Groundwork — UX Journey Map

Phase One

Awareness

The Story

Jonas has three quotes on his kitchen table. One says $8,200. One says $14,500. One says $22,000. They're all for the same bathroom. He doesn't know if the cheapest one is a trap or the most expensive one is a rip-off. He doesn't even know what questions to ask.

At 11:30 PM, after his second shift, he types the only question he can think of: "how to know if contractor is fair."

"Your renovation. Your reality." — He reads it. He reads it again. It doesn't sound like a sales pitch. It sounds like someone who's been where he is.

He's found a piece of Groundwork's SEO content: "What your contractor's quote should include." It's the first time anything has explained what line items he should be seeing — and which ones signal a problem. By the end of the article, he's on the landing page. He doesn't sign up yet. He bookmarks it.

Emotional State

Anxious →

Cautious hope

Pain Eliminated

Information asymmetry at the quoting stage — Jonas can now benchmark what "normal" looks like before he signs anything

No vocabulary to evaluate bids — article builds a shared language between homeowner and industry

Groundwork's Role

SEO content strategy. The product earns trust before Jonas even creates an account. The landing page headline — "Your renovation. Your reality." — is the first moment of recognition that someone designed this for him.

Phase Two

Onboarding

The Story

Jonas creates a free account on his lunch break. The form is short — bathroom renovation, $67,000 quote, 8-week timeline, contractor name: Marcus Webb. He invites Marcus by phone number. Marcus gets a text message: "Your client Jonas Reyes wants to track this project on Groundwork. Takes 2 minutes to connect."

Within minutes, Groundwork's Contract Health Score runs automatically. It comes back: 72 / 100. One flag, highlighted in amber: "40% upfront payment requested. Industry standard is 10–33%."

This is the moment. Jonas has been about to sign a contract with terms he didn't understand. Now he sees, in plain language, that one term is outside normal range. He doesn't confront Marcus aggressively — he just knows. He asks calmly. Marcus adjusts to 30%.

"Wait — I can see that 40% upfront is unusual?" That's the moment Jonas knows this is different.

Emotional State

Cautious →

First trust signal

Pain Eliminated

Signing a bad contract without knowing — Contract Health Score surfaces issues before ink dries

High friction contractor enrollment — one SMS, no app download required on Marcus's side

Aha Moment

"Wait, I can see that 40% upfront is unusual?"

Contract Health Score: 72/100 — 1 flag. This single number converts a passive viewer into an active user.

Phase Three

Core Experience — Mid-Renovation

The Story

It's been three weeks. Every day at noon, Jonas opens his phone, reads one screen, and puts it away. He doesn't need more than 30 seconds. The Daily Digest says: "Your project is on track. Drywall taping continues. Nothing needs your attention today."

One Tuesday he gets an amber notification. Not red — amber. A change order has been submitted: $800 for a heated floor outlet. The system explains it in plain English: "This is a homeowner-requested addition. It was not in the original scope. Typical cost for this work: $600–$1,000." Jonas signs in three taps. He feels in control, not steamrolled.

Diane's experience looks different. She opens the full Shared Reality Dashboard daily. She monitors the dependency chain — which milestone unlocks which. She watches the budget tracker move. She cross-references the contractor's update notes against the original scope. She hasn't called her contractor once this week. Not because she doesn't care — because she already knows.

Three weeks in, Jonas realizes he hasn't driven by the house at night. He used to do that. He doesn't know when he stopped.

Emotional State

Cautious →

Growing trust

Pain Eliminated

Surprise change orders — context and market benchmarks make every request legible

Anxiety-driven drive-bys and midnight check-ins — daily digest replaces compulsive checking

Contractor-homeowner communication gaps — Diane and her contractor are reading from the same source of truth

Key Screens Active

Jonas Daily Digest — mobile, one screen, plain language

Diane Shared Reality Dashboard — dependencies, budget, full timeline

Phase Four — Stress Test

Crisis

The Story

Week 6. The electrical inspection fails. Without Groundwork, this is the moment Jonas would call Marcus three times. Then text twice. Then drive over. Then catastrophize. Then not sleep.

Instead, his phone buzzes. Not red. Not alarming. Just honest.

Update — Permit Inspection

Electrical inspection did not pass. Your contractor has been notified and is reviewing the inspector's report. New expected completion date: pushed 4 days to April 22. Confidence: Medium.

