How Houzz Is Using AI to Transform Interior Design & Home Remodeling | Liza Hausman

Your next client might walk into a design meeting with a third voice: an AI chatbot. That’s where our conversation with Liza Hausman, VP of Industry Marketing at Houzz, gets real. With Houzz connecting more than 65 million homeowners and 3 million design professionals, Liza has a rare, front-row view into what’s changing in home remodeling, interior design, and construction and what still never changes.

We talk about the new baseline homeowners expect: a clear renovation timeline, better education, 3D visuals that build confidence before money is spent, and real financial clarity from proposals to online payments. Liza also breaks down why “software overload syndrome” is draining firms, with teams stuck using six to fourteen disconnected apps and doing double entry just to keep a project moving. Her case is simple: AI only delivers value when it lives inside the workflows, powered by a single source of truth.

From there, we dig into practical tools inside Houzz Pro: AI-assisted project management, an AI meeting note-taker with transcripts and summaries, 2D plans converted into editable 3D floor plans, and even turning a 2D product image into a manipulable 3D model so renderings match the exact items clients will buy. We also go deep on AI search, AEO/GEO, reviews, badges, and verified projects as credibility signals that help homeowners find the right designer.

If you’re a designer, builder, or architect trying to protect your time while raising the client experience, this one is packed with usable ideas. Subscribe for more, share this with a design friend, and leave a review so more pros can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Questions

Voice Over 0:00

This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends.

TIffany Woolley 0:30

Imagine having a front row seat to millions of remodeling projects happening around the world. Our guest does exactly that. Liza Hausman is the vice president of industry marketing at House, the platform connecting over 65 million homeowners with 3 million design professionals. Today we'll explore the biggest trends shaping home design, the rise of AI, and what the future of our industry looks like. Liza, who's in the middle of her own remodel, it's a pleasure to have you join us on the iDesign Lab Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thanks, Tiffany. Thanks for having me. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, good morning.

Liza’s Path Into Home Tech

TIffany Woolley 1:12

So tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and how you got to house.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Great question. I've been at House for nearly 15 years now. So it's home. It's home. It really is home. And when I found it, I felt like it was home. And my background, I started off my career in advertising. Went back and got an MBA. I worked in management consulting for a number of years. When the dot-com boom first hit, I went out and actually started a home improvement startup that ultimately got purchased by Walmart. But I really got the bug for entrepreneurship at that point. And how fascinating. Was kind of a serial, kind of a serial startup marketer for a number of years. And then one of the founders at a startup I was at introduced me to the founders at House, where he was also an investor, and met the founders, handed off, just led the model, had been through a recent remodel, understood the challenges associated with it, at least from the homeowner perspective, you know, had worked with a number of different contractors, designers, et cetera, architects on my project, and loved the intersection of the business and the design side. And as a marketer, that's been a dream.

Scott Woolley 2:38

How long have you been with Howes? 15.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

So it'll be 15 years. Yeah, it'll be 15 years in September. And was this always your role in the advertising or the marketing side of so yes, I've always run marketing at Howes, but because the company has evolved, I've sort of been able to wear different hats over the evolve with it. Yeah, you know, we we started off for what most people know us for, which is the advertising advertising and marketing side, right? From most uh most designers and architects and contractors know us for being able to, you know, build a profile on house and use advertising to reach homeowners for new projects. Um, but about five years ago, we realized that just making those connections wasn't enough to make the process of building remodeling and design better for everyone involved. And that's when we decided to expand what we do to include SaaS software. And that's when we launched HousePro, the software uh system that we're really focused on today.

TIffany Woolley 3:43

Yeah, we're very familiar with that here. You know, it's funny because this is like to me, like house is almost part of our daily life in our business because as a design professional, we refer to it all the time. You know, it's in my little working bubble on my technology that we do create our lookbooks. And, you know, was that the original game plan with house?

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, it's a great question. You know, when when our founders started it, the original game plan was really just to be able to make the amazing talent that's out there more accessible to homeowners looking to build, remodel, renovate, etc. Um, when they went to renovate their own home, right? It was just a word-of-mouth referral, right? A friend, a realtor. Uh, and they wanted, you know, and and and and they got some good referrals, but it really nobody was the right fit. And they thought, why isn't there a really great visual resource out there? And the timing was right with the technology, because at that time, you know, prior to that, you couldn't really render big, beautiful photos online without a lot of cost of not at all. And, you know, the iPad came out. And so it was really this great time to uh enable the whole industry to put their portfolios online so that homeowners could really find just the right, you know, just the right fit and and just the right professional for them. So the original model was just to make those connections and and and improve the process. But as I said, you know, we've we've heard over the years from designers and contractors alike that um project management was an even bigger challenge. Necessary. And so, you know, building an AI platform to help businesses run more efficiently and profitable, right? Bringing together all the workflows in one place and having AI that's trained on our industry. The idea is to really take that inquiry, but then have it move seamlessly through a system, right? So for project management, for the design process, for project management, for procurement, for client management, for the financials, having everything in one place so that you have one source of truth. And we have a vision, version for designers and we have a version for builders of the ballas.

