Product Development Research for Home Improvement
A new outdoor paving tile, a cordless tool platform, a paint applicator, a shower concept, redesigned packaging for a filler. Home improvement products have to win twice: once with the DIY consumer choosing in the store aisle or the online listing, and once with the professional painter, fitter, or handyman who installs, recommends, and buys in volume. A concept that delights one audience and annoys the other will stall at launch. We run needs assessments, concept testing, hands-on prototype testing, and packaging validation with both sides of that market in one study design. DIY consumers and homeowners reached online, trade professionals reached by phone, and face-to-face sessions where the product needs to be held, applied, or laid. Van Westendorp, Gabor-Granger, MaxDiff, and conjoint are embedded where feature priorities or pricing are part of the question. In short: we tell you whether your product wins with the consumer who buys it and the professional who installs it - before production commits.
30+
years of home improvement product research across 7 subsectors, from paint to power tools
Dual-audience designs: DIY consumers online and trade professionals by phone, in one harmonised study
Face-to-face hands-on product testing capability, including a four-country paving concept test with 45 in-person sessions
Coverage across needs assessment, concept, prototype, packaging, and post-launch stages
What We Measure
Concept Resonance & Unmet Needs
Whether the concept solves a problem the weekend DIYer recognises, and whether it survives the judgement of a painter doing five rooms a week. Category entry triggers: what makes a consumer pick up the project at all. Unmet needs in DIY and DIFM segments, which rarely overlap as much as R&D assumes.
Feature Prioritisation
Which features are essential, which are nice-to-have, which are noise, measured separately for consumers and trade. MaxDiff and conjoint expose the trade-offs that direct ratings hide (smart thermostat feature preferences among homeowners and tenants in DE, FR, and TR). Brand vs feature vs price trade-offs in choice-based conjoint, including the private label question.
Prototype Usability & Hands-On Reaction
Handling, weight, application result, first-time-user success rate vs trade speed. Whether the consumer gets a good result without reading the instructions, because they will not read the instructions. Face-to-face sessions where respondents lay the tile, apply the paint, or run the tool.
Packaging & Shelf Impact
Design, usability, findability on shelf and in the online listing. On-pack claims that drive purchase vs claims that confuse. Country-specific adaptation needs, tested rather than assumed.
Willingness to Pay & Premium Potential
Price corridor via Van Westendorp, demand at price points via Gabor-Granger, feature-price trade-offs via conjoint. The gap the brand can hold over private label. Whether the sustainability story carries a price premium or just a preference.
Adoption Barriers & Channel Acceptance
Retailer ranging logic: the concept only exists for consumers if the buyer lists it. Wholesaler stocking and trade recommendation for DIFM categories. Online channel performance, where the listing does the selling.
Country Differences in Product Fit
DIY intensity differs sharply by country, and with it who actually uses the product. Channel structures differ: garden centres vs DIY superstores vs online weight varies by market. Colour, finish, and format preferences differ. We measure where and why, not just whether.
Subsectors Covered
Subsector
Paint
Formulation, applicator, and category extension testing with DIY consumers and professional decorators, two audiences with opposite definitions of a good result.
Subsector
Hand & Power Tools
Dual-audience concept and prototype work where ergonomics, runtime, and platform loyalty decide, and where pros and DIYers weight them differently.
Subsector
Bathroom Products
High consumer involvement, professional installation decision. Concept testing must cover the homeowner-installer decision triangle or it misses the veto.
Subsector
Kitchen Products
High-consideration purchases shaped by retail, installer, and interior designer influence in sequence.
Subsector
Flooring Products
LVT growth, click systems, and selection criteria where the laying experience matters as much as the look.
Subsector
Outdoor & Gardening
Seasonal, weather-driven, and physical. Hands-on testing of paving and garden products, with garden centre vs DIY superstore channel splits.
Subsector
Decorative Sundries
Brushes, rollers, fillers, tape. Low-involvement purchases where packaging and shelf impact decide more than the product spec.
Note: This is a portion of the subsectors and product categories we cover within home improvement research.
How Home Improvement Product Development Works - Example Project
Scenario: A power tool manufacturer is developing a new cordless platform aimed at both professionals and serious DIY consumers. Before the range is fixed, they need to know which features drive choice in each audience, what the platform can charge, and whether the concept direction holds across Europe. Design: A seven-country quantitative study (DK, FR, DE, IT, PL, ES, SE). 200 CAWI interviews per country with screened DIY consumers and 100 CATI interviews per country with verified trade professionals. MaxDiff on the feature long-list, choice-based conjoint on brand, price, runtime, and ecosystem compatibility. Identical core measures across both audiences so the reads compare directly. Output: A prioritised feature set per audience and country, a segment-led concept direction, the price corridor the platform can hold, and the countries where the concept needs adaptation before launch. Note: This is an example of a typical project design, not a fixed process. Validating paving tile concepts with 45 hands-on face-to-face sessions across four countries, or testing packaging online in two markets, looks very different.