This type of delay is common — roughly 1 in 4 electrical inspections require a re-inspection. Marcus will update the fix plan within 24 hours.

The system explains why. It contextualizes the delay — 1 in 4 electrical inspections require a re-inspection. It's not a disaster, it's a statistic. Jonas reads it at dinner. He doesn't call Marcus. He waits for the update.

The Expected Date Engine recalculates the cascade automatically — this delay pushes two dependent milestones, final inspection and certificate of occupancy, each by the same four days. Marcus logs in, posts the fix plan by morning. The dashboard updates. Both parties are reading the same reality.

The anxiety spiral of not knowing — that's what Groundwork eliminates here. Not the problem. The panic.

Emotional State

Trusted →

Brief dip →

Steadied

Pain Eliminated

The anxiety spiral of not knowing — plain language notifications prevent catastrophizing

Manual cascade recalculation — Expected Date Engine propagates delay impacts automatically

Contractor communication void during problems — fix plan posted directly in shared workspace

Without Groundwork

Jonas calls Marcus 3 times in 2 hours. No answer. He drives to the house at 7 PM. He texts his wife that they're going to lose their deposit. He doesn't sleep. Marcus hears about it second-hand. The relationship suffers for the last two weeks of the project.

Phase Five

Completion & Advocacy

The Story

The project finishes six days past the original date — within the normal range, Groundwork notes. Jonas opens the final summary on his phone. The system has assembled the whole story: what was quoted, what was spent, where the money went, why.

Final total: $75,200. Change orders: $8,200 (12.2%). The system adds a note: "Change order spend is slightly above the typical 10% range. The heated floor outlet ($800) and unforeseen subfloor rot ($3,200) were the primary drivers."

He's not angry. He knew about every single change as it happened. He approved each one. There were no surprises in the final number because there were no surprises period. He leaves a review for Marcus — 5 stars, first one he's ever left for a contractor. He writes one for Groundwork too.

Three weeks later, his coworker Priya mentions she's about to start a kitchen renovation. Jonas leans over: "You need to use this thing called Groundwork before you sign anything."

Advocacy isn't a feature. It's what happens when someone feels respected throughout a process that usually makes them feel powerless.

Emotional State

Relief →

Confidence →

Advocacy

Final Project Summary

Original quote$67,000

Change orders+$8,200 (12.2%)

Final total$75,200

Timeline overrun+6 days

Change order rate slightly above typical 10% — subfloor rot and heated floor outlet cited as drivers.

The Outcome

"You need to use this thing called Groundwork before you sign anything."

Jonas tells his coworker Priya, who is about to start a kitchen renovation. The loop closes.

Persona Divergence

Same project, two lived experiences

Groundwork doesn't force everyone into the same interface. The same underlying data surfaces differently depending on who's asking for it and what they need to feel in control.

Jonas Reyes

34 · Two jobs · First renovation · Limited construction vocabulary

Opens the Daily Digest on his phone during his lunch break. 30 seconds. One status. One action if needed. Done.
Gets push notifications only when something needs him. Amber for decisions, red for issues. No news is good news.
Reads plain English translations of every contractor update. "Drywall taping" becomes "the walls are being covered — normal for this week."
Reviews and signs change orders in three taps with market benchmarks included.
Never opens the full dashboard. Doesn't need to. Never feels like he's missing something.
Stops driving by the house at night by week three. That's the real metric.

Jonas doesn't need more information. He needs the right information, at the right time, in language that doesn't require a contractor's license to understand.

Diane Kowalski

68 · Seven renovations · High construction literacy · Wants full control

Opens the Shared Reality Dashboard every morning with her coffee. Reviews the full dependency chain and timeline cascade.
Monitors the budget tracker in real time. Knows her contingency buffer down to the dollar.
Cross-references contractor update notes against original scope. Catches a material substitution before it's installed.
Uses the photo documentation log to verify work quality at each stage. Requests close-up shots of the plumbing rough-in.
Adds her own annotations and questions directly to milestone cards. Contractor responds in the same thread.
Hasn't called her contractor once this week. Not because she trusts blindly — because the dashboard already told her everything she would have asked.

Diane doesn't need simplification. She needs access — real access, not a contractor-curated highlight reel. Groundwork gives her the same view her contractor has.