TIffany Woolley 6:00

I know

What Homeowners Now Expect

TIffany Woolley 6:01

it definitely is a wealth and a great resource of information. So after spending so many years at house, what has surprised you the most about homeowners' needs and you know, just the change through the time?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, it's a great question. So I wouldn't say homeowners have changed as humans, right? We're all the way home.

unknown 6:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

We have the same needs, but I would say that their expectations have changed alongside available technology, right? And I'm sure you've experienced this yourselves, but things they use in other apps and experiences from online banking to social, uh, right, they they they're like, okay, we expect everything to work the way it works on my phone. So it's not surprising that um they want you know tech-driven transparency, good communication. And we ran a lot of uh surveys to better understand what homeowners want. We actually ran a survey asking them, hey, what's the one thing that would have most approved your renovation experience? And they said, hey, you know, a clear project timeline, better education, um, 3D visuals, right? Being able to see what the outcome is going to be before the work begins, because as you know, your clients often don't have that same ability to visualize that you do. Correct. And and then just, you know, financial clarity, right? Understand and even the convenience of online payments. So the things again that they have learned are available, right, just by using their phone, they want to apply to the renovation and design process as well.

TIffany Woolley 7:32

And it's a kind of like any of us the more that you're given, the more tools that you're given, the more tools you want, right? Like it's right.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

The shiny new toy. And I will say the the more recent surprising thing, for better or worse, that I hear from both designers and contractors is that homeowners are now bringing their you know, AI chatbots to meetings and consulting third person in the project.

TIffany Woolley 7:54

So now instead of you know, a couple, you've got a couple with with uh, you know, Claude or Gemini uh chiming in with their their two cents on design. You know, it's funny as we've been doing these podcasts and I love listening to podcasts myself. You know, my takeaway has been that AI is not going to interfere with this industry as much as it's really going to just assist it. And I think that's such a great feeling, obviously, where AI is becoming such a huge part of our everyday life all of a sudden, like overnight. And I felt like it's kind of refreshing to know that it's it can't take our talent from us, and yet it really is a business where so much growth potential is still needed, and AI is just going to assist us in that. So as houses become more, you know, integrated with AI, where is the focus? Is it in the 3D renderings or is it in the seamlessness of you know?

Scott Woolley 9:02

Because Houses

AI-First Workflows Without Tool Overload

Scott Woolley 9:04

has a very big push right now, AI.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yes, we we absolutely consider ourselves an AI-first platform and we're trying to put it everywhere. And I will say the first problem we wanted to solve is to put AI where designers are already working, right? Where contractors are already working. So we did some research that showed that design firms and contractors to use an average of six and as many as 14 different disconnected apps and software tools.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Is a massive operational drag, right? You're doing double entry. It's hard to have a single source of truth. We actually have sort of dubbed this software overload syndrome. So true. Right? And so and that's the pain that we're kind of hearing. And then when you add AI on top of that, what we heard is most were seeing it as another separate tool that they had to feed and train and move information in and out of. So our goal really was to put AI directly into the workflows that we've already built for project management and design on house so that you don't have to buy another tool and you don't have to train it because it's already accessing the information that's already there. It's it's really impossible to get value from AI if you're having to pull data out of six different places to feed it and then to take that data out and put it back into those same six. Correct. So that I would say is like, you know, from a big picture standpoint, um, the number one thing we were trying to solve.

TIffany Woolley 10:32

So is there a plan for a 3D component to this AI growth?

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah. And I again, I'm we can I will talk to you about all the the features, right, that AI can power um from the design process. So we do have what we call our 3D floor plan tool, which allows designers to um take away. I think we've used that before. Yeah. Yeah, a 2D plan or even a hand drawing. And we use AI to actually ingest that and turn it into a functional 3D model that you can write edit and build out. Um, one of the I think biggest applications of AI that designers have been excited about is we use AI to enable designers to turn any 2D product image into a 3D model, right? Because what what you had were you know designers designing in 3D, but then they'd often have placeholders because they couldn't use exactly the right product or exactly the right tile, right? Exactly the right share or lamp in that 3D design for the client. They'd have to say, oh, imagine that it's this tile with this picture I have on the side. Um and so we actually have a tool that will convert both products and materials to 3D so that you can have it look exactly like the products that you've chosen for your client.

