We've spent the past 5 years conducting research with builders, installers, trades and homeowners - and every other role that impacts this complex eco-system. Using this insight to fuel design and test new ideas, we've learned a lot about how building products get chosen.
In building products, the person who pays is rarely the person who chooses. A homeowner picks a look. A builder picks what they trust. An installer picks what's easy to fit. A specifier writes it down. Somewhere in that chain, products get swapped.
Building materials companies know their products inside out. What they often don't see clearly is the chain of people and moments that decides whether their product ends up on site.
How might we help building products companies understand every person in the decision, so they can design brands, websites and services that win the choice and hold it?
We've spent years in showrooms, on sites and at trade counters, talking to the people who build Australia's homes and buildings. Our work covers plasterboard, bricks and pavers, roof tiles, insulation, lightweight concrete panels, wall and ceiling systems, glass and aluminium products, concrete and aggregates.
The Future of Detached Housing
83 interviews and 12 retail visits with current and emerging homeowner and builder segments, to shape a national manufacturer's future strategy.
The Builder Journey
38 builder interviews, 20 stakeholder interviews, 15 store visits and 8 retail staff interviews, to rethink a manufacturer's selection centres and colour consultations.
The Installer Journey
50+ installer interviews and 10+ retail visits for a lightweight concrete panel brand, to find the gaps in the installer journey and build loyalty.
Connecting brands and products
Over a hundred user tests and multiple large scale surveys conducted to understand how to connect parent companies (master brands), distributors, resellers and product brands in useful ways for the different segments on the build site.
Concrete and Aggregates Delivery
End-to-end research into cancellations, delivery delays and miscommunication, from first order to cash received.
Wall and Ceiling Systems
Research across sales, specification and technical teams into how customers experience a multi-brand building systems business.
Behavioural Research
Service Design
Journey Mapping
Brand & Website Design
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Across 230 interviews and more than 45 retail and store visits, a few truths keep coming back:
Homeowners, builders, installers and specifiers each hold a piece. Win one link and lose the next, and the product gets swapped.
If a product is hard to fit or hard to get help with, trades steer away from it, whatever the spec says.
Customers compare on price when they can't see the service behind the product. Make it visible.
Most teams already do great work. It lives in individuals, not in systems customers can rely on.
Parent brands with many sub-brands need clear paths between them, online and in person.
Insight turned into journey maps, horizon plans, playbooks and websites, not reports on a shelf.
Their team was insightful, accommodating, and agile, consistently adding value through creative solutions tailored to our evolving needs. What stood out most was their intelligent and collaborative approach.
Brand & CX Manager
National building materials manufacturer
This research has shaped strategy, selection centres, installer programs, service frameworks and websites across some of Australia's biggest building brands. Each project adds to what we know about how building decisions really get made.
See how we work with building products companies.
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