In 2024, the radiant heating industry encountered several challenges due to ongoing fluctuations in home improvement spending and the continued slowdown in home sales activity.

Despite these obstacles, we experienced notable growth throughout the year, particularly in the final quarter. Our Commercial customer segment showed the most significant expansion, with 2024 seeing a 52.9% increase—the fastest growth rate among our major professional customer channels.

However, the national housing and remodeling markets remain constrained by sluggish home sales and forecasts predicting a decline in renovation expenditures in the near future.

In this report, we’ll take a closer look at the performance of radiant heating product sales, with a specific focus on snow melting systems, and assess how national housing and remodeling trends may influence future sales.

WarmlyYours Product Sales in Q4 2024

The biggest fourth quarter volume growth at the product line level for WarmlyYours came from towel warmers, which were up 2.5% over Q4 2023.

The Tahoe towel warmer, which has 7-bar and 6-bar models, and comes in 3 different finishes (polished stainless steel, matte black, and brushed gold). The Tahoe has proven to be a very popular model with essentially every customer channel as it represents an effective, medium-size for most bathrooms and a plethora of different finishes. These factors helped drive the Tahoe to a 37.7% increase in fourth quarter sales.

Floor heating is our largest product line and it also saw the fastest rate of change growth with a 79.1% increase for the Environ Flex Roll. The Environ Flex Roll is primarily used for “floating floor” installations that use floor coverings like laminates, engineered wood, and carpet. So it’s no surprise that we saw increased sales for projects using both engineered wood (up 4.1%) and laminate (up 82.5%) floor coverings.

The Environ Flex Roll’s installation method omits adhesive like self-leveling compound and thinset, which cuts down on both installation time and costs while also decreasing floor weight, which has made it a popular choice for a number of different WarmlyYours customer segments, including the commercial customer channel which saw a nearly 100% uptick in sales of the Environ Flex Roll.

For snow melting, the most popular product in Q4 2024 was the 208V snow melting cable, which was up 19.2%. Snow melting cables are an economical alternative to mats and are often used for irregularly shaped projects like outdoor stairs. The 208V variant of this product, along with our 277V cable, are often used in commercial settings as those voltages are typically the available power input in such projects.

WarmlyYours takes pride in providing a diverse selection of products tailored to a wide variety of customers. This year's fourth quarter brought notable developments in customer channel growth.

The fastest growing customer channel was for flooring groups, which were up 57.7% from last year. The product interest for this group is largely limited to floor heating and the most popular floor heating product was the TempZone Flex Roll.

We also saw significant growth for outdoor groups (up 47.2%) and kitchen and bath groups (up 38.2%). Outdoor groups are generally interested in our snow melting systems but they are also a major mover of our roof and gutter deicing system sales. Kitchen and bath groups are a bit more varied in their product interest with floor heating leading the charge, followed by towel warmers and radiant panels.

But the largest volume increase was from commercial sales which was up 52.9% in 2024 (and up 1.5% in Q4 2024). This is a customer segment made up of a variety of different professionals who are engaged in some form of commercial construction or renovation. This ranges from electricians and flooring specialists to architects and designers. This customer segment is primarily interested in floor heating and snow melting systems.

Julia Billen, owner and president of WarmlyYours, said that she has placed an emphasis on building and developing the company’s market share in the commercial construction and renovation space.

"At WarmlyYours, we know that real growth isn’t just about selling products—it’s about building relationships. The commercial building industry is a game-changer for us, opening doors to exciting new applications for radiant heating,” said Billen. “By connecting with commercial builders and truly understanding their needs, we’re not just providing solutions—we’re creating partnerships that fuel innovation and expansion. The future of WarmlyYours is all about collaboration, and we’re ready to turn up the heat in the commercial space!"

For commercial sales, we saw some significant growth over a range of different product lines. For example, the fastest growth rate for product sales was towel warmers, which were up 300.1% over last year. Towel warmers are popular with commercial customers that are working on projects like hotels, as an electric towel warmer is a quick and relatively inexpensive way to inject a high level of luxury into a project. Generally speaking, commercial customer purchases of towel warmers will consist of multiple units of the same model.

