Insight

What if you could walk through your future home before it's even built?

Background

After successfully balloting for a project, prospective BTO homeowners currently face multiple challenges when shortlisting and selecting their dream unit:

• BTO applicants are provided with only 2D floor plans to rely on and it is often difficult to visualise 3D size and space from 2D floor plans.
• Showrooms for 3, 4 and 5 room flats have generic layouts when each project's floor plan is different, leaving BTO applicants to interpret how the flats and rooms would look like.
• Other factors such as sunlight direction and distance to nearby amenities also play a huge part in their decision but this has to be consolidated from various online sources and can be hard to estimate based on the project plans.

Our goal is to explore a solution to better address prospective homeowners' needs and preferences and provide an alternative way to choose their future home based on an immersive experience.

Our approach

Phase 1: User research and concept test

We conducted the first round of user research and concept test using a concept prototype made in ShapesXR (think Figma but for AR/VR) to test the idea and get some initial thoughts on it. We talked to 4 participants who have gone through the BTO unit selection process recently (within 1 year).

We got a better understanding of the unit selection process and the issues they faced, notably the users found it hard to understand and visualise the unit and surrounding areas based on the 2D floor layouts and project pamphlets. This was especially true for first-time homebuyers.

The feedback on the concept was generally quite positive (highlight reels) and even though it was lacking in some ways, it matched their imagination on how this solution would meet their needs in the selection process.

Conducting the concept test

Phase 2: Development

Based on the research findings, we decided on the most important features to build and how those features will solve the problems faced by prospective BTO homeowners. For instance, we focused on the sunlight direction feature on top of making improvements to the realism of our 3D models and textures and usability of the product.

Viewing changes in sunlight

Phase 3: Usability testing

Conducting usability test

After getting participants to test our product using a AR/VR headset, we found that there were usability issues such as having difficulty with orientating themselves and navigating in the life-size unit. To improve this, we added the option to view furnishings as well as a minimap to help users in orientating themselves in the unit.

Furthermore, because the tutorials we initially had were easily missed out on, we enhanced the tutorials and made them more user-friendly. This was essential also since most people would not have experience with AR/VR headsets.

Now with furniture and a minimap

Video of improved prototype (as of Week 4 of the Hackathon)

Solution

In our final product, prospective BTO homeowners will be able to:

• Get a bird's eye view of the flats
• See what units are available and experience them in life-size
• Visualise the sunlight changes throughout the year as well as the surrounding areas

View our pitch deck and final prototype here!

Potential impact

Every year, there are multiple new BTO projects released, each with thousands of new units. From 2025 to 2027, over 50,000 new units will be launched. The recent October 2024 BTO launch drew ~35,600 applicants for ~8,500 flats. In 2024, there were BTO launches in February, June and October, each with a varying number of flats. If we project the October BTO numbers for a year, it could hit up to roughly 100,000 applications in a year.

Bringing this product to real users to help them shortlist and select their dream home would be game-changing. Why should we choose real homes from flat drawings?

Next steps

To make this a more viable product for HDB, focusing on time saved:

• Make this a win-win solution for both HDB officers and homeowners by suggesting similar units to reduce decision making during BTO appointments and improve their efficiency
• Make our product scalable by streamlining the preparation of each BTO project

Further improvements to enhance the product and focus on user satisfaction for BTO homeowners:

• Make the HDB blocks and surroundings more realistic
• Visualise optional furnishings (e.g. floorings)
• Improve onboarding experience, especially for first-time VR users
• Allow couples to simultaneously view units with headsets

The team