Eddie Castro’s Aurora, Colorado home has been a whirlwind of activity. His new floors were being sanded when we dropped by the other day. There’s new lighting in the kitchen, a new roof over the house. He’d planned to travel this summer. Those plans abruptly changed.

“I was gonna pay for this trip and the corona came and we decided to use the money for upgrade on the house,” Castro said. “We're gonna be here for a while.”

Mark and Gina Lindner of Broomfield, Colorado have been busy upgrading their home. New paint, new kitchen counter tops and new floors as well.

“When we knew the stay-at-home order was coming, we didn't know how long it was going to be so like what are we going to do?” Mark Lindner said.

According to a Consumer Specialists survey, 57 percent of homeowners tackled a home improvement project between March and May. And that trend has only continued.

“We chose this summer to remodel a bathroom because we were stuck at home,” said Eric Holt, who teaches at the University of Denver’s Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management. He said more time spent at home and the need to accommodate working from home have fueled the rush to remodel. Government stimulus checks and less money spent on entertainment haven’t hurt either.

“I can’t operate, I can’t function in this space,” Holt said many homeowners are thinking. “I’ve got to change my space so I’m going to do it the most cost-effective way I can.”

And do it myself if I need to. Even in a reeling U.S. economy, the home improvement giant Home Depot’s profits surged 25 percent in the most recent fiscal quarter. According to cellphone tracking data, daily foot traffic at its stores is up 35 percent over last year. 

“I made three trips today already,” Castro said.

Very low mortgage rates are also putting money into people’s hands.

“It's a flood, a tsunami of people refinancing their house because rates are low but also pulling money out because we’re going to remodel, do stuff to the house,” Holt said.

The longer this pandemic has gone on, the more willing folks seem to be to let contractors inside their homes. Sometimes very weary contractors.

“I think I had offered to get one of the employees a sandwich or something because they looked like they were just running ragged,” Mark Lindner said.

The Lindners have found that one project has led to another and to another.

“Just being home and looking at every little thing, because we were here all the time, we were realizing, okay, that we don’t like, this we don’t like,” Gina Lindner said.

Home is where the heart is, to quote an old saying. That seems especially true these days.

“It brings family together,” Castro said. “My kids come over, they’re here all the time, and this is the place. They know it’s safe.”

So why, he figures, not make it the best it can be.