The Houzz Blog

Be My Renovation Valentine

Friday, February 12, 2016

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we asked our community to tell us about renovating with their significant other. While some U.S. Houzzers found the experience frustrating (41%), difficult (25%) and painful (12%), even more found renovating with their partner to be fulfilling (51%) and fun (46%). Though many have a love-hate relationship during their renovation, nearly everyone reported that in the end, the result was worth the effort (97%).

Top piece of advice for those about to renovate with their partner? Compromise! (48%) This is not surprising considering that less than half of couples see eye to eye on remodeling decisions (47%). One in five disagree on furniture and wall color (both 19%) and nearly the same number have differing opinions on flooring (17%) and decorative accents (16%).

This may be why secrets are prevalent between partners during renovation projects. Nineteen percent make a significant design or purchase decision during the project without telling their partner, 11% withhold the cost of a purchase or service and 9% sneak away from home to catch a little break.

When looking at global results, amour is in the air in France, where couples are most likely to think “we make a great team” during the renovation process (65%) followed by Canada (63%), Sweden and the U.S. (both 62%). The French are also the most likely to sneak away from home to get away during their projects (23%) - perhaps this is the key to a happy renovation!

In contrast, Australians are most likely to think “I may need to break up with or divorce this person (13%), followed by Russians and Brits (both 7%). Those in Germany may face tough love as they’re most likely to throw away something belonging to their significant other (15%).

We’re happy to report that utilizing photos and ideas from Houzz is a key way for couples to resolve/address the challenges they faced during the renovation, second only to compromising. To manage stress during the project, 28% of U.S. couples report that hugging, kissing and being affectionate helped and 14% turn to regular date nights.

What’s more, post-renovation, 67% of couples report feeling more comfortable in their home, 61% feel happier and 53% feel more organized. Nearly a third also spend more time together at home after their project (32%). Now that’s love.

Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day and an even happier remodel!

How the Houzz Rubber Duckie Tradition Took Flight

Friday, January 29, 2016

Ofir Zwebner, Jessica Hyde and Ernest Mak, creators/keepers of the rubber duckie tradition at Houzz

Ask any Houzzer about our company mascot, and you’ll hear the same answer every time: a rubber duckie. The plastic pets can be found on every desk at Houzz, in a variety of colors and costumes, including in our offices around the world. But how did the tradition get its start? We spoke with the originators and keepers of the Houzz duckie to find out.

Ernest Mak, back-end architect: It was actually an accident, how this all began!

Ofir Zwebner, application architect: Ernest and I joined the engineering team at Houzz around the same time, in late 2010. There were only a handful of people on the team back then.

Ernest: In the beginning, we used to do ad hoc releases, pushing new versions of the site at any time. We were moving to a regular, weekly release cycle, and we needed a name for them. The team was brainstorming on what we should name our first release. The first thing that came to my mind was the rubber duck that my daughter played with at home. So I said, ‘Why don’t we call it Duckie?’ And we did! I bought a small rubber duck at a stationary store down the street from the office that day and kept him on my desk.

The original Houzz rubber duckie – he quacks loudly and his mouth lights up when its button is pressed

Ofir: He would bring the duck to meetings and instead of answering/responding, he would sometimes use the duck instead. It was really irritating!

Ernest: A few weeks after the Duckie release, Ofir found a website that sells rubber ducks, and bought 50 of them in all sorts of themes and costumes.

Ofir: I gave everyone on the team a duckie that fit their personality or interests. Sheila Schmitz, editor at Houzz and an avid reader, got a librarian duck. Annie Thornton, a member of the editorial team who’s passionate about gardening, got a garden gnome duckie. Then I bought dog and cat duckies. When a new person joined the team, I’d ask them if they were a dog or cat person, and gave them a duck that fit their preference. Everyone would put them on their desks, and on their monitors. It added some color to our all-white desks and chairs!

Ernest: Adi and Alon (cofounders of Houzz) embraced it, both in their words and their actions. There are duckies on their desks and computer monitors, too.

