In "Construction Customer Research: Who to Interview" we explore one of the most common reasons customer research fails in the construction sector: organisations are simply not talking to the right people to inform the decisions they need to make.

The "customer" is rarely a single role, and instead spans a complex network of decision-makers, influencers, users, specifiers and end customers across the full lifecycle of a project. Each of these customers has different functional, relational, ease-of-doing-business and individual needs, and understanding the full Decision Making Unit (DMU) is essential if you want insight that genuinely informs commercial and strategic decisions.

Beyond who to interview, the guide shows how customer insight should be used: translating business questions into effective research, balancing tactical feedback with strategic relationship insight, and feeding learning back into decisions at every level of the organisation. It introduces practical frameworks such as personas, user stories, milestone feedback, and the "shearing layers" model to help teams design a joined-up research and insight programme that drives systemic improvement rather than isolated fixes.

If you work in the construction supply chain from manufacturing and distribution to contracting, design or consultancy this PDF will help you avoid costly blind spots in your customer research. It’s particularly valuable if you find your surveys don’t translate into action, or if decisions are still being made on assumptions rather than evidence. The download offers a clear, experience-led way to rethink who you listen to, what you ask, and how insight should shape strategy, operations and long-term customer relationships.