Renovators want homeowners to think big about aging

Homebuilders and renovators are trying move consumers away from just wanting to “age in place” and toward wanting to “thrive in place“

Marianne Cusato, a housing expert at the University of Notre Dame architecture school, talks about the thriving in place concept in a new report distributed by HomeAdvisor.

HomeAdvisor is a Golden, Colorado-based company that operates a website for sellers and buyers of home repair and home improvement services. The company recently commissioned a survey of 279 home repair and improvement professionals and a survey of 586 homeowners over age 55.

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When the older homeowners were asked about aging-in-place projects they had considered, the older homeowners talked about procedures such as installing grab bars in the shower or increasing the height of the toilet, Cusato writes.

The homeowners seemed to assume that aging-in-place projects were projects that make a house safer and more accessible for people with disabilities, she says.

Cusato says the home renovators would rather see homeowners think in terms of thriving in place, and in terms of making a house more livable for people of all ages.