Ofir: We’re very lucky that Jessica joined the team and continued the tradition.

Jessica Hyde, data quality analyst: I didn’t get a duckie when I first joined Houzz in 2013! This made me passionate about continuing the practice. It isn’t an official role – it’s just something I took on. Someone tells me that a new person joined the team, and I stop by with a box of duckies to welcome them. People call me the duck fairy! It’s a great way to introduce new team members to the Houzz culture, and make them feel that they belong. It’s also nice that I have a reason to say hi to every new person this way, and they like me immediately because I’m the person who gave them a duck.

Ofir: That’s something that I miss!

Jessica posing with a duckie decked out in traditional Scottish attire in the U.K.

Jessica: I also ship boxes of ducks to our international offices every time we launch in a new market. And when the country managers come to visit us in Palo Alto, they fill their suitcases with duckies for their teams.

Ofir: They also often bring us duckies from their own countries when they come to town.

Jessica: The rubber duckies are great. They remind us that having fun is a part of the culture at Houzz, and that it’s okay to enjoy ourselves at work. They also remind us that it’s okay to be a little loud from time to time, like Ernest’s duck!

A few of the ducks at Houzz Japan

A festive flock of duckies at Houzz Spain

A trio of ducks pose with sweet treats on a desk of the Houzz Sweden team

Read more about our affinity for duckies and see examples of how Houzzers incorporate them into their homes here and here.

Houzz Kicks Off the New Year in Vegas

Thursday, January 28, 2016

We kicked off the new year with a bang at Design & Construction Week in Las Vegas, one of the industry’s largest gatherings for home building, remodeling and design professionals and brands.

For 2016, we hosted booths at the International Builders’ Show (IBS), Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), and The International Surface Event (TISE), all of which buzzed with excitement as our team connected with thousands of pros: from those just getting started on Houzz who came seeking best practices, to Houzz power users who shared their inspiring success stories. Houzz experts offered free profile consultations, advising pros on how to maximize their presence on Houzz and take their marketing to the next level with our Pro+ advertising program. IBS also provided the ideal platform for Houzz to launch our strategic alliance with the NAHB, helping builders and remodelers around the country benefit from Houzz technology and marketing tools.

During our in-booth presentations, we also shared the latest industry data and trends from our Houzz research, including our 2016 State of the Industry. As part of that report, we’re thrilled to announce that 2015 was a year of revenue growth for nearly three-quarters of residential businesses on Houzz, and the majority expect even more growth in revenue and profit in 2016.

We were delighted to hear from many pros at the shows that Houzz has played a role in this growth. We look forward to supporting our pros in the coming year as we continue to build Houzz into an essential resource for the home improvement community.

Houzzer Profile: Gary Yue, Back-End Engineer

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Gary is a back-end engineer at Houzz whose responsibilities include infrastructure, platform architecture, and scaling. Outside of work, he loves to play – whether he’s on the basketball court shooting hoops with friends, at his piano playing song after song, or with his three-year-old son doing anything at all.

How did you get into computer science?
Ever since I was a kid, I always liked to build stuff. I played with Legos and built toy models. I loved having the freedom to create with my hands whatever I imagined in my mind. There was a great sense of satisfaction that came from making something out of nothing.

When I was a teenager, my mom bought me my first computer. That gave me the first taste of what a computer program was and the impact a computer can have on our daily lives. It was fun to play games, of course. But I was also excited by everything you could do on a computer, from typing documents and then printing them onto physical paper, to drawing graphs and diagrams, to searching and finding information that previously could have only been found in a hard-copy encyclopedia.

During my freshman year in college, I was deciding between medicine, architecture and computer science as my major. I ended up going the computer science route because it really combines my love of computers and the designing/building process.

What’s your favorite part of working at Houzz?
You know you’ve found a great place to work when you enjoy it so much that it doesn’t feel like work at all. It really boils down to two things: people and interest.

