1. Mortgages are at 7.28%, home-equity borrowing near 8.2%
Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed mortgage at 7.28% on October 1, up from 7.03% a week earlier. Home-equity money, which is how many kitchens and baths get paid for, is dearer still: on September 28 the average home equity line of credit was 8.193% and a 10-year home equity loan 8.159%, according to Fortune's weekly table.
Why it matters: fewer people move, and the ones who stay think twice before financing a large project. Big jobs take longer to say yes to.
- Offer the job in phases: what has to be done now, and what can wait until spring.
- On any estimate of several thousand dollars, show a monthly-payment option next to the total, so the customer compares a payment and not only a sum.
2. What it costs you to do the work is up 6.6% in a year
The National Association of Home Builders published its remodeling input price index on September 23: remodelers' input costs were 6.6% higher in the second quarter of 2026 than a year before, after 3.9% in the first quarter. Average hourly pay at residential remodelers was $37.91, up 2.3% on the year.
Why it matters: an estimate priced from last year's numbers gives away part of your margin before the job starts.
- Reprice the twenty lines you sell most often against what you paid your supplier this month.
- Put an expiry date on every estimate — thirty days is common — so an old price cannot be accepted in the spring.
3. Homeowners are nervous, and good workers are easier to find
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 81.9 in September, which NAHB's economists note is the lowest since April 2014. And the September jobs report, read by NAHB, shows residential construction employment down 4,900 in the month and down 32,800 over twelve months.
Why it matters: optional projects get postponed — and at the same time experienced people are looking for work.
- Go back to every estimate you sent in the last sixty days that got no answer, with a smaller option. "Postponed" is not "no".
- If you have been short a tile setter or a lead carpenter, this is a better month to post the job than last spring was.
4. Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads
Google's help page says existing Local Services Ads campaigns will be migrated automatically "over the upcoming months" to a Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals inside Google Ads. You still pay per lead and the ads show in the same places. What changes: you manage it in Google Ads, manual bidding goes away, and — the part to act on — your Local Services performance reports will not move across. Google says you will get an email 14 days before your account is migrated.
Why it matters: your record of what each lead cost and which ones were real disappears from where you are used to finding it.
- Download or screenshot your Local Services reports now; do not wait for the 14-day email.
- Make sure the person who gets that email is someone who reads it — it goes to the account administrator on your profile.
- Check your Google Business Profile name, address and hours: Google Ads takes them from there.
Where WorkTime CRM helps with this
Only where it does the thing itself:
- Monthly payments on the estimate: with the financing card set up in Settings, estimates from $1,000 and unpaid invoices show a financing option with an estimated monthly figure.
- Repricing: the pricebook has "Rebuild prices for my market", which rebuilds your price list for your trade, city and state. Your own corrections stay yours.
- Postponed customers: when you mark a lost estimate with the reason, the CRM puts win-back reminders on your calendar.
- Hiring: the Work Time Hiring board takes a job post for free, with or without a CRM account.
- Local Services leads that were already pulled into the CRM stay on your pipeline as client cards, whatever happens to the reports on Google's side.