Scott Woolley 11:54

So from a is is it as simple as taking like a chair or a table and that you've any any table or chair and it will create it 3D?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

If you can find that product online, so there's some you know, no background images of the chair, table, lamp, even towel and um wallpaper, wallpaper, exactly. Um, you can put those photos into the system and this and say, hey, create me a 3D model, and it will give you a manipulable 3D model that you can then place and you can tell it, you know, here are the dimensions. So let's say, and the kind of fun thing about that is let's say you're gonna do a custom piece, it's gonna be based on right the photos of this, you know, standard chair, but you're gonna make it a little wider or you're gonna make it a little taller, right? You can actually adjust the dimensions in the model and have it create exactly what you want. So it's it's pretty uh powerful.

TIffany Woolley 12:53

So I mean, that is something that we talk about here all the time. And we definitely implement those features, and that's something that we'll have to definitely talk to our own team about our team about. Is there any problems that you foresee with AI, like troubleshooting some of this? I mean, we've had a few because it manipulates things, so we can't, you know, we can't completely leave our 3D renders away, you know, just yet, because the 3D, the AI kind of manipulates its own.

Scott Woolley 13:28

It will change part of the scene or the background or move it a window or right.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

And that's why we've we've built it in so that we can control for those things, right? Because if you're just going to any of the other AI design tools, you know, it kind of takes creative license with correct, right? And so we're trying to control that more. And so our renders are don't don't have those problems. They're kind of based on what you design. Um, you know, they have different strengths, but our goal is right to try to minimize the kind of free free license that AI uh that AI is taking. Um, but yes, you always need to check, you know, you always need to check. Um, you know, sometimes if you're using AI in one of those models, right, it's creating things that don't exist or creating products that don't exist, right? And so um obviously you you're always going to need to put your industry eye on what's coming out of it.

TIffany Woolley 14:23

And for you know, having access to this special feature, like through your house app, how does is it part of your designer program or is this part of feature that everybody has access to? Like how is the app integrating all of these new technologies? And who's it driven to?

SPEAKER_01 14:45

So House Pro is our software and app just for the industry.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Subscribe um to our software um on a monthly or annual basis, and this feature is built in uh to that software subscription that's in the desktop and the app version. Um, the app version has an AI assistant built in, and actually both have an AI assistant built in. So you can actually ask it to you know find a conversation or a product or ask, you know, what what profitability looks like and what your margins are on a project. And so again, it it all your information is right there. So it's got it's got that kind of visibility. It can do on the spot, you know, calculations, like you want to tell your contractor how much painter material is you know needed generally for something to do, right? All of that it can do. Um, one of the great features that I we're seeing a lot of interest in because um there are products uh out there on the market where you have to buy a device and pay a separate subscription just to have AI note-taking for calls and meetings. And we have that built right into the software. So you don't have to buy any device, you just use your phone. You don't need to pay for storage or subscription. Unbelievable. So we've had a lot of folks like, oh my gosh, you know, I don't want to buy yet another tool and then have to copy the data out of there from the meeting and put it in the notes over here. So all of it is all of it consolidated, consolidated. It goes right into the correct project. You get an AI summary of the meeting, right? What we hear from designers is right, they'll have that client meeting or even a you know, a vendor subcontractor meeting and being able to be in the moment, right, stay present, record those, get a transcript, get an AI summary, and be able to follow back up with the proposal or changes or you know, anything, notes, um, and have that captured in the project is just so incredibly powerful. And so our goal again was to build all of this functionality into a single subscription and a single tool.

TIffany Woolley 16:48

I mean, that is truly a mind-bender, as I have a client that says all the time, like that is so hard to even like that's like your best friend, literally, in this little tiny app. What is your strategy so that the industry and all the designers, you know, understand what this enhanced option is?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

You know, I will take any and all advice, to be honest. You know, really, because our biggest challenge is as you, you know, as has come up in this podcast, right? You're aware of how it for the idea books images, for finding pros. That's right, that's been our history. But the software piece is so big and so powerful. And again, we have tens of thousands of designers using it. Like it, it is um a popular tool, but there's, you know, there's still an awareness gap uh that we're looking to address. And so doing these kinds of conversations, I hope, will help uh encourage folks to come and check it out and you know, talk to someone on the team. But we also have, you know, happy to introduce them to designers who are using the tool to help them learn more about it. We have a ton of if you go to house.com forward slash pro, you can, you know, see stories of designers and kind of the impact it's had on their business. So we're really just trying to get out with events and um educational events and just being out at at trade events to help people understand what we're doing these days. No, it's it's really exceptional.

