Evaluating and selecting the right materials for a construction project—whether residential or commercial—is a critical task, as it affects the durability, aesthetic and overall quality of the structure in question.
For many projects, particularly in the commercial realm, this task first falls to architects or specifiers.
Throughout 2025, they have demonstrated strong brand loyalty and an emphasis on cultivating strong relationships with other stakeholders in the construction and building products industries, although they are also open to trying new brands and products when they get recommendations from trustworthy sources.
Additionally, these professionals are increasingly utilizing emerging technologies, such as smart building technology and sustainability and green building tools, to complete their projects, according to research findings in the 2026 Building Products Customer Guide, a collaboration by our custom market researchers at The Farnsworth Group and the team at Venveo.
As architects and specifiers evaluate building materials in 2026 and beyond, you have opportunity to capture their attention with your brand differentiators and motivate them to specify one of your products into their upcoming projects. However, it’s important to note that strategies that the most successful strategies in the years ahead may look different than what's worked for you in the past. Manufacturers and suppliers must adapt their positioning, sales, and marketing to target this sophisticated customer group.
Before we get started, keep in mind that this data reflects overarching trends across the home improvement and building products space. Use it as a starting point to spark internal conversations around where you may need to dig deeper with customized research—whether that be around your customer, your product offering, or your broader business strategy.
Trends in How Architects and Specifiers Evaluate and Choose Materials
When architects specify materials, they take multiple factors into consideration, including cost, availability, customer preference, and sustainability. It’s critical that the varying building materials selected for a project work together cohesively for the optimal outcome. Each individual choice affects the appearance of the building, the function of the space, and the aesthetic of the space, not to mention the project budget and anticipated upkeep.
Here is a look at some of the recent trends emerging in how architectural and design professionals research, prioritize, and recommend building products and materials for their residential and commercial customers.
1. Your Value-Proposition is Likely Different for Small vs. Large Architectural Firms
Firm sizes significantly impact both brand preferences and research methods. For example, larger firms have a greater capacity than smaller firms to adopt sustainable design tools and energy modeling. As a result, these technologies will play an increasingly central role in construction in the next few years as businesses look to increase sustainability and optimize energy efficiency in future responses. In terms of communication preferences, larger firms prefer tech-driven support—such as mobile apps and lead generation—while smaller firms benefit from accessible pricing, clear communication, and responsive support. Manufacturers should align their approach with each firm’s unique priorities.
2. Architects Demonstrate High Brand Loyalty
Architects show some of the highest loyalty among any customer segment for building materials and products. Brand retention is fostered through high quality products, brand reputation and familiarity, and manufacturer support. However, research shows that more architects are trying new brands in recent years, especially among smaller firms. What’s more, their satisfaction with new brands is high.
Manufacturers who can identify and better align with architects’ needs within a given product category can win new business, while those who grow complacent risk losing loyal customers to agile competitors. For this segment of pros, technical product knowledge is crucial for firms of all sizes. Architects need to know they have someone with technical product knowledge in their corner—from pre-spec to install. If your team can prove how well you know the product, the logistics of their particular products, and unique aspects of your geographic area, you’ll be able to win their trust and develop a long-term customer relationship. Your expertise will also trickle down, enabling architects and designers to perform well professionally and build trust with other stakeholders, such as homeowners and builders.
3. High-Quality Products and Reliable Availability Rank High for Architects
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both large and small architectural and design firms prioritize high-quality building products and reliable availability, and manufacturer support. Brand reputation and familiarity is a key driver among architects as well.
High quality was cited as one of the most important factors when selecting building product brands by an overwhelming 90% of all architects, independent of firm size, and a near-unanimous 97% of architects at large firms. Here is what percentage of architects ranked these other factors among the most important:
- Brand reputation and familiarity (49%)
- Manufacturer support (48%)
- Supplier support (44%)
- Availability (38%)
Notice that price is not in that list. However, while architects are less focused on low prices, others in the project chain, such as builders, remodelers, and tradespeople, are more likely to have budget constraints around their projects and product selection. To keep your product in the spec, focus your messaging on performance and quality and consider offering a range of product options to prevent being value-engineered out at the point of purchase. For larger firms, providing adequate support is a must. Consider where in your company support and customer experience can be improved to better serve large architectural firms and differentiate your brand against your competitors.
