Material Costs Are Up. Aging-in-Place Remodeling Demand Isn't Slowing Down.

NAHB published its second quarter 2026 Remodeling Market Index on July 9, and on the surface it reads like a caution flag for anyone weighing whether aging-in-place work deserves a real spot in their service line. Overall sentiment dipped a point. The forward-looking numbers, leads, inquiries, backlog, all softened. Material costs are climbing.

Look at where the actual gains landed, though, and the story changes. The moderate project range, $20,000 to $50,000, is exactly where most aging-in-place scopes of work live: a bathroom conversion, a doorway-widening package, a ramp and grab bar install. That segment posted the strongest gain of any component on the index, up four points to 73, even as the rest of the market cooled.

I train remodelers to build in that exact price range. So when a quarterly index shows that specific segment strengthening while large-ticket discretionary projects pull back, that's not a headline to skim past. It's a signal about where the demand actually is right now.

What the Index Actually Measures

The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index is a quarterly sentiment survey, not the project-type survey I covered in an earlier post about what clients are asking for. This one asks remodelers a different question: is the market still willing to pay for the work.

The overall reading came in at 61, one point below Q1, but still solidly in positive territory (anything above 50 signals more remodelers reporting improving conditions than declining ones). The Current Conditions Index averaged 70, unchanged from last quarter. Underneath that number, the three project-size components moved in different directions: large projects ($50,000 and up) dropped three points to 64, moderate projects ($20,000 to $50,000) climbed four points to 73, and small projects (under $20,000) held steady at 74.

The Future Indicators Index, which tracks what's coming rather than what's already booked, averaged 52, down two points. Leads and inquiries dipped two points to 51. Backlog eased one point to 54. None of that is alarming on its own, a market that's still net-positive on every measure isn't a market in trouble, but it does tell you where the softening is concentrated: at the top end, not the middle.

Why the Moderate Range Matters Specifically for This Work

Homeowners and their adult children often picture "aging-in-place remodel" as a full renovation. Most of the time, it isn't. It's a handful of well-executed, well-placed changes, which is exactly the kind of project that lands in the $20,000 to $50,000 range: an accessible bathroom conversion, widened doorways through a hallway, a ramp and entry package.

That's worth sitting with in light of this quarter's data. The segment where large discretionary renovations live pulled back. The segment where targeted, needs-driven work like aging-in-place modifications tends to live gained ground. NAHB's own commentary on this release ties part of the demand behind these numbers to the age of the country's housing stock itself, a separate driver from the age of the people living in it, though both are true and both point in the same direction: more homes and more households are reaching the point where this work becomes necessary, not optional.

Rising Costs Are Real. They Aren't Killing the Work.

Seventy-four percent of remodelers reported that material prices have risen since March, with an average increase of 6.7%. That's a real cost pressure, and it shows up in the Future Indicators softening.

What it didn't do is stop clients from saying yes to moderate-sized projects. That's a meaningful data point about how this work gets perceived. Clients aren't treating an accessible bathroom conversion or a grab bar package the same way they're treating a kitchen gut renovation. One reads as discretionary and gets deferred when costs rise. The other reads as necessary and gets scheduled anyway. If you're a builder deciding where to specialize in a market with rising costs, that distinction is the whole argument.

What This Means If You're Scoping This Work Right Now

Rising material costs make accurate scoping and pricing more important, not less. A builder who's precise about blocking placement, drainage requirements, and clearance measurements can price a job correctly the first time, even as material costs shift under them. A builder who isn't precise eats the difference or loses the client's trust when the estimate changes mid-project.

That's a practical skill, not just a technical one, and it's exactly what CAPS II and CAPS III are built around: the project types this quarter's data shows gaining ground, priced and executed by someone who knows what they're doing. I'm not teaching to a hypothetical market. I'm teaching to the segment the data says is holding up right now, in a quarter where the rest of the market cooled.

If you've been weighing whether aging-in-place work is worth a real spot in your service line, this is the data point worth sitting with: the market is telling you where the work is. CAPS certification training is where you learn to price and build it correctly.

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Fritzi Gros-Daillon, MS, CAPS, SHSS, is an NAHB Master Instructor, 2019 NAHB Educator of the Year, and author of Grace and Grit: Insights to Real-Life Challenges of Aging for Adult Children and Their Parents. She teaches CAPS courses nationwide and consults with families and professionals on aging-in-place home assessment and modification.