Scott Woolley 18:15

Yeah, you know, we've talked about AI, but what we haven't really talked about is that where house started, it started for I think I believe it started for homeowners, a place where homeowners who are looking at read you know designing or decorating could find professionals, could find interior designers. That aligned with their aesthetics, that they find contractors, could shop for products, you know, get inspired. And then there's the other side to house, which is the professional side for the interior design firms, for the interior decorators, for the for all these resources that that you're talking about. Um it's grown massively, house, on a worldwide basis.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yes, definitely worldwide. And you know, it's it's interesting that you say it started for homeowners. It really started for both rate because we couldn't have the homeowners without it. Have the designers and builders and remodelers there too, because all of the photos are the portfolios for them. So we really always were looking at the industry holistically and saying, hey, how can we make this better? How can we help designers and contractors be found and discovered and right highlight all that talent? And then how can we have let homeowners see what's out there because they don't know where to they don't know where to start?

Scott Woolley 19:30

Right. I think it's important for people who are listening to this podcast or watching it who aren't familiar with house, for us to really kind of go in and explain that it's it's an enormous resource for the the average person who has a home that's looking to do something to it. And for the you know the designer, the audience, the industry leader, contractor who's looking to connect possibly with you know new business. Also the the all of the you know assets that you have that help and provide a tremendous amount of you know assistance.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Yeah, thank you. That that's very true. I appreciate you mentioning the homeowner side of it. Absolutely a huge resource to get inspired, find the right pro. Um, I think you guys had asked about you know who has access to these tools. So, you know, if you're a designer or contractor or architect, you can um you can have access to like the 3D floor planning tool. You get one for free uh as part of just having a profile and house. So folks can go in and experiment and start to see some of the basic tools and then you know, either sign up for a trial or uh talk to one of our uh our team members if you want to get a full demo of what's available on the professional side.

Procurement Selections And Vendor Sourcing

Scott Woolley 20:45

Right, but you also have like a whole back-end system for like an interior design firm that handles. I mean, we haven't even touched upon that, you know, for the 3D tools that we're talking about are just one piece of it.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

It's it is, yes, um, you know, cloud-based software that allows a firm to run all of its workflows from, you know, again, that we have a CRM, so you can track all of your clients and leads and sources and see what's happening there. Uh, we have design tools like we've talked about, and we have amazing procurement tools. So I think our selections tool is one of the things that's actually changing how designers manage their businesses because the selections tool is now in the cloud. Clients can see the options presented to them, they can see the impact on budget, they can approve and decline and make comments. All of that is sort of captured again in that one source of truth about decisions made. And then once products are approved, it moves seamlessly into a selections tracker, which is that whole procurement process so that everything needed to purchase the product, um, track the product through its entire lifecycle until it's installed at the client's house. Is is managed again in that same place without having to copy and paste and move it into different spreadsheets.

Scott Woolley 22:08

And House also has thousands and thousands of products from dozens and dozens of manufacturers that you could pull from within House to put into everything that you're talking about, from the layouts to the 3D plumbing.

unknown 22:24

Yeah.

Scott Woolley 22:24

And then and then make the purchases and so forth through House.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

So we actually are no longer in the e-commerce business directly. Okay. The products are still available to use in designs, but folks are not purchasing on house per se. They have to and purchase the product elsewhere. We kind of realize that we're much better set up to stay neutral, to just enable wherever designers or homeowners are doing their purchasing. We just want to make that process easier for them to know what they're sourcing. And again, if designers are making recommendations or doing that procurement, that's great. If they're doing e-design and providing a link or a QR code for the client to purchase the products, we support that. However, they want to work, we support it.

TIffany Woolley 23:17

I mean, that's really nice to hear considering being a designer and with so much e-commerce out there, you know, clients, you know, not always, but you do get one or two that want to shop you or like, you know, so it is nice to have one less of that available to them, especially, you know, when you are using house as such a tool for a project. What made you guys decide to forgo that avenue?

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Um, you know, it was a few things. I think the the biggest, you know, I think the big one is we just wanted more of our focus to be on the software. We just see that as a much bigger opportunity and a much more important thing to help the industry. There, like you said, there's a lot of e-commerce out there. It's not super differentiated. Um and uh and so being able to, you know, have more trade catalogs in the tool and try to build that out to be the resource that our professional community wants. That's just more of our focus. And when we listen to what they wanted, that's where you know we found that it we could make add the most value.

