User information in the housing market

Abstract

In some countries Design Quality Assessment has been applied to housing building projects, often providing a basis for financing decisions. Nevertheless, the usefulness of these methodologies for the improvement of user information has been limited as the outputs are usually rather technologicallyoriented, therefore difficult to understand by the common dweller. This prevents the development of what is often referred as Client Education. It is observed that the more efficient and competitive industries are the ones driven by consumer requirements; to obtain this client knowledge in the construction industry, and in particular in housing, procedures that are able to translate the technical topics relevant to dwelling efficiency into easier and more commonplace issues, must be used. In this paper we will present some Assessment methods and a proposal of user-oriented output that can be of help in buying or renting decisions.