Why Thanksgiving starts kitchen remodeling season, and what to run in November
Homeowners spend the holidays hosting in a kitchen they have been putting up with. The ones who act on it in January started looking in November.
PJC Media · · 5 min read
When is the best time for a remodeler to advertise kitchen remodels?
Start in November, before the holidays, and keep going through January. Hosting Thanksgiving and the holidays shows homeowners exactly what is wrong with their kitchen, and enquiries spike in January once the decorations come down. Because a kitchen takes six to ten weeks to decide, the remodeler who is already in front of those homeowners in November gets the January conversations, while the one who starts advertising in January is starting from zero.
The kitchen gets a stress test
For most of the year a homeowner can live with a cramped kitchen. Then twelve people arrive for Thanksgiving, the island is too small, there is nowhere to put anything, and the oven cannot keep up. By the end of the holidays a lot of homeowners have decided this is the year.
They rarely call in December. They call in January, once the house is back to normal and the new year makes a big decision feel reasonable. The January spike is reliable enough that it shapes the whole year for kitchen remodelers.
Why November, not January
A kitchen is not decided in one conversation. It takes six to ten weeks from first enquiry to signature. The homeowner who calls in January has usually been looking at photos, saving ideas and noticing names since the holidays. The remodeler whose before and after showed up in November is already familiar when the decision gets made.
There is a practical reason too. Most remodelers slow their marketing down over the holidays, so the attention is cheaper and there is less competition for it.
What to run from Thanksgiving to January
- Before and after photos of kitchens built for hosting: bigger islands, opened walls, a second oven, more seating.
- A simple message that names the moment: if this year's Thanksgiving showed you what your kitchen is missing, start planning now for a kitchen ready by next year.
- A form that asks timeline, so a homeowner who wants to start in spring is handled as a planned project rather than chased like an urgent one.
- A follow-up sequence that keeps going through December quietly and picks up in January, rather than giving up after two attempts.
- Updated Google Business Profile photos and posts, because November viewers will search your name in January.
What to do in January
Answer faster than anyone else. The January surge is when your response time is tested hardest, and the enquiries you warmed up in November will go to whoever replies first. Book site visits for the planned spring jobs while the competition is still restarting their ads.
The spring kitchen calendar is filled in January by the remodelers who were visible in November.
Questions people ask
- Should remodelers stop advertising over the holidays?
- Usually not for kitchens. Holiday hosting is what prompts many projects, attention is cheaper, and the homeowners you reach then are the ones who call in January.
- When do most kitchen remodel enquiries come in?
- There is a real dip through December and a spike in January, after homeowners have spent the holidays hosting in their kitchen.
- How far ahead should I market for spring remodeling jobs?
- Two to three months. A kitchen takes six to ten weeks to decide, so spring jobs are won in winter.
Keep reading
- How to write a remodeling estimate that wins the jobHomeowners compare estimates by the total on the last page. Here is how to write one that makes the comparison work in your favor.
- How hardscapers win the job when their quote is higherYour patio costs more because of the base nobody sees. Here is how to make the homeowner see it before they compare numbers.
- How to sell more bathroom remodels at a higher ticketMost remodelers lose bathroom jobs on the first phone call, not on price. Here is how to fill the calendar with primary suites instead of vanity swaps.
- Remodeling marketing trends for 2027: what is changing and what to do about itFive shifts in how homeowners find and choose a remodeler, and the practical response to each.
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