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  • Author Author: dougw
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Would you build from a kit?

There have been many great projects published on element14 that were suitable for members to build, but there are very few who actually do. There have always been lots of hobbyists out there who want to build things. I think there are at least 2 or 3 gaps that prevent more uptake of good project builds:

  1. There are large numbers of people that will build from kits, as proven by Ikea. Those customers would not design their own furniture, but they will buy a complete kit and assemble it. Having a complete kit available for purchase is a significant key to better uptake.
  2. Build projects are not presented as DIY how-to instructions like Instructables. It is a whole separate project to turn a build project into a step-by-step build guide. Projects that come close to this on element14 have seen some uptake. For example PIK3A was the most popular build instruction I can remember and quite a few were built by members.
  3. Marketing - of course there are many, many ways to bring awareness and incentivise build participation. element14 does some of this, but this has not been a big focus at element14.

Speaking for myself as a potential builder of someone else's design, I would buy and build a kit if it was a nice design that I would find useful or attractive. If the build project lacks a kit and I wanted to build the idea, I would most likely re-design it my own way, but it would need to be a much more attractive idea due to the time commitment involved. The result is I would be far more likely to build a project if there was a complete kit available for purchase.

The question for this poll is:

Would you be significantly more likely to build a project that was published on element14 if a complete kit of parts and software was available for purchase?

Please list other factors and requirements in the comments below.

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