The most popular towel warmers were, in order of sales volume, the Grande, the Tahoe, and the Sierra. The Grande has flat bars and, like the Tahoe, it has a couple of different variants based on the finish and number of bars. The Sierra is a dual connection towel warmer, which means that the unit can be installed as-is with a plug-in connection or it can be modified by a licensed electrician to work with a hardwired connection.

We also saw significant increases in sales for both floor heating and snow melting, which had grown 25.5% and 116.5% respectively. This impressive rate of change for snow melting actually helped propel its percentage of total commercial product sales from 28% in 2023 to 40% in 2024. This outpaces snow melting’s growth compared to our general sales by a factor of 2 and is probably most readily explained by the liability protections that snow melting systems provide for commercial projects. Keeping places like entry ways or outdoor stairs clear of snow and ice isn’t just a matter of professional consideration but also often an issue of legally required accommodations for vulnerable communities.

For snow melting, the most popular products for commercial sales in 2024 were the snow melt mat 240V (up 193%), snow melt cable 240V (up 145.2%), and the snow melt cable 208V (up 52.3%). Growth for these specific products make sense for commercial applications because 208V is an input voltage generally reserved for commercial projects and 240V heating elements are good for larger projects as the amp load that needs to be handled by the control is less on a square foot basis than it would be for 120V heating elements.

It’s also not surprising to see that cables are two of the top three fastest growing snow melting products for commercial sales, due to their flexibility (both literally and figuratively). Snow melting cables are great for irregular project shapes and for free forming, which helps explain why snow melting projects involving outdoor stairs were up 242% in 2024. Over the last couple of years, we’ve identified outdoor stairs as being a project type that has potential for significant growth for the commercial sector and it’s rewarding to see those prognostications come to fruition, said Billen.

"Outdoor stairs can be a major hazard in the winter, especially for businesses that rely on foot traffic. Slippery steps are a lawsuit waiting to happen—not to mention a huge headache for maintenance teams. That’s why snow melting systems for outdoor stairs are a must-have for commercial clients. They keep entryways safe and reduce the need for constant shoveling and salting,” said Billen. “At WarmlyYours, we believe safety and convenience should go hand in hand!"

While snow melting has had a massive year for commercial clients, floor heating still leads the way in total sales volume (making up about 53% of all commercial radiant heating sales for WarmlyYours in 2024).

The fastest growing floor heating products in 2024 for commercial sales were the TempZone Shower Mat (up 53.3%), the TempZone Flex Roll (up 42%), and the Environ Flex Roll (up 40.6%). The shower mat product, which consists of a heating element attached to a green fiberglass mesh with a hole to accommodate a drain flange, is popular with commercial clients working on luxury apartment complexes or on high-end hotel renovations.

The TempZone and Environ Flex Rolls are similar products in that they are both made up of heating elements attached to a backing and they are installed using the cut-and-turn method. However, they differ in the way that they’re installed and also in the types of floor coverings that they are applicable to. For example, the TempZone Flex Roll should be embedded in about 3/8ths of thinset or self-leveling compound and it works with the most commonly heated floor coverings like tile, marble, stone, and LVT. The Environ Flex Roll is installed in floating floors so it doesn’t use an adhesive and it is most commonly paired with engineered wood, laminate, or carpet.

The National Housing and Renovation Markets

Radiant heating sales are often closely linked to home sales and renovation activity, as these situations present the most convenient opportunities for installing a floor warming or heated driveway system.

In 2024, the North American housing market continues to face significant challenges, including limited inventory, high property prices, and rising borrowing rates, all of which have impacted overall renovation and new construction activity.

Many national metrics for home sale activity are a mixed bag. For example, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that sales of existing homes increased 9.3% in December 2024 over December 2023.

"Home sales in the final months of the year showed solid recovery despite elevated mortgage rates," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Home sales during the winter are typically softer than the spring and summer, but momentum is rising with sales climbing year-over-year for three straight months. Consumers clearly understand the long-term benefits of homeownership. Job and wage gains, along with increased inventory, are positively impacting the market."

Despite this, sales of pending homes were down 5% year-over-year despite several concurrent months of increases.

“After four straight months of gains in contract signings, one step back is not welcome news, but it is not entirely surprising,” said Yun. “Economic data never moves in a straight line. High mortgage rates have not significantly dented housing demand due to greater numbers of cash transactions.”

