If you have been waiting for remodeling prices to settle down before you start a kitchen or bath project, the newest industry numbers deserve a second look. The National Association of Home Builders keeps a quarterly Remodeling Market Index that measures how busy remodelers are and how confident they feel about the months ahead.
In the second quarter of 2026, that index held at 61, which sits comfortably in positive territory and signals steady, healthy demand for remodeling work across the country.
Here is the part that changes the math for homeowners. In that same reading, 74 percent of remodelers said their material prices had climbed since March, by an average of roughly 6.7 percent. Steady demand on one side, rising material prices on the other.
Put those two facts together and a common instinct starts to look shaky: the belief that if you simply wait a while, your project will get cheaper. For most Middle Tennessee homeowners planning a kitchen or bath, waiting is more likely to push the number the wrong way.
This post walks through what that index actually measures, why waiting for a price dip rarely pays off in a market like this one, and — more usefully — which planning decisions genuinely protect your budget when material prices are drifting upward. None of this is about rushing you into anything.
It is about spending your money where it counts and settling the choices that move the price the most before they move again.
What Does a Remodeling Index of 61 Actually Mean?
The Remodeling Market Index is a simple sentiment gauge. Remodelers around the country are surveyed on current project activity and on the calls and estimate requests coming in for future work. The results are scored on a scale that runs to 100, where any reading above 50 means more remodelers describe conditions as strong than describe them as weak.
A reading of 61 is not a boom, but it is a clear signal that the demand for kitchen and bath work is holding up rather than falling off.
For a homeowner, that number is less about the economy in the abstract and more about who will be available to do your project and on what timeline. When demand stays healthy, the better design and build firms stay busy, their calendars fill further out, and they have less reason to discount their way into work they do not need.
A slow market is when you find deep price flexibility. A steady market like this one rewards planning ahead, not holding out for a bargain that a busy contractor has no reason to offer.
Why Busy Contractors Change Your Timeline
Steady demand has a practical ripple effect. The firms most homeowners actually want — the ones with real design capability, a showroom, and their own crews — tend to book out first. That is exactly why homeowners who are serious about planning a kitchen remodel are smart to start the design conversation earlier than they think they need to.
Getting on a good firm’s schedule is its own form of cost control, because a rushed, last-minute search often means settling for whoever is free, and that is rarely where the best value lives.
Will Waiting for Prices to Drop Save You Money?
This is the question underneath almost every “let’s wait until next year” conversation. The honest answer, based on where the market sits right now, is that waiting is a bet — and the odds are not in your favor.
When roughly three out of four remodelers report that their material prices went up in a single quarter, that is not a blip tied to one product. It reflects broad pressure on cabinetry, surfaces, tile, fixtures, and the labor that installs them. Prices that move up 6.7 percent in a few months do not usually snap back; they tend to become the new baseline.
There is also a cost to waiting that never shows up on a quote. Every month you postpone is another month living with the kitchen or bath that is not working for you, and it is a month where the next round of price increases can land before you have locked anything in. If you wait a year and prices are flat, you have gained nothing but lost time.
If you wait a year and prices are higher, you have paid a premium for the delay. Neither outcome is the win the “wait and see” instinct promises.
Where a Project’s Price Is Really Set
It helps to remember that a remodel’s final cost is decided far more by decisions than by timing. Much of the number is locked in early, during design — in the scope you choose, the surfaces you specify, and whether you move plumbing or keep it.
That is the same lesson behind the choices that get locked in before demo day: by the time crews arrive, the expensive calls have already been made on paper. Focusing your energy on those decisions gives you far more control over the budget than trying to time the market ever will.
Which Decisions Actually Protect Your Budget?
If you cannot control material prices, you can control how exposed your project is to them. That comes down to a handful of decisions you make before anything is ordered. The homeowners who stay closest to their budget in a rising-cost market are almost always the ones who made these choices deliberately and early, rather than piece by piece as the project unfolded.
Lock Your Material Selections Early
The single most effective move in a market with rising prices is to finalize your selections up front instead of drifting toward them. When your cabinetry, tile, fixtures, and the countertops and hard surfaces you choose are all specified early, your remodeler can order and schedule around known numbers rather than moving targets.
This is one place a showroom earns its keep: in our Pleasant View showroom, homeowners can compare cabinetry, countertops, tile, and flooring side by side and commit to real selections, so the budget reflects the actual products going into the home instead of placeholders that shift later.
