CRESC Working Paper Series - Working Paper No. 140 - Smart Practices: Reflections on the Smarter Home Visit in two

Information is collected on tenure, length of residence, the number of occupants, the age of the house/flat, the type of toilets and the boiler. [...] Following these preliminary questions, the GD gathers information on water use, asking the householder to estimate the amount of water they use in different parts of the house: the amount of times they wash the dishes during the week, whether they use a dishwasher or not- and if not whether they use a bowl in the sink, and the number of loads of laundry they do in a week. [...] The majority of the GDs reported instances of confusion on the part of the householders as to the purpose of the visit, or concerning who they actually represented and what to expect. [...] Some of the householders were indifferent because at the time of the visit the named householder was not at home, so that the smarter home visit was carried out with a different person from the person with whom the appointment had been made, or from the person who owned the property, and thus they were little invested in hearing the advice that was given. [...] Interested and Curious As far as the GDs are concerned, the interested and curious (constituting 18% of the sample) were the most enjoyable homes to visit, since they wanted to learn about water conservation and how to reduce water consumption and the cost of their bills.