NARI and the Stanford Graduate School of Business have completed the first phase of a three-part research project designed to help the association better meet the needs of its members and help all parts of the industry -- from manufacturers to contractors to consumers -- work together more efficiently.
The first phase involved phone interviews with 700 NARI members and sought their opinions on the value of the association and how it could be improved. The second phase, which will begin in July, will target 700 to 1,100 non-members and seek information on why they haven't joined and what they would want from an association. The third phase, which is still coming into focus, will build on the information collected in the first two to determine how the different constituents within the industry can best work together.
"The Harvard study is based on census data and on what happened," says Les Cunningham, chair of the NARI Board of Directors, referring to the Joint Center for Housing Studies' "Remodeling Homes for Changing Households" report. "We want to know, Where are we and where can we go?"
