New products and design ideas are brought to the market daily, adding stiff competition to the different construction niches. Today, architectural and built-design businesses require thinking outside the box when developing a product, service, or architectural content. Architectural design content has to be of high quality and adhere to industry standards.

Many engineering startups and products are often short-lived due to poor evaluation and preliminary market research by entrepreneurs. This often leads to investment losses and a poor relationship with investors who might be a lifeline to the success of other products.

How can a building product manufacturer avoid this pitfall? The answer lies in the evaluation of your product and design. Is it versatile enough? Does it address specific solutions? Is there a market for it? What about current competitors? How are they positioned in the market?

Such questions can jolt the weight of your ideas against the reality in the architectural industry. If you are unsure where to start when evaluating your product or design, this article is for you! Read on and learn more.

Understand the purpose of your design and product

We all understand that architectural design is spurred by creativity, which can sometimes be overwhelming and even unrealistic when overstretched. Yes, your prototype might be otherworldly, but can you sell it? Are there people who will take one look at your design and ask for blueprints?

These questions boil down to the purpose of your design. It might be creative, but do we have a use for it? How about market demand? Always have a user in mind for each product and research if there is a market demand for it.

Offer a solution to the needs of the AEC community

 Entrepreneurs solve problems! That is why people support them and love their products. Your design should focus on solving a specific problem in the AEC community. This way, your product will be readily marketable. 

How you communicate with your audience matters

Building product manufacturers develop products, not architects. Building product manufacturers develop creative designs and products but struggle to communicate with architects, specifiers, and engineers. Think of it as a sales pitch, you have a product that is alien to everyone in the room, and you have to convince them that the product will somehow make their lives easier.

Firstly, your presentation must be in the correct file design suitable for that specific audience. For instance, if you are presenting it to other architects, use a file format and the language that suits the profession. At CADdetails, our services come bridge the communication gap between manufacturers and architects. Our Construction Specifications services leverage your product knowledge to create formatted construction specifications that meet the designers' needs.  We also offer BIM development services for manufacturers. Our models are tested for use by AEC design professionals and will help your products get specified often. For better visualization, you can trust our SketchUp solution to render powerful yet simple 3D models that will help you stand out from the competition. 

On the other hand, when offering the product to investors from different industries, you should use a layman's language, and your files should be easy to understand. You may want to leverage other marketing avenues such as social media marketing to reach wider audiences.

How accessible are your designs?

Can your design files be downloaded for use when need be? Are there applications that can be used to open the files? These questions should be factored in before releasing your designs into the market. You can share your design on a globally accredited platform accessible to hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Additionally, the architectural industry is governed by stringent quality assurance and standards laws. It is wise to ensure that your product meets all the industry standards.

Apply other evaluation methods

Once you have considered all the factors mentioned above, you can go ahead and apply the following evaluation techniques:

  • The Pass-Fail technique – involves testing a product against several set standards. It can be accepted if it passes or rejected if it fails a specific criterion.

  • Evaluation matrix- Designs that pass the pass-fail technique are compared against set criteria, and outstanding ones are selected.

  • SWOT analysis- evaluating a design based on threats, strengths, and weaknesses projected in the markets.

Parting shot

Product and design evaluation can be the thin line separating a failed project from its immense success. Are you looking to learn more about your product or design content shown on the right AEC community platform? Talk to one of our experts about what CADdetails can do for you.

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