THE HABITUAL SPECIFIER 01
Research on the behaviour and preferences of New Zealand architectural and construction professionals in relation to product selection
SPECIFIER INSIGHTS2014
THE HABITUAL SPECIFIER
LAUNCHING NEW PRODUCTS
PLANNING FOR GROWTH
IN THIS REPORT:
THE HABITUAL SPECIFIER
24
28
32
36
GROWING MARKET SHARELoyalty and avoiding substitution
LAUNCHING NEW PRODUCTSBuilding confidence
ALIGNING YOUR PRODUCT INFORMATION WITH TECHNOLOGYMobile useSpecification templates and CAD formats
WHAT DOES THE INDUSTRY LOOK LIKE TODAY — AND TOMORROW?Forward workStaffing
CONTENTS 03
CONTENTS
04
06
12
16
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
THE HABITUAL SPECIFIERFamiliarity by categoryWhat this means for suppliers
WHY SHOULD YOU BE NOTIFIED WHEN SPECIFIED?Reasons to informReasons not to inform
HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT DEMONSTRATE COMPLIANCE?Council requirementsPost-construction information
THE HABITUAL SPECIFIER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The survey data from this report was collected in
October 2013 from 3,116 online respondents — a
sizeable sample of New Zealand architectural
and construction professionals. For interpretative
purposes, the analysis in this report often
separates respondents into two specifier types:
(1) “design professionals”, specifically those
that identified their profession as architect,
architectural designer or interior designer and
(2) “construction professionals”, including those
that identified as project managers, builders and
contractors. When the term “specifier” is used, it
refers to both respondent groups.
OVERALL FINDINGS
At the time of publication, the New Zealand
building industry is heading into a period of
significant growth. This report focuses on habitual
product specification by design and construction
professionals and how product suppliers can
influence it.
Habitual specification is the tendency specifiers
have to use familiar products. It is driven by
several factors, namely the desire of design
professionals to reduce risk (by working with tried
and tested products) and to achieve efficiency
in specification (working with what they know,
not having to spend inordinate amounts of time
finding and detailing new products). In addition,
increasingly tight timeframes and compliance
documentation requirements only serve to
encourage using the familiar.
Our 2013 survey showed that over 70% of
all products specified are familiar to design
professionals and that number is higher if the
product is of a structure or enclosure classification,
as these are the categories that present the most
risk in a situation of product failure. For established
suppliers with sizeable market share, this can
be taken as an encouraging sign, but for those
new to the market, breaking specification habits
requires a content, marketing and service strategy.
The goal should be to develop strong levels of
specifier comfort with your product and provide
comprehensive technical documentation to help
reduce the risk of trying something new.
Each year EBOSS conducts a survey of New Zealand architectural and construction
professionals, gaining insight into the trends of product selection and specification.
This report is an analysis of 2013 survey data and provides product suppliers with
recommendations to shape product marketing strategies and content management. It
complements, rather than supersedes, the 2013 Specifier Insights report.
SIMON CATORSpecifier Marketing
[email protected]+64 9 551 6903+64 21 502 264
ABOUT EBOSS
EBOSS is an online library of architectural products from over 200 of New Zealand’s leading product suppliers, used by an active audience of over 35,000 architectural, design and construction professionals
www.eboss.co.nz
MATTHEW DUDERGeneral Manager
[email protected]+64 9 551 6902+64 21 675 960
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 05
Holding onto market share may seem an easy task for leading suppliers, given the conservative nature of design professionals. However, companies with traditionally strong numbers of specification must not rest on their laurels. Compliance requirements have become increasingly exhaustive for design professionals. Leading suppliers make the design and documentation process easy for specifiers by providing thorough technical literature, easily discoverable details and product use cases. Those suppliers that design professionals stick with are consistently improving their documentation and website usability for specifiers. Exemplary suppliers also provide exceptional technical support, where questions are addressed by someone who understands not only the product, but the environment that design professionals are working within.
When it comes to launching new products, aside from supporting documentation, being considered by design professionals requires providing practical and interactive demonstrations of your product (such as practice presentations and trade show displays). Meanwhile samples allow specifiers to engage and explore at their own pace. The focus of these demonstrations is to establish comfort with your product so that when the time comes to specify (a) the product comes to mind and (b) design professionals are confident enough to research and explore it further. Note that product demonstrations and confidence building must be supported by a high level of quality assurance documentation. Design professionals need to see New Zealand case studies, New Zealand testing data and evidence that the product works in New Zealand conditions.
A common query suppliers have is the success rate of specification — it is one thing to have a product specified by design professionals, but another to ensure that specification becomes actualised. Specified products that avoid substitution at the construction phase are those that are seen as (a) a “system” (ideally one that is not replicated easily) or (b) having a unique point of difference from potential substitutes.
MATTHEW DUDER
General Manager
EBOSS
Not all specifiers see the value in notifying suppliers of specification. However, being notified of a specification provides an opportunity to offer the design and construction team the necessary support to avoid substitution. Suppliers that are notified tend to communicate effectively with architects and designers, ensuring availability of supply, risk mitigation, accurate pricing and that the products used will allow design professionals to achieve their vision.
It is clear from this survey that design and construction professionals alike are cognisant of how much extra resource is needed to service a growing market. Even in late 2013, a quarter of design and construction businesses felt they did not have enough staff to meet current demand. Two in five do not believe they have enough to meet near future demands. Qualitative research suggests that businesses will be limited by staffing shortages.
This means that design and construction businesses will need to do more with less. Design professionals will not have time to trawl through incoherent information to deduce a product’s suitability, so this is an opportunity for suppliers to make design and documentation easy — without superfluous information that design professionals disparagingly refer to as “fluff”. Product literature will need to be thorough but concise, easily accessed and navigated. Design professionals are implying that they will simply use products where the specification process is easiest.