TIffany Woolley 24:29

So as designers use your tool and use their your software as their basis for operation, if they want to add a new vendor, how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Sure, it's super easy. We have, you know, basically one of the tools we have is a vendor, like a vendor list that you can build a library of your vendors, just like you can build a library of your products. Um, and so you can keep track of those vendors very easily, issue, you know, create and issue purchase orders. Um, we're working on using AI to be able to track uh the status uh of order. That's one of the yes, pain points that we've heard. Um, another from just the product sourcing standpoint that we're using AI for now is we've always had a product clipper tool where you could go to your vendor site, right? Even if it's just trade, you know, and easily pull those in. Well, now you can actually just give our tool the URL of the product page that you want, and it will automatically pull all the information in. Um, and so found, or even if you're just you know logged in on your on your trade vendor page and you want it to grab it, you just click one button and it pulls everything in. And we just hear this has been such an enormous time saver because, as you know, every vendor's website and page is structured differently. So if you're vendor to vendor and you're trying to find, you know, these pieces of information, they're located in a different place on every single vendor's website. And so um, I you know, I've had people come to me just like and give me a hug because they can't believe they no longer have to hunt all over, they can just click a button and the AI will find the information. So there's just those kinds of things are just such a, you know, they they're so delightful and it's such a huge time saver. And it's you know, it's nothing anyone wanted to spend their time on. Right. So it's been a yeah, it's been a huge efficiency boost.

TIffany Woolley 26:20

So not only as you know, a VP at house, but now you know, doing some of your own renovation work, have you used your platform to source all your people and your vendors?

SPEAKER_01 26:36

I have, and you know, having my vendors use the software is definitely um is definitely helpful. I mean, you know, I I'm going through it now, right? I've ex and this isn't my first renovation, by the way. I've been through many before we had the software. And so I know the pain points of okay, you know, had this conversation with the architect, but the architect's not talking to the interior designer. And right, so having that one source of truth where you know ever all the documents are in one place and the contractor can see everything that's happening, um, it's it's really uh it's really a huge help. And, you know, one of the things we're hoping to do because we reach so many homeowners is also to educate them that hiring a professional that uses the platform is gonna give them a much better renovation experience where they get a client dashboard and they're able to see, you know, where they are in the schedule and when someone's gonna be on site and um you know what what monies are due when.

TIffany Woolley 27:33

Well, I love to hear you say that as well, because that's one thing that we try to, you know, really put out on the iDesign Lab podcast is for so many years, an interior designer was thought of, which it is, a luxury and just something that was only for a certain class where, you know, now people are surrounded by beautiful things, your home is an extension of your wellness. You know, it it does matter. And why not, you're gonna spend the money. So, whatever money you're comfortable with, whatever that budget might look like, why not bring a team of professionals together to maximize your own investment? So that is something that you know we want to, you know, a message that's very important to us to bring up.

Scott Woolley 28:18

You're like promoting that.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

No, 100%. And I I've used, I'm using an interior designer now, using interior designers over the years. And yeah, it's it, I mean, it again, it's it's not a bargain product, right? Like that's not the goal. Um, but people should know that designers can help work with a budget, right? And are the ones that can make choices of where do you want to splurge and where can you, you know, make some smart choices, or even just where are you going to pick the types of items and fabrics that are really gonna work for the lifestyle you have. Um I I mean, I yeah, I could not have done my project without my design team. I mean, A, I don't have the time, but B, it's just the access to products, right, and the knowledge of what's out there. Um, it's really invaluable.

TIffany Woolley 29:03

Well, and that's what I always try to strive to is that it is all these tools that should make this experience a joyful one. You're surrounded by beautiful things, you're creating, you know, your home, your safety net, your, you know, safe space. Why not truly maximize that? Yep, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

And you know, and I think our message to the you know, the design industry is of course, you still have clients that are super high-end that just, you know, just want you to go and do it. Um, but you know, more and more clients are younger, are tech savvy, and are expecting to have, you know, an experience that's tech enabled, right? Where they can go in and see what choices were made. And you know, the benefit to the designer is you're not getting a text at you know, all hours saying, what did we decide about that? Because they can't log in and say, okay, we chose this, you know.

TIffany Woolley 29:54

Right. They can kind of do it on their own time, which is another amazing thing, is people are on a different schedule. It's a busy life and a busy world we live in. That this, you know, this software allows connectivity at anybody's comfort zone, any hour, any time, in the comfort of their own home, where a wife can go to a meeting and be able to recap it with her husband at his own, you know, convenience. So it definitely is an amazing tool.

Getting Found Through AI Search

Scott Woolley 30:26

Yeah. So for an individual who's starting out and they want to start and get into interior design, what are the steps to, they have no clients, what are the steps to use house to help them start their business?

