Hayward Lumber

Hayward Lumber

Understanding and designing for the needs of architects during the construction process.

Hayward Lumber

Understanding and designing for the needs of architects during the construction process.

Role

Role

User Researcher

When I did it

When I did it

Fall 2022

What I did

What I did

User Research

Tools

Tools

User Interviews, Figma, Adobe Photoshop

Introduction

Working with Hayward Lumber, a family-owned Bay Area lumberyard and construction material supplier, the team and I researched how Hayward can help address the needs of architects in the construction process. There was no definitive problem; our role was to use needfinding to discover what needs architects have that Hayward Lumber can help with. From our research, we proposed two solutions for Hayward to implement.

Interviews

We had the privilege of meeting 12 architects from 5 different firms and the Stanford architectural department. These architects include those who helped design Apple Campus and the d.school, residential architects, commercial architects, plus the Director of the Stanford Architecture Program. From these interviews, we aimed to understand the architects’ POV of the construction and design process.

Most architecture projects follow the 7-step Architecture Design Process, which starts with creating the designs for a build and ends with the final constructed building. We examined an architects time distribution among the 7 steps and found that the most time consuming step is Construction Administration, which is when the project is physically being built.

An architect's time distribution during the architecture design process (n = 12)

An architect's time distribution during the architecture design process (n = 12)

An architect's time distribution during the architecture design process (n = 12)

Architects are most involved in Steps 1 through 6. However, Step 7, Construction Administration, takes the longest to complete.

The people who are most involved in the Construction Administration step are the construction contractor and subcontractors (e.g. glass installers, roofers, floor installers). Architects typically don't directly interact with the subcontractors–the one's who actually build the project.

The flow of information from client to sub-contractors

The flow of information from client to sub-contractors

The flow of information from client to sub-contractors

We examined our interviews between the lines to dig deeper into what the architects are actually saying. One interviewee, Matt, an ex-architect, spent most of his time telling us about his perception of contractor. He said:

“For the past 10 years, I’ve been trying to forget that I was ever an architect… the relationship with the contractor is always tense.” – Matt, ex-architect

Findings

Finding 1

When asked about the people they work with, architects’ first response is to express their frustration about contractors, and describe their relationships with them as “contentious,” “unpleasant,” and “tension-filled.”

When asked about the people they work with, architects’ first response is to express their frustration about contractors, and describe their relationships with them as “contentious,” “unpleasant,” and “tension-filled.”

90%

90%

of architects expressed their frustration of working with contractors.

90% of architects expressed their frustration of working with contractors.

of architects expressed their frustration of working with contractors.

Finding 2

Architects describe their job as “designing a vision,” “creative work,” innovation, and “making something beautiful for people to inhabit a space,” but based on the breakdown of their schedule, the majority of their work hours on a project are spent ensuring the contractors’ design substitutions align with their initial drawings.

Only 20% of their time is spent actually designing the concept, but up to 50% of their time can be spent on contractor administration and construction when the project is handed off to the contractors.

Architects describe their job as “designing a vision,” “creative work,” innovation, and “making something beautiful for people to inhabit a space,” but based on the breakdown of their schedule, the majority of their work hours on a project are spent ensuring the contractors’ design substitutions align with their initial drawings.

Only 20% of their time is spent actually designing the concept, but up to 50% of their time can be spent on contractor administration and construction when the project is handed off to the contractors.

An architect's time distribution in terms of tasks they love and construction tasks

An architect's time distribution in terms of tasks they love and construction tasks

An architect's time distribution in terms of tasks they love and construction tasks

“It’s like babies, we give birth to this thing. [Handing off the project] is like throwing our baby to the wolves.”

— Hiromi Ogawa, founder and Principal at Ogawa Fisher Architects

“I can’t have a rational relationship with someone that decides that my mistakes are a basis for their profit.”

— John Barton, Director of the Stanford Architecture Program

Insights

The tension between architects and contractors can be attributed to two reasons:

  1. Architects don’t fully trust contractors to effectively execute the project.

  2. Architects blame contractors for their least favorite part of the job.

The relationship between architects and contractors can be compared to that of parents and babysitters to demonstrate the lack of trust.

To architects, a.k.a the parents, the project is their child and they receive  help from their “family members.” These family members are the structural engineers, interior designers, and other consultants who work with the architects during the initial design phases.

However, architects view contractors like babysitters because there isn’t complete trust between the two. Contractors are “outside of the family.” Because the contractors are “not in the family,” there is a lack of trust even though the contractors have a lot of influence on the child. Architects must bring contractors into the family, creating trust between the two and allowing both contractors and architects to raise “the child” together.

Needs

From there, we identified the architect’s top four needs:

  1. Need to spend time doing what they love

  2. Need to feel confident about + ownership over their designs

  3. Need to choose products that sub-contractors already use

  4. Need to compare sub-contractors’ substitutions to specifications efficiently

These needs are all in service of reducing the tension between architects and contractors. If Hayward can be the source of alleviating this tension, both architects and sub-contractors will turn to Hayward’s products.

Design Principles

We identified 3 design principles that are necessary to design an effective solution for architects. These principles are not the solution, but what the solution should satisfy.

  1. Create substitution recommendations to help architects replace an unavailable material that subcontractors want to catalyze and streamline the material-choosing process.

  2. Map similar materials to one another to help architects choose something that fits their overarching design to help maintain the architect’s feeling of ownership over their design.

  3. Catalog the most popular Hayward materials and products used by subcontractors to help prevent frustrating design substitutions later in the process.

These design principles will help reduce the tension between Architects and contractors, which will, in turn, lead to a more efficient construction administration process.

Solution

Hayward Catalog

Our solution is the Hayward Catalog, a print or digital catalog that Hayward would provide to architects to highlight their best-selling products purchased by contractors. In the digital version, each Hayward product will also have a CAD file of the models or surface finishes to help architects visualize and validate those products in their Building Information Modeling process. This solution targets the core need that architects need to choose products that subcontractors already use. 

Our solution is the Hayward Catalog, a print or digital catalog that Hayward would provide to architects to highlight their best-selling products purchased by contractors. In the digital version, each Hayward product will also have a CAD file of the models or surface finishes to help architects visualize and validate those products in their Building Information Modeling process. This solution targets the core need that architects need to choose products that subcontractors already use. 

Our solution is the Hayward Catalog, a print or digital catalog that Hayward would provide to architects to highlight their best-selling products purchased by contractors. In the digital version, each Hayward product will also have a CAD file of the models or surface finishes to help architects visualize and validate those products in their Building Information Modeling process. This solution targets the core need that architects need to choose products that subcontractors already use. 

The catalog will help architects know what products and materials subcontractors buy, which reduces the likelihood of having to go through the substitution process. This preventative solution will be implemented in the beginning of the design process when architects are making design specifications.

Result

Hayward Lumber implemented our solution and launched their online Design Center for Architects, which includes a product selection and buying guide that is similar to our digital Hayward Catalog.