The biggest part of a renovation happens before anyone in the industry sees it

The most critical phase of a home renovation happens before any professional is involved. Long before an architect, designer or builder is appointed, homeowners typically spend months in a planning phase that's almost entirely invisible to the industry around them.

“By the time an architect is appointed, an interior designer is engaged, a builder is contacted or someone walks into a showroom, most homeowners have already been living with the project for months.”

• Researching online, filling their phone with screenshots from Instagram, building Pinterest boards and collecting magazine clippings
• Creating spreadsheets to work out a realistic budget
• Walking through rooms with a tape measure and masking tape to visualise potential changes
• Negotiating design preferences with a partner

Once initial ideas solidify, homeowners typically move on to generic furniture libraries to test layouts and work through foundational questions about functionality, long before they get as far as selecting specific products and brands.

And that's only measuring the planning that happens after a formal plan has already been created. The real planning phase - the screenshots, the spreadsheets, the tape measure - starts well before that.

“The biggest part of a renovation is the bit almost nobody working in the home improvement industry gets to see.”

Better industry visibility into that entire customer journey - not just the point at which someone books a consultation or places an order - could meaningfully improve the experience and the outcomes for everyone involved, homeowners and the trades and retailers who serve them alike.