mark@hobbs.design
Helping Homeowners Manage Tasks, Services, and Improvements with Confidence
Homeownership comes with an overwhelming checklist of maintenance, improvements, and DIY projects. ATCO wanted to empower Alberta homeowners with a tool to stay on top of it all while seamlessly connecting them with vetted pros and home products they could trust.
Lead Product Designer
End-to-End UX & UI
UX/UI/Design: Mark Hobbs
UX Research: Hamza Ishaq
Product Lead: Phil Wheaton
The Situation.
Tracking regular maintenance and managing new DIY projects can be overwhelming for new homeowners. ATCO wanted to help Albertans stay on top of repairs, installations, and maintenance, while also providing products to make their homes even more enjoyable.
Enter Rümi, the home happiness app designed to help homeowners fall even more in love with their space. How might we help homeowners feel confident managing home tasks while surfacing ATCO's trusted professional services and e-commerce offerings in a natural, useful way?
A Trusted Partner that helps facilitate and educate
The Challenge.
We learned that homeowners without support, especially first-time ones, struggled with knowing what needed to be done, when, and how. While they welcomed guidance, they also wanted control and personalization. Our UX research revealed a few core user mindsets, all with the singular goal to have access to the help, supplies, or services they need when they needed it.
We introduced an optional quiz to help identify each user's comfort level with home maintenance. This defined their persona and influenced the guidance and content surfaced throughout the app.
Once a persona is selected it allows us to better define, prioritize, and determine the level of task detail required to display.
Most of the initial concepts were gravitating towards a gamification style experience, but ultimately we learned that successful homeownership is not something you can quantify. Instead of trying to gamify this, we focused on building a flexible, user-driven checklist organized into three categories: To Do Next, Routine Maintenance, and Wish List. Tasks could be completed, prioritized, or dismissed; supporting personal workflows without adding pressure. Multiple layout concepts were explored to ensure the structure felt approachable, scannable, and motivating for a wide range of homeowners.
The Results.
The final experience prioritized flexibility and ease of use. Users could create their own tasks or incorporate suggested ones, each with a detailed view offering helpful guidance, relevant product suggestions, and access to trusted service providers. This approach brought education, shopping, and support into one intuitive, streamlined interface—empowering users to take action without leaving the app.
Users can create and manage their own tasks, mark them as complete, prioritize with a quick “star” action, and access detailed task info—all with direct links to service providers when help is needed.
Each task includes editable instructions or pre-authored guidance for common jobs, along with options to connect with trusted pros or rent/purchase the right tools—making follow-through simple and seamless.