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Yeah, it's a great question. And I, you know, I'm not an interior designer. I actually also host a podcast called The Pro Perspective, where I've interviewed some really savvy designers. So I'm happy to share what I think are some of the key takeaways I've had from those conversations about how to get started, you know, and and uh that include house, but but also beyond. Um, and I think you guys know this as well, right? Doing work for yourself, for friends and family, right? And getting it photographed, right, when you have clients. That's true. I think how I started. I will say um the one of the things that I think I'd love to talk about, and I think you guys, you know, asked about reviews and and reputation. Um, I think really important question for both anyone getting started, but also anyone working today is what do I need to do to come up in AI search results? And and right now people aren't when they go to Google or even if they're using um, you know, a chat model, they're not they're asking conversational AI assistance, very specific queries, like find me a highly rated interior designer in my area who does this style and is great at communication. And what firms need to do today to get visibility in those search results and the AI search results, and you may they call it AEO or GEO, generative engine optimization, um, is making sure that you're structuring your business information so AI search engines can easily find, verify, and recommend your firm, your brand. So when a user asks those kinds of questions, a homeowner asks um an AI search engine, right? AI is doing kind of dozens of background Google searches. So those AI tools prioritize like highly credible structured networks over isolated sites. So having a profile on house has actually become even more important, not just for homeowners who are looking on house, but for anyone doing anyone, any homeowner out there who's likely doing an AI search. And we actually recently re-engineered our house profile specifically for AI search. So we optimize how some of the premium features like verified badges or certifications or project offerings, right? We've made it easy for AI to find information and confidently list, for example, a designer with a house profile over maybe another designer in the area who has doesn't have that optimal profile. So there's a lot of things that folks need to know about that AI search. Um, for example, most designers have portfolio pages with no text, right? Just beautiful projects and project names, but AI can't see the photos. And so you're not putting some description on your photos, like this is the project, and you know, here's what the client was looking to do, or here's what we did for the client. Those kinds of things are helpful. Um, so you'd kind of need to add text, even though aesthetically it may not be your first choice, but maybe when you click into the project, there's more information there. Um the AI search engines also love structured QA formats. So having making sure you have a dedicated FAQ page on your website with answering the exact questions that you know your clients ask you, right? Like you all know when a client's come to meet with you what questions they have. Yeah. So if you can put answers to some of those on an FAQ page, those are the things people are searching for, right? Those are the questions they're asking. That's gonna really help your business show up as a recommended um business. So there's there's a whole lot. We'd actually have a webinar if people search um uh like you know, House Pro, AEO. We have a webinar that is available, you know, for anybody to watch, uh, any designer or contractor to watch that can help with that. Um so that's one piece I would, I would, I would recommend.

TIffany Woolley 34:41

That's huge. And you also mentioned the badge program, which I'm familiar with, obviously as a designer, but how you know tell the audience a little bit like how you earn those badges.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Yeah, so there's a combination. We have um the best of house program, where designers and others can earn badges when their photos are saved by homeowners or they have great reviews at house. So that's you don't have to do anything other than make sure you're getting client reviews and that you're adding new projects to uh to the site. And then we also have um you know premium profiles that come with um some of our software programs or with our marketing programs where um you can have badges that call out specific things. So let's say you're a woman-owned business or you have um a military background or it's family-owned, right? There are things, different things that you can add to your profile to kind of hopefully resonate with different folks out there that you know that might be looking looking for that.

TIffany Woolley 35:43

And does house do any form of screening of, you know, is there any type of like logistics that you know you go through for people to be welcome or if there's anything that's not working with somebody who's using um you're saying for just for like on the professional side, like anybody that you know something just doesn't work out that that you just decide, I don't think you're right for this platform, or you know, just to protect everybody, I guess, at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I think that's a big reason. There's there's a few things that go on. So one is the reviews program is super important, right? And we do we do have a pretty elaborate system for filtering out, you know, spam and bots and you know other countries that are trying to write to game the system. So we have an elaborate system for that, and we do think reviews are important. It's also, you know, the your portfolio is important, right? And we do rank folks in the directory based on a combination of things that that are these credibility signals, right? That you're a legitimate business, you have a real website, um, you you know, you have a significant portfolio, you're getting reviews from real clients that aren't spam. So all of these things help filter out the uh you know and and if people complain, then yes, we do have a way to to intervene. If we get homeowners that complain uh and we get multiple complaints and we find that somebody's not legit, uh we certainly have actions we can take. But it really hasn't that we we haven't found that that's a problem. We don't get a lot of complaints because we require folks to make an investment to actually show up at the top. And and and actually the software is one of the things that's helping with that. So um if you're uh uh if you're using the marketing program, we can actually show how many times you've been hired. Uh that's amazing through the site, like through how we also like even if you don't get hired through the site, but you're using the software, um, most folks are using online payments. And so we actually can validate that a real project is happening. So we can say you have 20 verified projects, you have 40 verified projects, and that also is a great credibility signal that actually for the AI search we can provide that nobody else can provide. But that's a real, you know, that's a that's a signal to a homeowner that this is a legitimate business active doing projects right now. Um, and so we're investing more and more in that to be able to send those signals back to the directory piece of the business to make sure that those firms that are active, that are doing business now, that are, you know, using the software, providing a great experience are getting credit for that effort.

