Negosentro.com | Market research is ever more important within the construction industry | The construction industry continues to grow at a good pace in the context of the global economy and the overall look for this sector is positive. It’s expected that the volume of construction output will grow by 85% by 2030. The nations that are leading the way are China, the United States, and India. Let’s not forget about the United Kingdom, where the output is mostly done for housing, most of the residential properties being intended for private ownership. The point is that the construction industry is set to grow really fast, ensuring a new engine for global growth in the new era.
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Owning and operating a construction company in the competitive market is no easy thing. You have to bid on new jobs and complete the project even if this translates into losing money. The profit margin is situated somewhere near 10%. Maybe so, but nothing can compare to the feeling you have when you go past a building and know that you’re the one who brought it to life. You develop a physical legacy that lasts a lifetime and can transform the lives of future generations. At present, you can’t offer services in the realm of renovation, remodelling, or restoration without having first conducted market research. Accurate and thorough information is the basis of all successful business ventures.
What is understood by market research?
Market research is a process by which information is collected, analysed, and interpreted. The data is used to establish the viability of a new service or product. Viability means that the product or service will get and it will perform well enough to be recommended to others. In the construction industry, market analysis needs to be carried out from the very get-go. It enables strategic business planning with insight into market performance. Generally speaking, market research comprises two types of data:
- Primary information – it’s made up of original documents and raw data. This is the research you can compile yourself.
- Secondary information – this is the information that has been interpreted by someone other than the originator. Examples include reports and studies undertaken by a firm.
To finalise a construction project, it’s necessary to take into account a great many factors, such as budgeting, logistics, building materials, the safety of the construction site, public inconvenience, scheduling, and environmental impact. Equally important is to discover more information about the specific market sectors. A comprehensive market research brief helps identify opportunities to increase market share in an existing market or, more importantly, determine the sale potential in a new market sector.
Why market research is (much more) important than ever within the construction industry?
It goes without saying that market research matters for your business. Developing strategies in the construction industry can be a challenging undertaking. This is because the sector has changed beyond recognition in the past years when it comes to competition rules, financial resource diversity, key products, and, last but not least, new emerging markets. Many companies come to the point that they become stuck or are simply unable to move forward with accomplishing their business goals. In what follows. We’ll explain why your organisation should conduct market research.
Help in the budget and planning process
Setting a construction budget helps determine what is affordable and what is not. Nothing can progress without the necessary amount of money, which is why it’s paramount to have a well-planned, properly estimated budget that works. The budget is basically a statement of the amount of money that will be spent for a certain period of time. Market research facilitates strategic planning. An examination of the current marketplace will enable you to make the best decisions in terms of new products, market-entry, marketing communications, and so on.
Building better customer insight
When you’re running a specialised business, you must know the market inside out. The reason for this is that your service appeals to very few people. Surprising as it may seem, it’s even more difficult to get insight into your ideal customer when running a company offering a service that appeals only to a niche. There are several techniques that truly help you understand your customers, like for example, construction research. Survey the target market so as to uncover hidden points. Instead of doing guesswork and risking failure, it’s better to get clear facts. In the construction industry, it’s paramount to adapt to the needs of clients. The trends have serious implications for the nature and the workload of the projects you carry out.
All in all, market research comes in handy as it makes it possible for you to improve customer profitability, establish the direction of new product launches, and even gain competitive insight into competition threats. Figure out what kind of information you need about the construction market and hire a qualified professional. You can address a great many issues through market analysis, such as customer satisfaction, brand evaluation, message resonance, stakeholder influence, and so forth.
Choose a market research firm that isn’t afraid to challenge you
You could do your own market research. Alternatively, you could hire a firm that specializes in industry analysis. Interview various firms and see which one can make a difference for your organization. Choosing the wrong market research firm can turn out to be expensive. Just so you know, costs associated with conducting the study are only the beginning. Look for an organisation that has years of experience with the construction industry and can help you go beyond the surface level.
Equally important is to identify a company that uses quantitative and qualitative methods in addressing the problem you’d like to investigate. The firm needs to have a solid plan as far as the market research is concerned. More often than not, you can’t achieve an objective using the same methodology. The success of the market analysis is dependent upon the quality of the participants. They must be asked quantitatively or qualitatively about their experiences, remarks, suggestions, and so on. The point is that the appropriate research methodology generates the best results.
