Thumbtack Reveals the Cities That Procrastinate the Most
Jack Erb•Thumbtack's Economist •Last updated May 29, 2024
Last updated May 29, 2024
Table of Contents
Milwaukee is Least Likely to Complete Home Projects while Salt Lake City is Most Likely to Achieve their Goals
68% of first-time homeowners recently told us they procrastinate on home projects because they’re overwhelmed. So we dug a bit deeper into where homeowners are getting stuck, and where they’re getting things done. We found that Milwaukee tops the list for being the biggest procrastinator when it comes to putting off home projects while Salt Lake City ranks most productive, regularly checking things off their list.
We all know delaying maintenance and repairs on critical systems can escalate into a costly emergency and summer isn’t the time you want to be sweating about things breaking down. Heading into the hottest months of the year, imagine the nightmare scenario of your central air, water heater, refrigerator, and roof all failing at once — costing you an average of $29,233 to rectify. It quite literally pays to not put off home projects until tomorrow. To give you a head start, we took a look at which cities and systems are most at risk.
Biggest procrastinator cities (aka least likely to complete a planned home project)
We looked at which projects had the lowest completion rates on homeowners’ plans (where you manage all your upkeep, repairs, and improvement projects). We then took a peek at which cities were the slowest to check projects off their plan, uncovering the biggest procrastinator cities in the U.S.
While cities across the country are getting stuck, we found that the eastern half of the U.S. is struggling a little bit more than the rest of the nation when it comes to getting stuff done.
Top 10 projects put off most frequently
In terms of what projects people are putting off, weatherization, septic system repair, and tile repair top the list. Here’s a peek at projects homeowners have added to their plans, but are taking their time tackling.
Our data found that when we group related projects, the groups with the lowest completion rates are real estate services and home inspections, which are two services required to sell or buy a home. Many consumers may choose to put these things off since selling or buying a home is a much bigger project (with less urgency today than in the past given high interest rates and low inventory), compared to tasks like repairing a garbage disposal, which has the highest completion rate.
Additionally, our data shows that the longer a project stays on your plan, the less likely it is to be completed, as 86% of completed projects were added to a homeowner’s plan within the past week.
Most productive cities (aka most likely to complete a planned home project)
We also took a look at which cities were checking things off their do-lists — with Salt Lake City topping the charts as the most productive city in the country. Here’s a peek at which areas of the country are getting stuff done.
While the eastern half of the U.S. was more likely to procrastinate, the top four cities to follow through with their home projects were in western states.
How to Get Stuff Done
With nearly one-third of first-time homeowners telling us it takes them six months or more to complete a project, including essential home maintenance, we knew they needed an app that could alleviate some of the stress of home upkeep and make it simple for them to stay on top of their to-do lists. Thumbtack’s new all-in-one app has everything you need to care for your home, so you can start taking action with confidence.
Download the free Thumbtack app and create a personalized home profile to receive step-by-step guidance on what projects to do, when to do them and who to hire. You can also check out guides for everything from tackling seasonal maintenance to increasing your energy efficiency ahead of the summer months.
Methodology: We looked at data on which projects consumers have added to their plans on the Thumbtack app, and which of those projects were followed by an actual project request. Most procrastinated projects are those projects on consumers’ plans with the lowest completion rates. The most productive cities are those with the highest project completion rates for all tasks on their plans, and the biggest procrastinator cities are those with the lowest completion rates. All data is based on findings from March 2023 — March 2024.
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