, in many cases, people who looked at the housing market and decided not to budge. That calculation is now official company strategy.

In a Store Managers Meeting video published March 20, Home Depot framed its entire 2026 spring merchandising and operational approach around a single thesis: "Improve vs. Move." The premise is straightforward. The remodeling market is riding structural tailwinds, including an aging housing stock, the persistent mortgage lock-in effect, and the trend for homeowners to age in place. Home Depot's leadership is betting those forces will drive the busiest season the company has seen in years.

CFO Richard McPhail anchored the macro case in the video, pointing to two specific forces: an aging housing stock and the rise of what the company calls "stay in place" renovations. The numbers back him up. The median age of owner-occupied homes in the U.S. is now over 40 years, and older homes require more repairs, upgrades, and modernization. Meanwhile, the mortgage rate lock-in effect remains a key driver; homeowners with low mortgage rates are less inclined to move and assume higher financing costs, and many are opting to remodel instead.

Senior Vice President of Merchandising Rodes Bazzel joined McPhail in the video to highlight the spring projects fueling that demand. The company did not specify which project categories Bazzel emphasized, but the broader industry picture is telling: the most common remodeling projects in 2025 were bathroom remodels, kitchen remodels, and whole house remodels, according to a National Association of Home Builders survey. Those are exactly the categories where Home Depot associates with real product knowledge, whether in flooring, plumbing, or building materials, have the most to offer.

The scale of the opportunity is significant. Renovation and repair spending is projected to hit a record $524 billion in early 2026, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. And the customers driving that spending are committed: more than 9 in 10 U.S. homeowners say they will move forward with their planned renovation projects in 2026, according to the Houzz Renovation Plans Report.

For store teams, the "Improve vs. Move" framing signals that customers arriving this spring are not browsing casually. While return on investment and affordability are often cited as reasons to renovate rather than buy, the data shows a widespread emotional pull: nearly 4 in 5 homeowners say they want to stay in their current home. That customer is invested, often mid-project, and looking for expertise as much as product. The associates who can walk someone through a bathroom accessibility upgrade or a deck build from materials to finish are the ones who convert that intent into a completed cart.

NAHB forecasts residential remodeling activity will increase 3% in 2026 and an additional 2% in 2027 in inflation-adjusted terms, suggesting the spring surge Home Depot is positioning for is not a one-season window. The Store Managers Meeting video, paired with a "State of Spring" graphic referenced on the company's Built from Scratch news channel, signals that leadership wants every store operating with that longer horizon in mind heading into the year's most critical selling period.