Target Audiences
Note: This is a portion of the audiences we cover. Audience mix is tailored to each project.
DIY Consumers & Homeowners [CAWI / face-to-face]
The core buying audience, screened for relevant category activity in the past 12-24 months. Online for breadth, face-to-face for hands-on testing.
Professional Painters & Decorators [CATI]
Buy in volume, judge fast, and switch slowly. Decisive for paint and sundries development.
Handymen & General Contractors [CATI]
Install flooring, fit bathrooms, and run full room refurbishments. The DIFM execution layer.
Kitchen & Bathroom Fitters [CATI]
Specialist trades with high brand awareness and strong wholesaler relationships. Often hold the practical veto on the homeowner’s choice.
Interior Designers [IDI / video]
Specification influence rather than direct purchase. Shape what the consumer asks for.
DIY & Specialist Retailers [IDI / CATI]
Ranging decisions determine which products consumers ever encounter. Channel acceptance testing.
Our Advantage
Home improvement is two markets wearing one name. A generalist agency will test your concept with consumers and call it done. We test it with the consumer who buys it and the painter, fitter, or handyman who installs and recommends it, with comparable measures in one study, because the trade audience cannot be reached through panels and we reach them by phone from frames built over thirty years.
We do hands-on fieldwork. Forty-five face-to-face sessions where consumers handle paving tiles across France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK answered a production investment question that no online concept board could. When the product is physical, the test should be too.
We give you the answer to commit. The winning concept, the feature set per audience, the price corridor, the packaging adaptations per country, and the channel acceptance read. Not a deck that restates your brief.
Project Examples
A power tool manufacturer commissioned a seven-country study on purchasing criteria among professionals and DIY consumers, feeding new product development on a power tool range. Output: prioritised feature set and segment-led concept direction.
DK, FR, DE, IT, PL, ES, SE
A garden paving manufacturer validated new tile concepts with 45 face-to-face interviews including hands-on testing before production investment. Output covered winning concepts, unmet needs, pricing, and marketing messages.
FR, DE, NL, UK
A global consumer goods manufacturer validated new packaging in a dual-country online study testing design, usability, and purchase drivers. Output confirmed the redesign and named country-specific adaptations.
Two countries, 600+ interviews
A heating controls manufacturer measured smart thermostat feature preferences and decision-making among homeowners and tenants in three countries, directing the feature set of a consumer-facing product.
DE, FR, TR
Deliverables
- Concept score report split by DIY consumer and trade audience, with named drivers of acceptance
- Feature priority list per audience with MaxDiff utilities or conjoint preferences
- Hands-on usability report with task success rates, time, errors, and named friction
- Packaging assessment with country-specific adaptation recommendations
- Willingness-to-pay corridor with Van Westendorp and Gabor-Granger reference points, including the private label gap
- Channel acceptance read covering retailer ranging and wholesaler stocking signals
- Go or no-go recommendation with conditions for go
- Workshop session with R&D and marketing to translate findings into the launch plan
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Can you test the same concept with DIY consumers and trade professionals in one study?
Yes, and for most home improvement categories you should. We run CAWI with screened consumers and CATI with verified trade in parallel, with identical core measures, so you see where the two audiences agree and where the concept needs to choose.
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How do you keep online consumer samples honest?
Category screening for relevant activity in the past 12-24 months, minimum completion time thresholds, attention and consistency checks, verification of purchase or usage behaviour, and filtering to exclude low-quality or AI-assisted respondents.
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Can you run hands-on product testing with consumers and professionals?
Yes. Face-to-face sessions where respondents lay the tile, run the tool, or apply the product are standard for prototype-stage work. We have run hands-on testing across four countries in a single project.
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At what development stage should we engage you?
Earlier than most clients think. Needs and concept work before production commits saves the most. Prototype and packaging testing before launch catches the issues that pilot sales will mask. Post-launch evaluation confirms the concept landed.
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Can you test packaging and on-pack claims across multiple countries?
Yes. A typical design tests design, usability, and purchase drivers online in two or more markets and delivers country-specific adaptation recommendations alongside the overall verdict.
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How do you measure willingness to pay at concept stage?
Van Westendorp for a price corridor, Gabor-Granger for demand at price points, and conjoint where the brief needs to value features against price or size the gap over private label. Often we use two of the three to triangulate.
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How long does a typical multi-country home improvement concept test take?
Six to ten weeks for an online-plus-phone quantitative test in three to five countries. Ten to fourteen weeks when hands-on or qualitative phases are included.
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