Separate the Must-Haves From the Nice-to-Haves
When budgets get tight, the projects that survive intact are the ones with clear priorities. Decide early what the room absolutely has to deliver — more storage, a better layout, a shower that finally works — and what is genuinely optional. That ranking gives you a plan for trade-offs if a material line comes in higher than expected.
Instead of a stressful, across-the-board cut, you have already agreed on where you can flex and where you will not. It turns a rising cost from a crisis into a decision you were prepared to make.
Keep Plumbing and Layout Choices Deliberate
In both kitchens and baths, moving plumbing and reworking the layout are among the costliest decisions you can make, because they ripple into framing, drain lines, and waterproofing. That does not mean you should never do it — sometimes a layout genuinely does not work and the change is worth every dollar.
It means the decision should be made on purpose, with a clear reason, rather than as a mid-project “while we’re at it.” Keeping fixtures near their existing locations, when the layout allows, is one of the most reliable ways to protect a budget against surprises hiding behind the walls.
How Should Middle Tennessee Homeowners Plan From Here?
The takeaway from a steady index and rising material prices is not “panic and rush.” It is “plan with intention.” The homeowners who come out ahead in this kind of market are the ones who start the design work early, make their selections deliberately, and get on a good firm’s calendar before their preferred timeline gets away from them.
That approach applies whether you are reworking a kitchen or taking on a full bathroom remodel, because both rooms reward the same discipline: decide the expensive things first, then build the rest of the plan around them.
Start With Design, Not Demolition
The most useful first step is a design consultation, well before anyone picks up a sledgehammer. Bring photos of your current space, a clear sense of what is not working, and any inspiration images you have saved.
A designer can look at what you have and tell you honestly which of your ideas are simple swaps and which ones move plumbing or framing — the difference that quietly drives the budget.
Working with a design-build team keeps those decisions coordinated, because the same people planning the look are also planning the structure and the install, so the material choices and the construction reality are settled together instead of colliding halfway through the job.
That coordination is what lets you plan a realistic budget and hold it, even when the market around you keeps nudging prices up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is now a good time to remodel, or should I wait?
Based on current conditions, waiting for prices to fall is a weak bet. Material prices rose an average of about 6.7 percent in a single recent quarter, and increases like that tend to stick rather than reverse. Meanwhile, demand for remodeling is steady, so the best firms stay busy.
If your project makes sense for your home and your budget, planning it now — while locking in selections and a schedule — usually beats hoping for a discount that a healthy market gives contractors no reason to offer.
Why do material prices keep going up?
Remodeling materials sit at the intersection of manufacturing costs, supply availability, trade policy, and labor. When three out of four remodelers report higher prices in the same quarter, it points to broad pressure rather than one product spiking. Those increases work their way into cabinetry, countertops, tile, and fixtures.
The practical response is not to predict the next move but to reduce how exposed your project is by finalizing selections early and ordering around known numbers.
What is the single best way to protect my budget?
Finalize your material selections before the project starts. When your cabinetry, surfaces, tile, and fixtures are specified up front, your remodeler can lock in orders and scheduling against real prices instead of moving targets. Drifting toward selections during the project is where budgets slip, because every delayed decision is another chance for a price to change before you commit to it.
Does moving my kitchen or bathroom layout really cost that much more?
It often does. Relocating a sink, toilet, tub, or shower means re-routing drain lines and re-doing waterproofing, and in a kitchen it can pull in electrical and gas work too. Those changes ripple through the project.
Moving the layout can absolutely be worth it when the current arrangement does not function, but it should be a deliberate choice made for a clear reason, not an afterthought added once demolition is underway.
How far ahead should I start planning?
Earlier than most people expect. In a market with steady demand, the design and build firms homeowners most want tend to book their calendars well in advance. Starting the design conversation early does two things: it gives you time to make selections thoughtfully rather than under pressure, and it helps you secure a spot on a good firm’s schedule before your ideal timeline slips away.
Will a design consultation commit me to a full project?
No. A consultation is where you get honest answers before you commit to anything. It is the point to learn which of your ideas are simple and which are expensive, to see materials in person, and to understand how the pieces fit together. That clarity is what lets you build a budget you can actually plan around, so the number reflects your real project rather than a generic online average.
Ready to Plan Your Project With Confidence?
Rising material prices are easier to manage when you make the big decisions early and work with a team that plans the design and the build together.
Guthrie Kitchen & Bath Plus serves homeowners across Pleasant View, Nashville, and Middle Tennessee, and our Pleasant View showroom is the place to see cabinetry, countertops, and tile in person and turn a wish list into a real, buildable plan.
Schedule a design consultation to map out your kitchen or bath project and build a budget that holds up, whatever the market does next.