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RENOVA
A Time-Profit improvement tool for house renovation
How to enhance house flipping experience?
As an interior designer, I have developed a significant interest in the profits generated by property renovation.
The key to this industry is managing time effectively.
During my work, I have noticed that many of my clients waste substantial amounts of money due to time-related issues.
This has inspired me to come up with the idea of creating an app to assist them.
Location: Toronto
Type: Application Design & User Experience Design
Individual Work
What is house flipping and why does it matter?
House flipping refers to the practice of purchasing a property, typically in need of repairs or renovation, with the intention of selling it quickly for a profit. The process involves acquiring a distressed or undervalued property, making necessary improvements or upgrades, and then reselling it at a higher price.
Flipping Process:
1. Seek for undervalued property
2. Finding Designer & Contractor
5. Resell
3. Buying Material
4. Renovate
Profit & Prevalency:
Research
To get a touch of the pain points in house flipping, I did a short survey and interview on each house flip project.
Survey
Interview
“ Last tenant notified us that the shower base was leaking. Insurance wouldn't cover it and we were quoted just over 15k for the repair, and the job took 4 weeks longer than it should”
“It’s hard to keep track of the progress of everybody. For example, often the contractor won't take the initiative to contact me after their work is done, thus making the whole project last longer. “
I did a survey focusing on the cost and length of each house flip project, as well as some pain points that most contractors may suffer from.
Interview
“ Last tenant notified us that the shower base was leaking. Insurance wouldn't cover it and we were quoted just over 15k for the repair, and the job took 4 weeks longer than it should”
“It’s hard to keep track of the progress of everybody. For example, often the contractor won't take the initiative to contact me after their work is done, thus making the whole project last longer. “
“In the time it took for our contractor to complete renovation of our 1500 sq.ft. apartment, I went to work every day and watched as 12 floors of a 76 storey building were constructed from start to finish.“
Findings
Journey Map
Analysis of Current Tools
Research Conclusion:
1. The most common problem on house flipping is out of controlled time span.
2. Costly repairs are caused by poor workmanship or subpar materials.
3. Overestimating the sale price or underestimating the time it will take to sell can lead to financial losses.
4. Unexpected repairs were the most common issue encountered, followed by budget overruns, delays, and poor-quality work.
Design Goals:
In order to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost, I decided to create an app that focusing on helping people to control the total time span of house flipping.
The main functions of the application should be focused on the following:
Userbility Test
Changes
1. Visibility of Product Details
It would create a really bad user experience for people to scroll all the way down and most likely ignore the rest of the content half way. So I fold and hide the photo in a scrolling showcase on the cover spot.
Final Design
Based on the userbility test, I further improved my application and the following are the final results:
