Industry overview
What is shaping construction
Construction materials are chosen by a chain of people: engineers, contractors, masons and individual homebuilders. Site conditions, credit and word-of-mouth all matter.
- Masons and contractors strongly influence material brands
- Individual homebuilders rely on trusted advice
- Site safety and quality standards are rising
Client background
A smart city mission office, working in A tier-2 city. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A smart city mission office
- Sector
- Construction
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Government research, Quantitative research, Offline data collection (CAPI)
Client challenge
The city had completed several infrastructure projects and wanted to understand citizens’ satisfaction and priorities for the next phase.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: citizen feedback on urban infrastructure projects.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of households.
- Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 3,000 households.
- households3,000
Audiences we typically reach in construction
Contractors and masonsCivil engineers and architectsIndividual homebuildersMaterial dealersSite workers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: A tier-2 city. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.
- 1Brief
- 2Household survey
- 3Ward-level analysis
- 4Insight
We surveyed households across all wards about roads, footpaths, drainage, lighting and public spaces, with results analysed by ward.
Government researchQuantitative researchOffline data collection (CAPI)
Sampling strategy
- households
- 3,000
- Respondents were selected across A tier-2 city using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
Data collection
- Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person on tablets (CAPI), with time and location recorded for every interview.
Data quality & validation
- Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
- Time and location checks on field interviews
- Supervisor accompaniment in the field
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
Key findings
- Drainage and footpaths remained top priorities in older wards.
Ward-level results guided targeted decisions.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: ward-level results guided targeted decisions.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: drainage and footpaths remained top priorities in older wards.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The city adjusted its next-phase plans to prioritise those wards.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Evaluation findings with programme recommendations
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what do homebuilders worry about most?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.