Instead of relying on the traditional combination of sales and marketing experience and architectural skill to design their product, Wilcon is applying the R&D techniques of manufacturing industry to identify customer needs, and examine how its product can better meet those needs.
The project has brought together three consultants unfamiliar to residential development: human factors design consultant Davis Associates, which has prepared and carried out interviews with home occupants; trend consultant Russell Studio, which had input into the interview process and analysed the responses; and product direction specialist Tangerine which has co-ordinated the project, reviewed the interviews and is now generating design concepts and product values. By autumn Wilcon expects the project to produce concept designs for homes for three consumer groups: lower income buyers of one and two-bed homes, moderate income buyers of three and four-bed homes, and higher income buyers of five-bed-plus homes.
"The house is a consumer product, but product designers have not really been involved in designing them," says James Craig, special projects designer with Wilcon Homes. Product specialist Tangerine has, however, been involved in creating many home items, including sanitaryware, televisions and vacuum cleaners.
"A lot of design in housebuilding is done by marketing people. They look at what their competitors are doing and bring designers in too late," says Martin Derbyshire, partner with Tangerine. "The result is that homebuyers are getting very similar products."
Yet housebuilders have an advantage over Tangerine's other industry clients, Derbyshire explains. "The difference housebuilders have is that they have a direct link to their end customers. They can influence the marketing - control how a house is described and sold. At the moment most housebuilders let people experience a house without any hand-holding. But that will change. Housebuilders will have to demonstrate layouts to their customers. It's a case of taking buyers from thinking 'I want a three-bed house' to thinking 'I want this house because it meets my present and future needs'."
That is the path to product differentiation Wilcon is following, and it started by researching buyer needs. Human factors research goes beyond asking people how satisfied they are with their home, and seeks out the emotional responses that reveal how people live, and that add to or detract from the emotional pricetag on their home. "People's delight with a home was often connected to an occasion taking place there - one family remembered a landing that had been big enough to sleep on and was associated with having friends to stay," says Craig.
"We want to get to a point where every room in a new home feels special." But the research also shows how people's home environment can have a negative influence. "Baths and showers emerge as a big issue," adds Richard Eagleton, brand manager with Wilcon. "Any housebuilder putting in a 760 mm square shower is doing customers a serious disservice."
Some findings, like the desire for living/kitchen areas, do not come as a surprise, and the first design concepts to come out of the project, for a three/four-bed family house, give greater flexibility but are not that radical (see factfile). "Only certain aspects will be strikingly different," says Derbyshire. "It won't be so dramatic it hits homebuyers in the face. If you are going to change the rules about the object you have to change the way the object's values are communicated. We are designing a home for the family and the way they want to live."
How buyer research translates to design concepts
Eat, live and cook, like Rachel, Phoebe and MonicaLike the characters in Friends, families do not use dining rooms and increasingly eat casually, but this space still needs to feel special and be functional. Flexi-snugs are the new lounges
Families no longer live in the lounge so much of the space could be better used elsewhere. A smaller lounge can be a quiet space to get away from the chaos of family life to watch TV. A movable wall allows the space to be opened up for parties. Is it a corridor or is it a cupboard?
A linking space between master bedroom and a smaller bedroom could serve as either a dressing room or a link between the two rooms, giving parents easy access to the nursery. Wardrobes make walls
A wall of wardrobes between two bedrooms could serve as storage space and a room divider. Push the wardrobes aside to turn two bedrooms into one. Bathroom bliss
The master ensuite is for relaxation, so there must be a space where bathers can rest a glass of wine.
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What gives a product meaning?
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