The Decision Makers

One of the things we're working on is developing an understanding of all the relevant parties involved in the world of water fixtures. From our interviews so far, we put together this basic map of these parties.

Some people told us that the resident, is typically the one who chooses the fixture they want installed. We also learned that this person is almost always the woman of the household, a development which was supported by some preliminary observations at a local Home Depot. On the other hand, several interviewees contradicted this notion that the resident is the decision-maker. Instead, they pointed to the contractor or designer who they had hired to remodel their kitchen, for example. In these cases, the hired-help was entrusted with the selection process. While we have yet to talk to a designer, the contractor we spoke to also introduced the fact that they were limited to their selection by their distributors and manufacturers who were, in turn, regulated by a variety of government mandates.