TIffany Woolley 38:28

I mean, it really, it really does kind of eliminate all the bad egg situation along the way. I mean, the whole process that has been so integrated over time kind of is foolproof in a way.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

It it definitely helps, right? Because if you can see those things, then you know fake business. Um there, you know, there's there's spam on both sides, right? There's fake homeowners trying to contact pros. Yes, you're right. So it's a it's it's a it's a constant whack-a-mole. I won't I won't lie. But I think we have, you know, we're we're maybe doing it better than most um by pulling those those true signals in that work is being done.

Where AI Helps And Where It Can’t

Scott Woolley 39:10

Where do you see hows in five years from now with what you've got going on in AI? Do you think that's gonna change the industry or change the landscape, the way in which interior designers or architects, homeowners?

SPEAKER_01 39:27

I I sure I sure hope so. I mean, I think uh, you know, in it in my ideal world, yes, you know, globally, this is where folks are uh both homeowners and pros are all running their projects on House Pro because it's providing that based best experience of being able to have 3D visuals and know what you're getting and and be able to have true real-time visibility into uh your project profitability, um, really empowering your team to be able to focus on the high quality interactions or on design work instead of admin work. Um, I I do see that this is where the industry is going, uh, and it's super important.

Scott Woolley 40:09

Yeah, we've seen in the last, I'm gonna say, two, two and a half years, every project that we're doing, where 3D photorealistic renderings are being done before the client spends really a dollar. So we're doing all the selections, they're seeing these renderings, and you know, six months or a year from now, when the project is done, and you take a photo of that room or that house and you compare it to the rendering from months ago, it's you can't tell the difference. I mean, that that alone is we see how it's changing the buying pattern and decision making of people.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Exactly. And we're seeing that happen both in construction and design because it's helping people have that confidence. You're probably seeing it, right? To either move forward or to buy into you know a larger budget or the specific recommendations you're making because they can see, okay, if I make this structural change or if I get this product or choose this item, it really has, you know, it's gonna, I'm gonna love uh the end results. Right. It makes sense.

Scott Woolley 41:14

Yeah, so we have uh we have someone that we're working with on some on some AI tools for ourselves internally, but we're kind of concerned because he's this individual who's helping us who's very involved in the AI world in different projects all over the world. You know, he's basically showing us and telling us that in two to three years, you're gonna be able to just, with all the photos that we're generating and everything and all the projects that we're generating, that AI will be able to take all that information and we input a few pieces of information as prompts, and it will immediately give us renderings, layouts of everything that a client wants without putting the you know, days and weeks of time putting it all together.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Yeah, it's a good it's a good question. I mean, you know, AI is certainly the wild west right now. We're trying to, I'd love to show you at some point what we're doing because we have a 3D rendering tool as well. Um, but the yes, maybe it could look I think there's a question of like, do you want it coming from just everything you've done before or people expecting like truly fresh new work, right? It doesn't know what the new products and materials and what the going forward trends are. Um it's sort of, you know, so I I think it's going to be able to speed the process. And it's a personal choice. So, you know, I know interior designers that I talk to like doing that to riff on their ideas. So let's say they they do create something new, but then they'll use AI to kind of make quick changes and play around um without having to do, you know, so much design work to kind of riff on what they're doing. But I do question, you know, it it can only work with what's been done before. Yeah. And I think where humans are unique and where designers um are unique. I mean, I think it's an interesting time right now where the you look in the news, right? Everyone's recommending that their their children go into trades or things that work real world because and even if AI can sort of you know help with the design process, I I do think there's like the democratization aspect, right? At the low end, will people be able to more easily come up with ideas and then shop re try to shop retail to match that? Sure, they can. But it's not gonna push the envelope, it's not gonna do the work that you know most design firms want to do with you know new things and the new products out there that AI can't even see. Um true. And it certainly can't handle all of the procurement, the client relationships, right? All all of those pieces. Yeah, the on site questions and that are very real world based and things that come up that you know, uh I did um uh I hosted a panel with uh architects. And and builders, and you know, the architects, yeah, their firm has changed, right? They've definitely been able to streamline and use AI to remove a lot of things. But like you said, it doesn't, it doesn't, it still doesn't know structurally, and it will get better and better, but there's things that it just isn't going to be able to do in terms of being future looking. Can it design a building in the style of things that have done before? Sure. Directionally it can. Um, but is it going to come up with the next new big thing? No.

TIffany Woolley 44:28

Well, and I feel like design is still like it's a feeling, it's an emotion. Those are things that AI really just can't tackle. So as long as we're still bringing those things to the forefront with the creativity and using a house style pro tool, you know, you can still kind of marry the old and the new way of doing things. Right? Like the technology side, but also the creative side. 100%. That's so incredible, really.

