Anonymous wrote:DH and I are thinking about doing some small projects around the house. Things like redoing a powder room, replacing carpet, building a retaining wall in the garden. Is this going to get more expensive? On the one hand, less manual labour and tradesmen could push prices up. On the other hand, economic uncertainty could reduce demand as people put unnecessary expenditure on hold. Presumably tariffs are already impacting imported items? What are you seeing?

None of that. Quit obsessing and stalling and get to work.

Learn to do most of that yourself, those are easy projects.

A friend who is building a custom home told me that all her fixture prices went up 10% this week due to tariffs, and that she was told to order furniture in June to avoid price increases.

However, I have had contractors ask about my plans for upcoming projects and bids for the fall, so maybe they need work. Or maybe its just that time of year when people should get on the schedule.

"Small projects" are going to cost more than they would than if they were part of a bigger project because the contractors have to schedule the time for you regardless of project size.

Everything will only be more expensive

DH and I are thinking about doing some small projects around the house. Things like redoing a powder room, replacing carpet, building a retaining wall in the garden. Is this going to get more expensive? On the one hand, less manual labour and tradesmen could push prices up. On the other hand, economic uncertainty could reduce demand as people put unnecessary expenditure on hold. Presumably tariffs are already impacting imported items? What are you seeing?