A home renovation can be both rewarding and (extremely) frustrating. With project costs still elevated versus pre‑pandemic and remodeling spend cooling per Harvard’s LIRA, many owners are prioritizing smaller DIY tasks alongside hiring pros, as documented by Angi’s State of Home Spending—yet scope creep, rework, and budget overruns remain common enough that plenty of people still call a contractor to finish or fix the job.
Fast facts:
- There isn’t a fresh, authoritative U.S. percentage for “couples who regret DIY,” but large 2024 datasets show renovation stress and decision friction within households is common (see the 2024 U.S. Houzz & Home Study; for international context, also see the Rated People 2024 report).
- About half of renovating homeowners report doing at least some work themselves (Houzz), and homeowner preparedness reporting notes frequent DIY missteps that later require professional fixes—clear regret signals (Hippo).
- DIY remains widespread alongside pro help, with a tilt toward smaller, budget‑conscious updates and maintenance (Angi).
While surveying homeowners about their experience with do-it-yourself remodels and home renovations, we found one other area of stress for many people: their partners. Recent, large-scale studies indicate decision-making challenges and disagreements over budgets, product choices, and timelines are common within households during renovations (Houzz 2024; Rated People 2024).
This has been especially heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic, where many people are spending more time at home with their partners than they were in the past. Since then, activity has normalized: overall remodeling spend cooled through 2024–2025 per Harvard’s LIRA, retail sales at building‑material and garden dealers have eased from 2021 highs but remain above 2019 levels per the U.S. Census, and homeowners increasingly focus on smaller DIY and essential maintenance alongside pro help (Angi; Houzz).
There isn’t a current, authoritative 2024–2025 U.S. percentage that cleanly updates “what share of couples regret DIY.” Instead, robust datasets show DIY remains common (Angi), renovation‑related household stress is widespread (Houzz 2024), and many DIY efforts ultimately require pro remediation (Hippo).
Among respondents, there was a pretty clear gap between men and women. Clear, current regret‑by‑gender figures are scarce, but complementary evidence points to persistent differences: men are roughly twice as likely as women to perform household maintenance and repairs on an average day per the American Time Use Survey, and men are about twice as likely to say they’re very confident handling home maintenance/repairs per Hippo’s 2024 Homeowner Preparedness Report. Historically, a 2019 consumer survey reported a sizable male–female regret gap, though updated public figures are not available (ImproveNet 2019).
Age was not a notable factor in the survey results, with fairly consistent response rates no matter what bracket was singled out.
Speaking to one married couple who had recently completed a remodel, they said the experience was taxing on their relationship, and ended up resulting in them hiring a general contractor to manage the rest of the project.
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“We bought a fixer upper thinking it would be a fun project for us to work on together. It only took one project to recognize we’re better off paying someone to do most of the work for us.”
On the other side, some couples say that working on house projects together has strengthened their marriage. As Megan Wild, a family blogger, writes, home projects can build teamwork and strengthen communication. Relationship research aligns: engaging in novel, cooperative activities can boost closeness via self‑expansion (Current Opinion in Psychology review), and co‑creating tangible outcomes often increases pride and attachment (“IKEA effect”). Under the right circumstances, it can also save the household money—important because money and the economy are persistent stressors for couples (APA Stress in America 2024).
That’s not to say home projects are for everyone. It’s probably fine if within the context of each individual relationship one strength isn’t remodeling a bathroom or a kitchen together. Each relationship is different and while many find it difficult to work on home projects together, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong with the relationship. It’s important to know one’s own limits as everyone has different strengths. For safety and cost control, follow authoritative power‑tool guidance and hire licensed pros for regulated trades when needed (CPSC).
[ Read: Guide to Creating a Productive Work Space ]
Research snapshot:
- No current, authoritative U.S. percentage cleanly updates “what share of couples regret DIY”; use well‑sourced proxies from recent reports (Angi; Houzz 2024).
- DIY remains widespread alongside pro help; recent Angi data indicate homeowners completed roughly 11 projects in 2023 and spent about $13.7k across improvement, maintenance, and emergency repairs (Angi).
- Renovation‑related household stress and decision friction are common per the 2024 Houzz & Home Study, and U.K. trend data also report partner arguments around projects (Houzz 2024; Rated People 2024).
- Home‑improvement spending cooled in 2024–2025 and is expected to stabilize into late 2025/2026 per Harvard’s LIRA; retail sales at building‑material dealers are off 2021 highs but above 2019 levels per the U.S. Census.
Photo by PhotoAlto/Sigrid Olsson/GettyImages