While the outlook for the housing market is certainly mixed, projections for the renovation market are looking forward to modest gains in the near future. The most recent Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA), a quarterly assessment from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, which expects year-over-year expenditures for remodeling and renovation spending to increase throughout the coming year by 1.2%.

“A solid labor market, rising home values, and continued improvement in existing home sales are supporting greater activity in home remodeling and repair,” said Carlos Martín, Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Center. “Upward trending retail sales of building materials and steady permitting for remodeling indicate that homeowners are slowly but surely expanding the pace and scope of projects compared to the last couple years.”

The LIRA also identified that in the wake of the pandemic, homeowner spending on renovations had increased well beyond predictions, which has made subsequent evaluations more difficult.

This LIRA release incorporates new benchmark data from the American Housing Survey that revises up the overall market size.

“In the wake of the pandemic, strong gains in homeownership, record high home values and equity, and a healthy economy combined to lift improvement and repair spending to unprecedented heights in 2022 and 2023, growing 25.3 percent over these two years. The growth in actual spending was 7.5 percentage points higher than the gains originally estimated by the LIRA models over this period,” said Abbe Will, Associate Director of the Remodeling Futures Program. “While expenditures are expected to grow only modestly this year, we’ve increased our projection for the remodeling market size in 2025 by $30 billion, or 6.4 percent, to $509 billion.”

WarmlyYours Looking Forward into 2025

We have a number of action plans to move forward with growing our commercial customer base.

1. Expanding Opportunities for Contractors with WarmlyYours Certifications

WarmlyYours continues to position itself as a valuable partner for contractors seeking energy-efficient and sustainable heating solutions. Our radiant heating systems are a perfect fit for projects focused on sustainability, including LEED-certified buildings. Additionally, our WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council) and SBA WOSB (Small Business Administration Women-Owned Small Business) certifications provide significant advantages for general contractors and corporations looking to meet diversity requirements.

2. Building Strategic Partnerships

In the coming year, WarmlyYours will actively pursue opportunities by:

Partnering with General Contractors – Large firms bidding on government and corporate projects benefit from our expertise and WOSB certification, helping them meet diversity standards.

Collaborating with Architects & Green Building Experts – We support projects that emphasize LEED certification and energy efficiency.

Engaging with Fortune 500 Companies – Many corporations prioritize women-owned businesses in their construction, renovation, and sustainability efforts, providing WarmlyYours with key partnership opportunities.

3. Expanding Across Key Industries

Radiant heating’s efficiency and comfort make it a preferred solution across various industries, including:

Hospitality & Real Estate Development – Hotels, resorts, and office spaces require energy-efficient luxury heating.

Retail & Commercial Construction – Large retailers and corporate offices prioritize sustainable heating solutions.

Manufacturing & Warehousing – Climate-controlled facilities benefit from the consistent and efficient warmth of radiant heating.

4. Providing Custom Solutions

One of WarmlyYour’s core strengths is our incredible team of engineers who custom design installation plans for radiant heating systems, often in as little as one day. This can be invaluable to commercial clients for both documentation and for effective in-field installations.

Additionally, WarmlyYours has an extensive product portfolio that allows for us to quote a wide range of different applicable heating solutions based on a project’s specific needs. This can range from the design of the system (for example, adjusting the spacing between heating cables in a layout design based on the geo-targeted needs of the project) to providing custom heating mats.

Billen said that customization will be a crucial element of further developing the commercial customer segment.

"Customization is key in commercial radiant heating because no two projects are the same. At WarmlyYours, we work closely with our clients to design heating solutions that fit their specific needs—whether it's a large-scale corporate office, a boutique hotel, or a high-efficiency warehouse,” said Billen. “By offering tailored solutions, we help businesses maximize energy efficiency, enhance comfort, and meet sustainability goals. Flexibility and precision are what set us apart, ensuring that every project gets the most effective and efficient heating system possible."

Sources:

  • Relevant internal sales data from WarmlyYours
  • Google Analytics 4
  • https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/pending-home-sales-fell-5-5-in-december
  • https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/existing-home-sales-ascended-2-2-in-december
  • https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/press-releases/modest-gains-2025-outlook-home-remodeling