Those barriers differ by both project and homeowner. Cost is a major obstacle for larger landscape projects, while irrigation maintenance and scheduling can involve substantial complexity. Grass removal can require high cost and physical effort, while homeowners have low motivation, and time matters more for some homeowners than others.

The relative importance of these barriers also changes across audience segments. Age, HOA status, and geography can help identify where particular barriers are more likely to matter.

• For landscape redesign, for example, 42% of boomers ranked cost as their most important barrier, compared with 22% of Gen Z.
• For active irrigation scheduling, 28% of boomers ranked complexity first, compared with 18% of Gen Z, while Gen Z was nearly twice as likely to rank time first.
• HOA status reveals another distinction: non-HOA homeowners ranked cost first more often across all six activities, including 39% for irrigation upgrades compared with 27% of HOA homeowners.
• Geographic differences appear as well. In the regional sample, 39% of Western homeowners ranked cost first for landscape redesign, compared with 28% in the Northeast.

These differences matter because different barriers require different interventions. When cost is the obstacle, rebates, financing, phased projects, or other forms of cost reduction may be necessary. When complexity or effort prevents action, expertise and assistance can make the behavior easier to complete.

Irrigation activities illustrate the distinction. Maintenance and scheduling can require homeowners to identify inefficiencies, understand their equipment, and decide what adjustments to make. A certified irrigation specialist can reduce this friction by inspecting the system, identifying problems, explaining options, and helping complete the work. In the survey, 67% said specialist access would make them more likely to act on maintenance, 67% said the same for scheduling, and 69% for irrigation upgrades.

Larger landscape projects present a different challenge. Cost is a leading barrier for partial landscape changes and landscape redesign, while grass removal also carries a substantial physical-effort burden. Professional support may simplify these projects, but it does not remove the financial barrier.

Improving homeowner water efficiency therefore requires identifying what makes a specific behavior difficult and matching the intervention to that barrier.

The 2026 Homeowner Landscape Water-Efficient Behavior Survey was designed to make those distinctions visible using an established behavioral framework. The research was guided by the Fogg Behavior Model, developed by BJ Fogg at Stanford University’s Behavior Design Lab. The model proposes that behavior occurs when motivation, ability, and a prompt come together. Its Ability framework directs attention to the sources of friction that make a behavior difficult to perform.

Using this framework, the survey examined five barriers relevant to outdoor water-saving behavior: cost, time, physical effort, cognitive complexity, and habit or routine. Rather than treating barriers as a single problem, homeowners ranked them separately for each activity.

The study surveyed 1,286 U.S. homeowners with irrigation systems across six activities: routine irrigation maintenance, irrigation system upgrades, active irrigation scheduling, partial or phased landscape changes, grass removal or replacement, and water-efficient landscape redesign. For each, respondents reported their current behavior, willingness to act, barriers, and whether access to a certified irrigation specialist would increase their likelihood of action.

The findings point to a practical framework for water conservation managers, irrigation and landscape professionals, and policymakers: identify who is ready to act, what is stopping them, and which intervention is best matched to the barrier. Technical support may be especially useful where complexity or effort limits irrigation activities, while larger landscape improvements may require greater emphasis on affordability.