4. Architects are Spending More Time Researching Online
The share of architects spending at least an hour online before specifying a product has increased by 19% in the past year, jumping from 43% in 2024 to 62% in 2025. Meanwhile, the percentage who only spent “some” (roughly 30 minutes) or “very little” (a few minutes) researching dropped from 33% in 2024 to 11% in 2025. Use of manufacturer websites increased significantly in 2025, from 54% to 78%, with home improvement store websites and Google or other search engines trailing behind. It’s important for manufacturing brands to treat their website as a critical research hub that provides detailed, technical information that these professionals need to specify your products.
Optimizing In-Person Research Opportunities
Research shows similar increases in time spent on in-person research. The percentage of architects who spent at least an hour doing in-person research increased from 35% in 2024 to 54% in 2025. The significant amount of time that architects spend researching both online and in-person reinforces the need for a cohesive brand experience across all touchpoints. Marketing and sales reps should be ready to reinforce your brand’s digital content with their own expert consultation and in-person demonstrations.
5. Architects Discover New Products and Brands Through Digital Sources and Social Media
Manufacturer and supplier/retailer websites are also architects’ preferred resource for learning about new building products or brands. Both used by 54% of all architects, they surpass other online resources, word-of-mouth recommendations, in-store exposure, and especially emails and print ads. Meanwhile, the 2026 Building Products Customer Guide shows that social media has seen a drop-off in terms of being a source for learning about new products and brands, dropping from 49% in 2024 to 36% in 2025. But it still has an important place in the research process for architects, with the landscape shifting significantly over the past couple of years. YouTube has surged to become the dominant platform, now used by 72% of architects for research (up from 48% in 2024). Facebook usage remained the same, while Instagram decreased in popularity for professional use, and Reddit saw a massive spike from being used by 9% of architects in 2024 to 27% in 2025.
6. AI Use and Machine Learning are Expanding Among Architects
Architects prioritize tools that directly improve efficiency, collaboration, and visualization—indicating that firms aren’t replacing older tools; they’re layering new technologies on top of established workflows. More than half of all architects are already using artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning on their projects, and nearly 40% use AI tools specifically for product research. AI usage among architects will continue to accelerate, as 74% of architects say they plan to increase their use of AI in the coming years. Manufacturers who provide critical assets like BIM (Building Information Modeling) files, used by 39% of architects, and integrate with these digital workflows will remain relevant and build a significant competitive advantage.
In terms of other types of technology, architects most commonly use:
- 3D modeling and rendering software, used by 75% of firms
- Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, used by 71% of firms
- Building Information Modeling, used by 39% of firms
Architects also see their use of these technologies accelerating in the coming years, with 70% saying they will get “more use” or “much more use” from 3D modeling and rendering software and 67% saying they will get “more use” or “must more use” from Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) tools. For product manufacturing brands, this reinforces that technology and tools are the standard for modern design workflows rather than optional enhancements.
7. Architects Rely on Relationship-Building with Key Stakeholders
It’s important for designers and architects to build strong partnerships with stakeholders, from building product suppliers and homeowners to builders, remodelers, and other professionals. They’re also frequently engaging their partners, and they place a significant amount of trust in brand or product recommendations for these partners. In general, about three-fourths of architects say they engage daily or weekly with home builders, remodelers, and specialty trades. They engage with manufacturers and suppliers only slightly less frequently.
About 33% of architect find recommendations from contractors to be “extremely trustworthy,” and another 42% believe they are “very trustworthy”; when it comes to the opinions and recommendations of other architects, these percentages are 31% and 49%, respectively. For manufacturer recommendations, about 40% of architects say they are “extremely trustworthy.”
Strong, mutually beneficial relationships are essential. More than 90% of all architects rate their relationships with builders, trades, and suppliers as “important” or “very important,” with manufacturers close behind at 87%. This highlights that a manufacturer’s trustworthiness and responsiveness are not just a nice-to-have, but a prerequisite for inclusion in a project.
Developing and Distributing Products for Professional Use
Architects have a specific lens they utilize when designing a new construction project that impacts how they research, evaluate, select and source building materials and other products. As a building product manufacturer or supplier, it’s important to understand what this process typically looks like for design professionals in order to develop products and market them appropriately. For more information about industry trends among architects, builders and other trade professionals, request access to the full report. You can also reach out to our team at The Farnsworth Group to explore a customized research approach that will produce detailed insights to drive informed strategic decisions for your brand.
