Compare Home Improvement Stores in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. Mitre 10, Bunnings Warehouse and Hammer Hardware were compared on Overall Satisfaction, Online Store, Range of Brands, Range of Products, Service & Advice and Value for Money.
See our Ratings Methodology.
The nation’s DIYers have spoken, rating Mitre 10 the No.1 home improvement store for customer satisfaction.
Our review compares home improvement stores on customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our compared home improvement stores before you head off to purchase your home improvement and DIY supplies. Think of it like asking hundreds of your closest friends and family members which home improvement store they think provides the best service, products and value for money!
Canstar Blue surveyed 1769 Kiwis who had made a purchase from a home improvement store over the past 12 months, and asked them for their feedback on their choice of store.
Respondents rate their satisfaction with their home improvement stores from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:
The winning home improvement store is the one that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
Congratulations to Mitre 10 for winning Canstar Blue’s top accolade: Most Satisfied Customers | Home Improvement Stores. This year is the fifth time that Mitre 10 has won our award since its inauguration in 2018, and is an achievement based on a near perfect set of customer ratings.
Mitre 10 earns top 5-Star ratings in five out of six of our award categories. And for Value for Money it earns a great 4-Star rating.
Mitre 10, NZ’s largest home-improvement and garden retailer, has been a part of New Zealand’s home improvement culture since 1974. A Kiwi co-operative, it operates 84 stores nationwide.
In addition to its huge range of DIY and home improvement products, Mitre 10 offers a range of in-store and in-home services across its stores. These include:
On its website, Mitre 10 has an extensive library of how-to videos that offer expert advice on DIY jobs, from easy painting and decorating tasks, to full-scale garden remodelling projects.
Its customer club offers exclusive deals and access to monthly prize draws, and Mitre 10’s price guarantee promises that if you can find a lower price on an identical in-stock product, the store will beat it by 15%.
Notably, Bunnings is the only home improvement store in our rankings to earn 5 Stars for Value for Money, a rating it also achieves for Range of Brands and Range of Products. Bunnings earns a great 4-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, and its lowest rating for Service & Advice.
Bunnings is one of the biggest retailers of home improvement products in Australasia. In New Zealand, it operates over 40 stores.
In addition to a huge range of materials and products, for both everyday consumers and trade, Bunnings offers an extensive collection of in-store and at-home services, from kitchen design to the assembly and installation of purchases.
Bunnings also offers a price promise to beat any competitor’s lower price by 15%. It also has a handy app, that allows you to plan what you need to purchase for your next DIY job and check in-store stock availability.
On its website, Bunning has many DIY help videos, plus it hosts its own online community, which offers feedback, tips and overviews for DIY projects around the home.
Hammer Hardware rounds out our awards table, earning a 3-Star Overall Satisfaction rating. By no means a measure of dissatisfaction, a 3-Star rating indicates Hammer Hardware’s customers are happy with their choice of home improvement store. For its range of products and brands, and levels of service, Hammer Hardware earns 4-Star ratings. It’s worth noting that Hammer Hardware doesn’t offer an online store.
Hammer Hardware has been in business for over 30 years. Run as a co-operative, it has over 40 stores nationwide. Each is locally owned and operated and focuses on offering great advice and service.
Hammer Hardware retails a full range of home hardware, tools and DIY equipment, as well as some building supply products, such as cement and plywood.
Not all brands in the market qualify for our ratings (based on minimum survey sample size), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering. Here are more brands to check out before making a purchase decision.
PlaceMakers is the retail side of Fletcher Building Limited. It’s the country’s leading and largest supplier of building materials and hardware and operates over 60 stores nationally.
PlaceMakers sells a wide range of building materials, such as cladding, roofing and scaffolding, making it a popular choice with tradies. However, it also offers a full range of products for home DIYers.
ITM stands for Independent Timber Merchants, and is a co-operative of independent retailers of building supplies and hardware.
While, primarily, it supplies products to tradies and the building industry, it also caters to home DIYers, selling a full range of power tools, paints and hardware, as well as Uno flatpack kitchens and wardrobes.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen inflation ease, falling from just over 7% to 2.2%. Reflecting these figures, Value for Money is no longer the No.1 concern for those rating their choice of home improvement store.
In this year’s award survey, a store’s online store/catalogue is the most important factor for DIY consumers. However, most customers (93%) prefer to make their purchases in-store. This indicates while Kiwis like to shop around online for the best bargains, they still want to purchase their tools in person, and not miss out on the accompanying weekend sausage sizzle!
Here’s how those in our survey rate the main things they consider when assessing their home improvement stores:
About the author of this pageThis report was written by Canstar’s Editor, Bruce Pitchers. Bruce has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in the UK and Australasia, including ACP, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. Prior to Canstar, he worked as a freelancer, including for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority, and for real estate companies on both sides of the Tasman.
Prefer to browse in store, rather than online: 64%
Prefer to DIY rather than hire a tradie: 47%
Watch online how-to videos for guidance on DIY projects: 45%
Always leave the store with more than intended to buy: 35%
If there is a sausage sizzle outside the store, will usually buy one: 33%
Always finish one DIY project before tackling another: 26%
To save money: 82%
Because I enjoy it: 72%
In-store: 93%
Online/Click and Collect: 7%
Canstar Blue surveyed 2575 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from respondents who had made a purchase at a home improvement store in the past 12 months. In this case, 1769 New Zealanders. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criterion.
The past winners from Canstar Blue’s Home Improvement Stores ratings:
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