The Story of How This Project Started
In the Summer of 2022, my boyfriend and I were determined to find a house to move into together. We constantly debated on features we must have, features we wanted, and lastly what areas we were both comfortable living in the metro Detroit area. Finally, we found the right home. But then came the next big thing: what do we need to upkeep this house? What improvements, maintenance, repairs, and other things do we need to focus on now versus a year from now? After long debates and frustrations, I reached out to our friends who have been through the process and currently own homes. From there, I thought of finding a way to help with organizing checklists and balancing out budgets for certain projects both DIY and through contractors. I wanted to start finding a way to try to make buying and maintaining a home as seamless and organized as possible. This struck my curiosity to understand how other homeowners kept track of maintenance, appliances, budgets, and understanding the value of owning their house.
My Role
User Experience Researcher
User Experience/User Interface Designer
Branding & Marketing
Business Canvas Model
I first wanted to organize a business canvas model to understand:
Potential users & relationships with those users.
Potential stakeholders & key partners key resources & activities
Methodology
I knew I wasn’t alone in this journey. I’ve seen and heard the horror stories of purchasing a home and working on projects for home improvement and maintenance. This led me to do a little bit of research. In my research, I followed some of the design processes by conducting user research/user interviews, reading some articles regarding homeownership tips, DIY projects, and how to find background information and history on a house before or once it was purchased. I also completed a competitor analysis of apps and websites with similar features in this industry. I wanted to understand what was unique about these services, what was working best for them and where did these competitors need improvement.
User Interview and Personas
For conducting the user interviews, 10-13 questions were prepared to ask potential users about their buying process and how they felt working on specific projects for the home. I wanted to understand their challenges with home upkeep, what was working for them to stay organized, and any other advice they’d give future homeowners. I interviewed two homeowners with different backgrounds and needs for their homes.
To get another perspective on upkeeping property, I interviewed a property manager for an apartment complex to understand the differences between residential and business properties' key maintenance and repair concerns. After conducting all three interviews, some patterns I saw were:
o Having a budget of materials or costs for multiple contractors to be more prepared.
o Ability to learn more history about the property to predict or learn about things that may need updates throughout the life of the property.
Competitor Analysis
It was important during my research to compare two different platforms that have some features that potential users are looking to have to help resolve struggles and pain points. Companies that were analyzed were HomeAdvisor, powered by Angi and Porch.
Competitor Analysis: Porch.com & Homeadvisors.com
Site Map & Wireframe
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UI/UX Design
