The Builder Market
There are a lot of home renovation platforms for professionals to advertise on for homeowners to find the right pro to work with. However, some of these platforms cost a lot to use, and it can be hard to find the right professional for your specific project easily. The Builder Market seeks to make the experience of connecting professionals and homeowners easier by including an extensive directory of professionals containing information directly relevant to the homeowner’s search, as well as a project management function so that both professionals and homeowners can manage projects in one place. First, we conducted a competitive audit to learn what competitors were doing well and what opportunity presented itself for our design. I then assisted in the design of the platform by merging the directory and project management features of two websites into a seamless user experience that integrated everything from task management to invoicing. The result was a home renovation service that took a professional’s needs into account, though more extensive followup with homeowners would be needed to confirm the usability of the design.
Duration: May 2022 - September 2023
Role: UX Designer
Directory
The directory was designed for both homeowners and professional access, enabling them to look up all the registered professional home service providers in their area. If the viewer wants to message the professional and ask for their services, they can also do so from the directory.
Project Management
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Homeowner
A homeowner will have access to messages and basic functions of managing projects. While more simply designed and not as extensive in tools as the professional platform, the homeowner has a straightforward design with all the necessities they need.
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Professional
Manage construction projects, send messages, write invoices, and more all within one platform. A professional should find it easy to navigate between tabs and manage the projects they’re involved with.
Networking
To add another layer to make the site unique and helpful, I designed layouts for connecting with other professionals to help them form a network of fellow contractors they could call on to collaborate with and recommend to others.
Mobile Design
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The Challenge
With all the features of the desktop site, designing an app from a top down approach brought the challenge of making complex features become simple and streamlined.
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Two Apps, Different Audiences
Because homeowners and professionals have different experiences with the website, we designed two apps. The homeowner app is more visually attractive with more images, directory, and project displayed prominently. The professional app is more streamlined to include what they need to work quickly and effectively, since they don’t need images/visual elements taking up too much real estate on a mobile screen.
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Designing Dashboards
We took two approaches into account
1) Homeowner - brighter colors, larger, colorful buttons as calls to action, images for visual interest
2) Professional - streamlined focus on important features: Leads and My Projects, less visuals so that pros can get right to work and not have to scroll
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Key Takeaways
This project was a challenge to combine features from different platforms to create a convenient, all-in-one solution. Learning what was most important to prioritize for the MVP was key in bringing the design to life. Asking questions and determining user needs helped drive the design and what was emphasized.