We get a lot of inquiries about how to build a successful design business from fellow designers in the industry, design students, and interns working with SGDI to experience and discover what path they want their career in design to take. There is one transcendent factor that plays into any design service professional’s ability to generate work, and that is the client experience. 

When we began utilizing Houzz, it was the early days of the platform’s existence, and at that time was largely a source of inspiration and communication, to share images with our clients in effort to help them to express their vision for their home to us.  As Houzz grew in its offerings as a more comprehensive site, and a toolbox to home professionals, we realized the value that it could hold in increasing our exposure and visibility to the general public who would be searching for a home design or interior design professional. We began to ask our clients to leave us feedback in the form of reviews on Houzz. This was simple for them to do, as they would likely already have a Houzz account, and could easily log back in to leave a testimonial to their experience working with SGDI.

These reviews helped us to be found by more homeowners searching for the right designer for their project, and in turn our reach grew. The Pro feature of our Houzz membership turned these reviews and our audience’s activity into a measurable database. We are able to see what kind of traffic our page is getting and which of our photos are really resonating with people, as they were saving our images into their ideabooks.  

Signing up as a Pro on Houzz also garners you leads from people who find your images and are searching for the services you offer. Clients have the opportunity to get in touch with you directly through the Houzz site, and the program’s web-based leads management system provides a straightforward way to communicate back-and-forth to see if there is a fit. We receive many leads from Houzz directly.

Houzz Pro can be as simple as a marketing tool, or a complex as a project management software, it is all left up to how you would choose to utilize its offerings.  The depth and breadth of the backend is impressive.  Being an established firm with a strong Admin team in-house, we definitely do not utilize Houzz Pro to the extent most others could.  We can see the value it would bring to smaller firms, or firms looking to simplify the complexities of running a design firm.  But even at the level we do utilize it, this program has shown great benefit.

We can confidently say that Houzz Pro has been a key tool in helping us to grow our design business,
and one we would recommend to any design professional who wants to grow their own.