Small Business Services

Improving the Renovation Experience for Small Business Owners 

Year: 2019
Location: New York City
Partner: NYC Small Business Services
Team: 3×3

New York City has a complex regulatory environment to protect the public safety and wellbeing of residents, requiring small businesses to comply with many rules and procedures when renovating their spaces. This complex environment brings with it many possibilities of confusion and delays for businesses and other involved actors, including City agencies, adding significant costs to the commercial renovation process and hampering business development. To address these challenges, SBS works with other agencies within the City to develop interventions that address the challenges faced by NYC’s small businesses.

The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) sought to identify and address on-going regulatory challenges that hinder small business launch, growth, and sustainability. To streamline the regulatory environment and process surrounding commercial renovations, 3×3 was engaged to design and conduct a needs assessment of NYC’s diverse small businesses across all five boroughs to surface challenges and barriers faced by small businesses when renovating their space. The project culminated in a report with strategic recommendations for actionable interventions to improve the renovation experience for small business owners.

3×3 took a community-centric and phased approach to collect information for the needs assessment and co-design potential solutions to identified problems. The study engaged 241 stakeholders including small business owners across all five boroughs, City agency staff, small business support groups, and other parties involved in commercial renovations such as architects, contractors, and licensed professionals. 3×3 designed and facilitated one-on-interviews, round tables, a small business owner survey, and two co-design workshops that surfaced the main pain points as well as opportunities to improve the renovation experience for small business owners.  

3×3 summarized findings from the needs assessment study in a design research report that outlined strategic recommendations for the City to improve the renovation experience of small businesses through regulatory reform, programs, partnerships with small business support groups, and other interventions. The outcomes of this project will guide future interventions by SBS and other City agencies, ensuring that the needs and challenges of small businesses are driving solutions.

_ Methodology
Qualitative Interviews, Needs Assessment Survey, Industry-Specific Focus Groups, Co-Design Sessions

_ Outputs
Research Report

_Related projects

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