Construction Junction (CJ) is a 26-year-old Pittsburgh nonprofit that resells donated building materials, furniture, and clothing affordably. Partnering with Carnegie Mellon University's Master of Human-Computer Interaction (MHCI) program, CJ aimed to engage younger audiences. After vigorous in-person research, the team found the key opportunity was improving inventory quality at the source, leading to three solutions addressing inventory challenges and enhancing customer experience.
My role
Product Manager
Timeline
January to July 2026
My team
3 product strategists, 2 designers
Website
https://cjreuse.org/
Problem
CJ struggled to maintain consistent, high-quality inventory information as hundreds of unique donations moved through an already overwhelmed and understaffed intake process.
Understaffing, constant interruptions, and inefficient workflows left little time for quality checks and refinement. As inconsistencies accumulated, CJ couldn't always trust its inventory data, making it harder to manage what they had in inventory, make informed decisions, and create reliable customer-facing information.
How did we get there?
We started with a much broader question around how Construction Junction could better reach customers and support its mission. But interviews, survey data, and time spent observing staff on the donation dock pointed us toward a less visible problem: the systems behind the scenes were slowing people down.
Staff might process a stove, bathtub, conference table, and lumber within minutes, and each donation could require a different sequence of decisions. During one observation, we watched staff manage 11–12 interruptions in under an hour while only three items were labeled in 42 minutes.
20+
Staff & stakeholder interviews
14
Interruptions every hour
17%
Of intake fields used by staff
Outcome
Improving inventory quality at intake strengthens pricing, inventory management, online merchandising, and customer discovery across the organization. Early results reinforced this potential: CJ Studio A/B testing generated 5.5× more link clicks and significantly increased reach and engagement, while Construction Junction secured $30,000 in funding for future implementation.