HIRI Insights Summit: Recap & Takeaways
By Amy R. Castelda
Photo with Kevin O’Connor, host of This Old House
There’s a first time for everything, and this week was my first time attending the HIRI Insights Summit, held September 29–30 in Minneapolis. Two days surrounded by people who live and breathe the home improvement industry made for plenty of good conversations, new connections, and more than a few pages of notes.
The agenda covered a lot of ground from the housing market and the evolving pro channel to AI, technology, media, and what’s changing in the way homeowners make decisions. And, as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about consumers and the why behind their behavior, there was plenty that caught my attention.
There was also Kevin O’Connor, host of This Old House. Did I totally fangirl and make sure I got a photo with him? Absolutely. Some conference opportunities are simply too important to pass up.
A few other things that stuck with me:
Trust Still Wins
Kevin O’Connor’s session, Built to Last: How Media Shapes the Home Improvement Mindset from This Old House to TikTok, was about a lot more than a TV show.
One of the simplest ideas was also one of my favorites: “Teach, don’t sell.” For This Old House, building an audience for nearly 50 years has come down to trusted, professional advice—being honest, relying on real expertise, and helping people make better decisions rather than simply trying to sell them something.
That feels especially relevant today. Platforms change. Content gets shorter. AI gives us more ways to create and distribute information than ever before. But credibility is still earned the old-fashioned way.
And that trust matters when people actually make decisions. O’Connor shared an example of research conducted by a window manufacturer where homeowners frequently cited This Old House as an influence on their product decisions.
Turns out teaching people something useful is still pretty good marketing.
Start with the Problem, Not the AI
It wouldn’t be a 2026 conference without AI making an appearance, but I appreciated that the conversation wasn't simply about finding more places to use it.
Rajiv Raghunathan of Lowe’s framed the opportunity around something much more practical: start with friction.
Instead of asking “Where can we use AI?”, start by identifying the actual points of friction for customers and associates, then determine whether technology can help remove them. Otherwise, you risk using new technology to simply automate an inefficient process or, as he described it, “digitizing friction.”
That idea stuck with me because it applies well beyond retail. New technology is exciting, but technology itself isn't the strategy. The value comes from identifying the problem worth solving first.
AI Is Already Changing the Home Improvement Journey
Liza Hausman of Houzz brought some numbers to the AI conversation, and this is where things got particularly interesting.
AI isn't just something home improvement companies are experimenting with behind the scenes. It's beginning to influence what homeowners actually choose. According to research shared during the session, 22% of homeowners had used AI for renovation, with usage concentrated toward the beginning of the process for things like ideation and visualization.
But perhaps the more interesting takeaway was the continued role of the professional. Homeowners viewed the same AI-generated information as more credible when it came through a pro, reinforcing the role contractors and other professionals play as a trusted filter between all this new information and the final decision.
AI may be changing where inspiration comes from, but it hasn't eliminated the need for human expertise. If anything, having more information available may make knowing who to trust even more important.
The Pro Market Is Cautious, but There’s Opportunity
We do a great deal of research with pros so it’s no surprise the final session caught my attention looking at the pro channel heading into 2027.
Grant Farnsworth of The Farnsworth Group painted a market where homeowners still have plenty they want to do—about 70% report having at least one project in mind—but budgets, pricing, and broader uncertainty are causing many of those projects to be delayed, canceled, or scaled back.
That pressure is changing behavior on both sides. Homeowners are shopping around more, while pros are increasingly trying new suppliers and brands. In fact, 39% of pros surveyed had tried new brands in the past year, and 85% of those said the new brands performed as well as or better than what they had been using.
For brands, that creates an interesting window. A slower or more cautious market doesn't necessarily mean standing still. It can create an opportunity to earn trust and consideration while people are reevaluating their choices.
A Common Thread
For my first HIRI Insights Summit, what surprised me most was how often the conversation came back to trust.
Trust in the people giving us advice. Trust in the brands and products we're putting into our homes. Trust in the professionals helping us make decisions. And, increasingly, trust in the technology influencing those decisions.
AI is clearly changing home improvement—from how projects are imagined to how they're sold and executed. At the same time, homeowners have more information, more options, and more ways to second-guess a decision than ever before.
For researchers and brands, that makes understanding who people trust, why they trust them, and what ultimately moves them from inspiration to action a pretty interesting question to keep asking.
Have questions about what all of this means for your brand? Drop us a line or book a call. We’ve spent a lot of time talking with both homeowners and professionals and would love to help you make sense of what’s changing—and what to do about it.