How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected product specifications and education? What long term effects will we see from the crisis regarding outreach to AEC firms? What did 2000+ design professionals request for education resources? Let’s find out . . .

Currently, our team is conducting one of the most comprehensive AEC surveys ever undertaken to determine how COVID-19 has affected product specifications and education. Over 2000+ design professionals have participated in this new study that began in in the last quarter of 2020 and is still ongoing. Our team of experts would like to share some of the most significant findings so far.

Top 3 Requested CE Courses

Over 2000 design professionals have participated in the survey and include: architects, specifiers, engineers, interior designers, LEED consultants, and contractors. Over 70% of the design professionals surveyed are registered architects. The top 3 most requested CE courses are: 

1. LEED Specific Hours BD+C and ID+C
2. ADA
3. Case Studies

These results are not surprising as LEED Specific Hours are mandatory for LEED APs and LEED Green Associates to complete for their credential. Almost 99% of LEED Specific Hour courses are premium classes that design professionals must pay $45 or more to take on the USGBC website. Only about a handful of product manufacturers offer free LEED Specific Hour courses. These are the highest performing courses in the AEC industry often generating several hundred leads a month. GreenCE.com is the primary platform for these free courses.

ADA courses are required by many states including California and Texas. ADA courses are similar to LEED Specific Hour courses in that they are often premium classes that design professionals must purchase. If your building product lends itself to ADA design, then you very well may have an excellent opportunity to engage design professionals even more than the standard AIA course.

Case studies always rank among favorite courses for design professionals. Any standard AIA, GBCI, or IDCEC course can feature case studies. Video case studies are particularly effective in engaging architects and designers and often perform higher than standard courses. Read-only PDF and article-based courses receive the worst participation rates compared to video case studies and should be avoided. Here are what design professionals noted about the top requested courses-

“I wish there were more free LEED specific courses, but I understand why those are typically cost associated.”

“I like the technical videos the most. I also absolutely love the video case studies. Seeing the many faces and hearing the many challenges that teams overcome is invaluable.”

“I need a heavy emphasis on ADA and green energy or sustainability, as both of these are specific state requirements. You can never have too many of these courses. Code related courses also very helpful and hard to find.”

“LEED AP BD+C courses for interior and exterior products and solutions for architectural systems is greatly appreciated.”

Top 4 Requested Delivery Formats

Over 2000 design professionals surveyed have been asked what their favorite education delivery format is. They ranked them based on ease of use, education impact, engagement, and enjoyment. The top 4 most requested CE delivery formats are:

1. Online Anytime Course
2. Webinar
3. In-Person Lunch & Learn
4. Conferences/Tradeshows

 An Online-anytime course is the bare minimum any building product manufacturer should have in their arsenal. Design professionals overwhelmingly selected online anytime courses over all other formats, save for webinars. Here are what architects had to say about the online course format.

“I am discovering that the on-line self-paced CEUs in many cases are better than real time webinars. There is so much information, by self-pacing I have time to really listen, absorb and learn. If the visual and audio quality is of professional quality, it is not a stressful chore but an enjoyable and worth-while activity.”

“Videos are good because you can stop the video and review the info if you didn't catch everything. The videos make some concepts easier to understand because they could be demonstrated in more detail.”

 “I'm a visual person and like ‘motion’. Just reading can be boring. I like the on-demand flexibility. I like the idea of self-guided tour and videos integrated into presentations.”

Webinars are a popular delivery format and increased exponentially in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since product reps could no longer deliver face to face presentations, webinars became a powerful tool in 2020. Webinars will continue to remain a strong specification tool in 2021 and beyond.

Face-to-face presentations and AIA lunch and learns were hit especially hard during the COVID-19 crisis. AEC firms banned in-office visits and education events. Product reps were forced to turn to webinars and online anytime courses to get their product information out.

At the bottom of the list are tradeshows and conferences. Once again, the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the tradeshow business. Education at these shows ranked dead last due to many factors including travel costs, time and resources expended, and other challenges. It will be interesting to see if the tradeshow industry rebounds in the latter part of 2021 or is delayed until 2022.

Most Requested Resources For Product Manufacturer Websites

After a design professional takes a CE course, they usually go to the building product manufacturer’s website to gather more information. Depending on their needs, a design professional may be collecting data to narrow their product selections, determine the most sustainable product, or be ready to specify the given product. Here are the most requested website resources ranked by design professionals- 

1. Sustainable documentation (HPDs, EPDs, Declare, etc.)
2. General product information
3. 3-Part Guide Specs
4. BIM & CAD files

Sustainable documentation topped the most requested list which is not surprising. LEED v4 was launched in 2013. Many product manufacturers delayed developing this documentation for years, but our team started seeing a surge in 2019 that has only increased. Health Product Declarations (HPDs) are the most requested transparency documents in the AEC industry and product manufacturers who do not have them are definitely facing an uphill battle for specification.

General information and 3-part guide specs ranked next on the list. Product manufacturers need to have up-to-date specs and product information for designers. Finally, BIM and CAD files ranked last although their popularity and use are gaining more traction in the industry.

Conclusion

Over 2000 design professionals were surveyed to gather the results you have just reviewed. These metrics speak for themselves and building product manufacturers can easily implement strategies to maximize these requests by design professionals. Our survey is continuing over the next few weeks and we will have more insightful metrics to share with the AEC industry soon.