Sectors: independent housebuilders
A house is sold long before it exists.
A type-house builder sells from a catalogue and signs a contract. Then it builds over most of a year. In Specify, a customer configures the house. They see it from outside and room by room. They bring that exact configuration to the first meeting.
What makes it hard to sell, and how Specify is built for it
A type house is signed on AB-Forbruger in Denmark or ABS 18 in Sweden. It is paid in stages and built over eight to twelve months. Most of the choosing happens before any of that. That is where these problems start.
In the trade
The house is chosen before the first meeting
Catalogues, starting prices and options are published. A customer arrives at the first meeting with a model and some options chosen. They have not seen that combination anywhere.
In Specify
The house in 3D, as it is configured
A customer chooses the size, the garage, the roof and the facade. The house changes with them. It is shown from outside, and room by room inside. It is also shown as a floor plan of the chosen layout. They come to the first meeting having seen the house they want.
In the trade
Showing a house in 3D needs a model of it
A builder's houses are drawn for the permit and the build. Drawings show a customer the plan, not the house they will live in.
In Specify
3D without authoring 3D
Specify has each house type modelled from the builder's own drawings. A contracted 3D modeller works to a published standard. Every delivered model is checked against the standard, rule by rule. Only then does a customer see it. The work is scoped per house type in the first conversation.
In the trade
Changes after signing are extra work
Once the contract is signed, every option added or changed is priced on its own. Each one is also scheduled on its own. That is why buyers are told to settle everything first.
In Specify
Only combinations that can be built
The builder's options are recorded once, with the rules between them. For example, a garage that only comes with the larger sizes. A combination outside them is refused, with a reason the customer understands. So the options are settled before signing, not after.
In the trade
Customers ask for what the catalogue does not offer
One customer after another asks for a wider window, another roof or a different layout. Each time, the answer is worked out again.
In Specify
Requests beyond the catalogue are kept
The request is kept together with the house the customer configured. The builder answers it once. The answer is kept for the next customer who asks.
Build type houses?
Give us your website's address. We build a preview of your store from the houses in your public catalogue. Nothing is charged. We also take 3 founding partners in each sector. We build with them on their real demand.
Sources
Public sources for the rules and practice above.