The Netherlands is confronted with a formidable challenge in the transition away from natural gas in the built environment. In this challenging landscape installation companies have an opportunity since they are often perceived as natural points of contact by residents to further aid the acceleration of the energy transition. However, installation companies currently often don’t manage to deliver positive experiences for residents.

Exploring the potential of Customer Journeys as a valuable tool to improve resident experiences, this thesis uses the customer journey as a framework to explore how installation companies can deliver improved experiences to residents. To this end, a research gap is identified in the lack of sources offering guidance on the optimal implementation of the customer journey into a company’s processes.

To start addressing this gap and provide guidance for companies, the thesis details a typical customer journey, shedding light on pain points experienced by residents during sustainable renovations with insights gained from industry literature. This overview shows that despite overall resident satisfaction, avoidable unfortunate experiences persist in the resident journey. The thesis proposes that installation companies could benefit from expanding their focus from the initial phases of the customer journey, such as orientation and choosing a solution, to later phases, such as living in a renovated home, to reduce failure costs and adopt a more holistic approach.

Examples from practice, potential solutions and insights into the challenges installation companies face emerge from analyzing semi-structured interviews with industry experts.

In conclusion the thesis presents a design concept encouraging installation companies to integrate more resident feedback into their design phase, fostering a more iterative approach. This proposal aims to start bridging the existing gap, empowering installation companies to navigate the complexities of sustainable renovations with enhanced customer-centric practices.