Homeowners continued to eye their bathrooms and kitchens for remodeling, according to a recent report by the National Association of Home Builders. At the start of 2018, bathrooms reclaimed the top spot as the most requested home upgrade.

The NAHB regularly releases a report on the popularity of various home improvements as part of National Home Remodeling Month in May. For the first quarter of 2018, the organization collected 243 responses from remodelers via a special question on its Remodeling Market Index survey.

Eighty-one percent of respondents said bathroom remodeling had been one of their most popular projects in 2017. This work edged out kitchen remodeling, although 78 percent of respondents said these projects had also been commonly requested.

Kitchen and bathroom overhauls have been the most popular ones completed by remodelers throughout the survey's history, and often duel for the top spot. In the first quarter of 2017, 81 percent of remodelers said kitchen work had been a common job in the previous year while 80 percent said bathroom remodeling was a popular request. In the first quarter of 2016, 81 percent said they had received frequent requests for bathroom remodeling and 79 percent said kitchen remodeling projects were often requested.

After these jobs, the most common work remodelers said they had completed in 2017 involved whole house remodeling. Forty-nine percent said this had been a common project during the year, down from 53 percent in the first quarter of 2017.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they had frequently been called to add rooms to a home, down 8 percentage points from the previous year. Room additions have become less popular in recent years, declining from a peak in the second quarter of 2004 when 70 percent of remodelers said this had been a common project in the previous year.

Paul Emrath, summarizing the survey findings on the NAHB blog Eye on Housing, says the requests for whole house remodeling and room additions remained fairly robust compared to post-recession years. However, the requests have also been slipping following a period of growth from 2013 to 2016. Emrath says homeowners who put off such work may have completed it during this year, helping to clear out a backlog of requests and reduce demand for large-scale renovations in the ensuing years.

Thirty percent of respondents said they often replaced windows or doors in 2017, down from 36 percent in the previous two years and a peak of 44 percent in the survey for the first quarter of 2012. Emrath says this downward trend may be a result of competition from window manufacturers who include installation with the purchase.

Other projects that remodelers said they had commonly completed in 2017 included deck work (25 percent), repairing property damage (23 percent), and finishing a basement (23 percent). Twenty-one percent of respondents said they had frequently been called for handyman services, roofing, or bathroom additions.

Eighteen percent said they had often worked on enclosing or adding porches to homes, while 16 percent said they frequently did siding work. Thirteen percent said they had been busy with second story additions in 2017.

Less popular requests included enclosing or adding a garage, which 11 percent of respondents said had been a frequent request, and historic preservation work, cited by only one in 10 respondents. Just 7 percent said finishing an attic had been a common job.