Improving Housing Quality through Client-Focused Information

Abstract

Housing is among the main drivers for the Construction Industry (CI) in most countries, providing the response to a fundamental need of people. This fulfilment usually involves a significant burden to the financial resources of individuals or families, extending for a considerable lapse of time. Nevertheless, the information that the CI provides to its housing customers is far behind what other industries do. The choosing of a home is mostly based on non-specialist direct analysis as any documents that might be available are generally technically-oriented. Several Design Quality Evaluation Methods (DQEM) have been developed and even implemented in some countries (i.e. Qualitel/France, SEL/Switzerland, HQI/UK, MC_FEUP/Portugal) but they have yet to achieve recognition as a suitable tool for Client-as-User decision. Unlike other industries which engage in making their clients more knowledgeable and able to choose wisely among the diverse offers in the market, CI seems unconcerned by this. Thus, a recollection of surveys concerning the impact of the Design stage of a construction project is presented, followed by an overview of some of the more widely known DQEM. This is followed by a discussion and proposal of a more user-friendly approach for the presentation of quality performance levels in housing design and how it might be used as an asset for a change in the way CI is perceived by public opinion, fostering user knowledge and client-induced industry improvement .