As many Americans have taken to working, learning, and sheltering at home in the months since the coronavirus pandemic took hold, existing residential spaces have had to play double and triple duty, functionally speaking. 

Amid these shifts in use, Americans have begun to undertake home improvement projects en mass, updating and reconfiguring existing spaces, adding onto their homes, and even moving to entirely new locales to better adapt to the fundamental changes in daily life prompted by nearly six months of quarantine. Nearly a half-year into the pandemic, as much of the world cautiously returns to some form of normal daily life, Americans, with no end in sight to the pandemic and the number of known deaths now exceeding 170,000 lives, have taken to renovating their homes.

This week, retail giant Home Depot announced record breaking profits for the first full quarter encompassing this new way of life. CNBC reports that Home Depot's profit increased by $4.33 billion during the second quarter of 2020, which ended August 2nd. The retailer points to a surge in sales across product and consumer types as builders large and small see an uptick in residential-related work encompassing everything from plumbing and paint to lumber and high-end appliances. The surge in profit is 25% higher than what was made during the first quarter of the year, with net sales rising 23.4% over the preceding season to $38.05 billion. 

The building boom, fueled by but a surge in online sales, is feeding into an uptick in demand for residential spaces overall that has taken shape since the pandemic landed on American shores and comes as the nation's persistent housing shortage shows no signs of easing across the country. Though residential architects and homebuilders had a tough go of it during the first phase of the pandemic, when strict stay-at-home orders shut down thousands of construction sites across the country, more recent estimates point toward continued economic strength within the residential sector for architects and builders as office and commercial projects whither on the vine amid reduced demand and deep short- and medium-term uncertainty. The increase in these projects has even brought some relief to clients with regards to construction and material costs, which have fallen from recent highs due to the increase in competition from busy contractors jostling for new projects.