In QR Codes, Your Remodeling DNA

Originally featured on The Daily 5 Remodel Blog

 

Years from now, should the owners of certain homes have questions about their cabinets, finding the answers will take no more than a quick scan with their mobile phones.

If the cabinets came from Cupboards Kitchen & Bath, that is.

In May, the family-owned cabinetry showroom, of Sylacauga, Ala., began installing a QR (quick response) code inside the sink base door of every cabinet installation it sells. “There’s nothing to lose for remodelers” in QR codes, according to Nick Lovelady (right), the second-generation co-owner of Cupboards. “It’s one more way our name is out there.”

In layman’s terms, QR codes are pointillistic barcodes that anyone (typically, marketers) can easily link to a website, contact info, a YouTube video or a broad range of other data. Anyone with a QR code reader on their mobile phone, in turn, can easily see this data. (Click here for the Wikipedia definition.)

They’re generally free and easy to create, and they can even be updated at any time — remotely, of course — without ever having to contact the homeowner.

Plus, the time is right. Even in rural Alabama, growing numbers of Cupboards’ clients use smartphones, making them ideal users of QR codes. At the same time, most cabinetry comes with an information trail that is cryptic at best: “Usually that information takes shape as a vague set of numbers and characters on the inside of the sink base door,” Lovelady wrote on the Cupboards blog. “The unfortunate part is that even though a homeowner might purchase cabinets from us, there is no permanent indication that we were involved on the project at all.”

Inspired by Bob Borson’s “Life of an Architect” blog, he took the general concept of QR codes and ran with it.

For instance, he puts QR codes on his business cards, with his contact info, as well as on various marketing tools, including new truck magnets that “people are going to scan just because they’re so damn curious!” he said in a phone call yesterday.

Moreover, he equips each cabinet installation with a custom QR code containing information such as:

• contact information for Cupboards Kitchen & Bath
• cabinet manufacturer
• purchase order information
• install date
• door and color style
• hardware and countertop nomenclature

“I’ve even attached a copy of the contract in some cases,” he said, though he leaves off the pricing information out of respect for the clients who bought the cabinets, should the home be sold.

To demonstrate, take the QR code at right. In no more than a minute or two, Lovelady generated it using QR Stuff, which has a number of free and nearly tools for customizing and tracking QR codes. (Here is another QR-code generator.)

Try scanning it using your own phone, using any of dozens of free QR-scanner apps. Can’t read it? Here’s what it says:

LeCompte Kitchen Remodel by Cupboards Kitchen & Bath 107 North Norton Ave Sylacauga, AL 35150 256-245-1888 256-245-1810 fax www.cupboardsonline.com June 2011 – PO NL1120 KraftMaid Cabinetry: Perimeter – Lindsay Maple Canvas Island – Lindsay Cherry Peppercorn Hardware – KM 7034 Distressed Aged Bronze Counters – Crema Lumiere Granite *For questions regarding warranty information, additional items, etc., please contact us for assistance.

Cupboards clients are prepared for the QR codes that come with their cabinetry. In the showroom, a cabinet door has the codes, as shown in the image below. “Absolutely, we educate clients about them, too,” Lovelady says. “Usually I demonstrate with my phone, and they get a sense of ease in knowing that we’re here for them, and that they can easily find this information any time they need it.”

For what it’s worth, other potential uses of QR codes are legion, and we’ll cover more in d5R in the weeks and months ahead.

In his inspiring blog post from May, for instance, architect Bob Borson posited the following:

“Let’s say that I create a QR code for a particular project and I place this code on my job sign out at the project site. When people see the house, they could scan the code and it would take them to my website where they could see animations of the project, possible floor plans…”

And why not, remodelers?

P.S.: Here’s another custom Cupboards QR code, created especially for d5R.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally featured on The Daily 5 Remodel Blog