Edinburgh-based proptech firm Pixel Image has developed the housing industry’s first ‘intuitive image-based online specification system’ that can display thousands of possible finish combinations throughout a home before construction begins.
Developed and designed in-house by Pixel, the ‘Finishes SelectorTM’ system allows users to personalise and specify their choice of finishes, and integrate these into the supply chain for house builders and their procurement teams.
Scots housebuilder Springfield Properties has incorporated the system in its sales centre at Bertha Park, the comopany’s 3000-home development near Perth. It allows users to trial various combinations of tiles, worktops, flooring, kitchen cabinets, door handles, switches and sockets, and even wall colours, to see how their choices would look together before making their final selection.
Springfield’s chief executive Innes Smith said: “Customers can now design their new home at a time convenient to them and as often as they like, before visiting our developments or suppliers.”
As an established property technology company, creating 3D visual content, interactive systems and online virtual reality tours for many years, Pixel has completed more than 2500 property projects worldwide.
“This is an exciting time for us as research shows that 80 per cent of homebuyers search online for their new home and 57 per cent of a buyer’s journey is being completed before they even speak to a sales person,” said Stephen Smith, Pixel’s managing director.
With investment into property technology increasing from £250m in 2015 to an estimated £3.2bn globally in 2017, Pixel said it was important for house builders, and the wider property industry, to invest more in digital technology to future-proof their business.
Invited to speak on the innovation and technology panel at this year’s Homes for Scotland annual conference, Pixel highlighted how digital technology is disrupting the way property is sold today.
It sees an increasing need for the house building industry to follow other consumer industries already adapting to the online consumer journey, by providing greater access to far more information to make one of the biggest purchase decisions of their life.