Creating the AI-powered platform that streamlines how real estate professionals evaluate, source, and renovate properties.
ROLE
Principal Product Designer / Individual Contributor
SCOPE
Product Design, Prototyping, Design System, Website + Marketing Support
INDUSTRY AND TYPE
Real Estate, E-Commerce, Startup
What is Kai?
Kai is on a mission to streamline renovation projects with AI-powered planning, scoping and purchasing by building a platform that supports complex renovations from the initial assessment to the final walkthrough.
Partnering with The Home Depot, their service provides direct integration with Home Depot's complete product catalog - offering real-time pricing, store-level inventory, and one-click procurement for contractors in the field.
What we needed to Achieve
I teamed up with the CPO and an AI-savvy technical team to lead design efforts on this new product initiative - tasked with meeting a 90-day launch window for a key partner evaluation.
As the solo design resource, I was responsible for establishing a scalable design foundation, crafting the product's core visual identity, and helping define the 0-to-1 strategy.
Results
We leaned hard into a progress over perfection mindset and hit our launch deadline, getting the product into users' hands immediately for live validation. Initial feedback was incredibly positive. We used those insights to better align the experience with unique business needs - and are now officially moving into the polish and vet phase as we scale up and introduce new features.
The intro dashboard gives contractors a high-level view of their assigned projects by market, complete with real-time status updates and essential project details.
Field users can snap photos of issues and instantly link them to tasks so contractors know exactly what to fix. This feature is the heart of the app, so we made it as intuitive and as flexible as possible to handle whatever comes up on-site —from documenting full kitchen renovations to identifying minor paint touch-ups or HVAC repairs.
We noticed field users struggling in tight spots—like crawl spaces or under sinks—trying to juggle an iPad in one hand and a tool in the other. To make it easier, we built a custom dual-camera UI (patent pending) that allows for more flexible one-handed documentation.
Users can easily find photos by filtering for specific locations on the property or by the contractor type that is assigned to the task. It keeps everything organized and easy to track.
Large images make it easy to spot every detail.
Field users can select products for a task from a pre-approved catalog managed by their admin.
Each task includes a notes section for seamless communication between admins, general contractors, and contractors, alongside automated system updates to keep everyone synced on progress.
We replaced static, printed Scopes of Work with a dynamic digital preview. Through our Scope Editor tool, contractors can now access real-time assignments, product specs, and project notes in one centralized, editable place. QR codes for each contractor are placed at each location giving contractors instant access to the most up-to-date project info.
Social Media Campaigns
