Home Improvement and Landscaping businesses are influenced by the seasons. If your business has slowed down recently, your competition may also be affected. Take a look at the trends below, and particularly, the real-time charts from Google Trends shown farther below.
In general, the trend in the Northeast Delaware Valley Tri-State area (NJ, PA, DE and surrounding states) tends to be as follows:
- November thru February - Construction and landscaping businesses are often slow in the winter. In November and December, consumers are focused on the holidays. From December to February, paying off credit card bills for holiday gift expenses may take precedence over home improvement. January and February are very cold months, so homeowners don't want to start projects that involve a lot of traffic in and out or having part of the house open. And landscaping companies rely on snow removal and tree damage in the winter.
- March thru May - These are peak months, especially mid-April through mid-May (March can still be slow if the weather is very cold). Temperatures are warming up and people are thinking about spring cleaning, getting their yards ready for the warm months, and home repairs that they put off earlier in the year. The last week of May can be on the slower side as people take vacations around Memorial Day.
- June thru August - June can be slow as children are getting out of school and families are planning summer vacations. The first week of July can be slow due to Independence Day activities. July and August can slow down due to summer events, weekends at the shore, etc. The last two weeks of August are often very slow as people take their final vacations of the season before Labor Day.
- September and October - After the first week of September (Labor Day week), there's often a surge of business as children go back to school and the weather starts to cool down. People start thinking of "winterizing" their homes and making necessary repairs in preparation for the cold weather (such as heating, plumbing and insulation), fall cleanup of their yards, and making the home presentable for holiday visits.
Google Trends
Google Trends charts the number of U.S. searches for particular keywords by month and year. Since most of my clients are home improvement and landscaping related businesses in New Jersey, I've included charts below for these searches over the past 12 months.
Look for your services in the charts below. Hover over the chart line to see average number of searches for that term in that month. Wherever you see dips in the chart is where searches for that term have dropped, and your competition may be feeling the pain too. These charts are embedded directly from the Google Trends website, and will update automatically from month to month.
"Contractor"
"Roofing"
"Plumber"
"Electrician"
"Air Conditioning"
"Heating"
"Kitchen Remodeling"
"Landscaper"
"Tree Removal"
"Well Drilling"
"Carpet Cleaner"