Trends Smart Homes And Learning Resources

TIffany Woolley 44:59

Um, so what excites you, what trend right now excites you in home design? Oh gosh, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

You know, I don't know. But then I would say there's like a particular trend that excites me. I mean, I have my own taste. Um, you know, uh my designer sent me to, you know, a showroom in LA to kind of look at and try out a, you know, a custom set of bar stools. And so for me, I just I love the tactile elements of everything. You know, I like that there's so many more textures and mixed materials. I think that's probably the thing that excites me the most. Um it's funny, my husband and I were looking for at new cars, and there's a trend for new cars to be minimal if you've ever seen like the inside of a Tesla. Right. Nothing. Nothing there. Nothing there. And like, and that's the trend. And so I do think there's there's it's it'll be interesting generally generationally to see if the generation that likes those like you know, absolutely nothing car interiors feel that same way about their homes. Um, but I I don't, it's not I don't love it. Um I'm and I'm I'm a non-clutter minimalist person in general, even in my house. But um I I still think that being able to have such a variety of options to make them personal and to kind of really connect with the materials, I don't know. That that's the part that gets me excited.

TIffany Woolley 46:33

Definitely. Do you deal with a lot of with how's like a lot of the any of the appliance vendors or tech, you know, that kind of um that part of the design industry? You know, there's just so much technology now interwoven into all these appliances, TVs, the sound. I mean, everything is through your app, lighting, all of that.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Is that a component that you're yeah, we do see when we you know, we work with most of the brands, they advertise on house to reach homeowners or to weak uh to reach um design and construction professionals with kind of the new tools there. And you know, technology and products is definitely a big theme that comes out uh in our research, smart homes, um, you know, all of the systems that are available, smart faucets, right? Things that are trying to save energy or try to save water are definitely interesting areas.

TIffany Woolley 47:31

That's so crazy. I had a client the other day, she was like, I just want a dumb appliance. She's like, don't give me anything too smart, you know, just because sometimes it gets a little unnerving that we do rely so much on technology that, you know, it's not foolproof just yet. We want to be able to stay, you know, in control of some things. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

And I like turning on buttons and knobs like to have that opportunity, you know.

unknown 48:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

Or, you know, things like we've got high windows and having you know automated blinds is an important one. Right. Right, those are things that are just necessary, I think, and and important and um and are our huge convenience. So I think more and more of that uh is coming our way.

TIffany Woolley 48:21

Uh, another question as a as a professional, what is your recommendation to get to these webinars that house hosts, like how can you become more insightful, you know, to know what's happening and how you can become more aware of all these tools that are readily available?

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Um, that is a great question. So um if you go to uh house.com these days, um, you know, you will see uh a software dropdown at the top. Um and there's a resources section with training webinars, with our blog. Um if you go to the blog, that's where all of our uh webinars like the one on AI search are located. Um again, we show up pretty well uh for AI search itself. So if you you if you want to search for house training webinars or house pro webinars, um it's all easy to find. You can always just email me, Liza L I Z-A at house.com. If you have any questions or can't find a resource, I'd be happy to send you the link or connect you with someone on the team.

TIffany Woolley 49:33

And for designers or end users, whatever, what is the best for like an onboarding process? Like just literally downloading it? Or I mean, I use the app. I know Scott works with the desktop version, but I'm more fresh.

SPEAKER_01 49:50

Yeah, so you know, we we've we've recently kind of completely refocused our client success team to provide a really great onboarding process. So um, you know, I'd be happy to connect you or anybody else with the right folks to, you know, either learn more about the software and then learn about, you know, how to get smart uh once you're using the software. We have a lot of on-demand, but we also have real humans that, you know, if you use the software, will actually help import all of your data from any other systems you're using. Really? That's amazing.

Scott Woolley 50:25

They do have a great tech support system. You do have a great tech support system there.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

Thank you. Well, we we have real real humans now that actually, just for setup, that will help you consolidate from whatever systems you're using to bring that information over, whether it's your vendor lists or product lists, product library, we can bring over whatever you need to make that process easier. And then we have real humans that will spend as much time as you want training.

TIffany Woolley 50:53

Well, I think it's really impressive. And we are grateful for your time today in teaching us and telling us a little bit more of what House has to offer, which seems pretty endless for our industry.

SPEAKER_01 51:07

Well, I appreciate you guys having me. It was really nice to spend time with you and you hope to ask great questions.

Scott Woolley 51:14

Have a great day and have a thanks for being with us.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Thank you, see you too.

Final Thanks And How To Connect

TIffany Woolley 51:20

Thank you for listening to the iDesign Lab podcast.

Voice Over 51:24

iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWinteriors.com.