Everyone here is smart. But there’s no ego. Everyone is collaborative and likes to help each other out. Since you have people with similar values and interests, the team here is a close bunch. We often hang out at night or on weekends. My colleagues at Houzz are not just coworkers; many of them have become life-long friends.

And the work we do together is really interesting. Of all the things you build here, no two days are alike, so you never get bored.

What should an engineering candidate know about working at Houzz?
We put tremendous effort into finding the right cultural fit. We want people who are technically strong and also gel with the way we work. Since there is a flat structure, self-driven motivation and taking responsibility for your projects are key to success. People here have a strong sense of ownership and take pride in what they do.

What’s your favorite thing you’ve worked on at Houzz?
People browse millions of photos and products on the site based on the search infrastructure that I helped build. It’s a great feeling to contribute to an aspect of the site that people love so much. As more and more people learn about Houzz, the number of users on the site continues to increase, and we need to ensure the site is built to handle that growth. That’s one of the technical challenges I enjoy most – scaling work, building the platform to support that continuously increasing user base.

What’s your favorite Houzz experience?
One of the many highlights for me is our annual Houzz retreat, where the entire company spends two days together at an offsite location. It’s a chance for people to step back from their daily work and think about what we can do next for Houzz. We have group sessions to brainstorm ideas with colleagues from different cross-functional teams. In the end, each group presents their thinking to the rest of the company. It’s exciting to imagine what’s next together.

How do you use Houzz at home?
My wife and mom are heavy Houzz users. My wife likes to browse the Houzz app anytime she’s waiting in a line somewhere to pass the time in a way that’s more fun, and also in bed before going to sleep. She gets so excited to show me cool photos on the site or cool features that she found on our app. Right now, my wife and mom are collecting ideas for two remodeling projects in our home: our guest bathroom and our backyard. My wife likes contemporary styles, whereas my mom is more on the traditional side, so it makes for some interesting discussions. My role is to just make sure that whatever design they decide, it’s within our budget! I happen to know firsthand that Houzz offers a variety of ideas and products for every budget. I just need to remind them of that occasionally.

The New “Super Kitchen” Calls for Pro Help, Houzz Survey Finds

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Transitional Kitchen

Do you entertain in your kitchen? Use it as a home office? Or watch TV while cooking? Our 2016 U.S. Kitchen Trends Study revealed the rise of the “super kitchen,” a multi-functional space that is used as much for living as other traditional living spaces of the home. To create a custom kitchen that works with their lifestyle, more homeowners on Houzz are turning to professional help for their kitchen projects. Out of the 2,400 U.S. survey respondents who are either planning, in the midst of, or recently completed a kitchen project, nine out of ten enlisted the help of a professional – 87%, up from 80% in 2014. Kitchen renovators are turning to general contractors in particular (54%), followed by kitchen designers (27%) and interior designers/decorators (14%).

Given the sizeable scope of many kitchen upgrades, it makes sense that a larger share of homeowners is looking for pros to help turn their vision into reality. For instance, nearly half of Houzzers are changing the layout of their kitchen during the project (48%), and 37% are increasing the size of the room. Most Houzzers choose a U-shape for their new layout (35%), followed by an L-shape (28%).

Major new built-ins and specialty features abound in updated kitchens, also likely contributing to the increased need for professional help. New built-in features include everything from cabinet pantries (43%) and islands (37%) to coffee/tea (10%), beverage (8%) and baking stations (7%). When it comes to major features, 93% of Houzzers are upgrading their countertops, 89% are tackling their plumbing fixtures and sinks, and 88% are updating their backsplash.

For more insights from the 2016 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study, check out the full report here.

Houzz App for Android Now Updated with Sketch

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Our powerful new mobile function, Sketch, is now available on the free Houzz app for Android™. Sketch makes it even easier to communicate through images and to bring design ideas to life by adding products from the Houzz Marketplace to any photo.

Houzzers can simply tap the Sketch button on any photo on Houzz or upload a photo to an ideabook to start Sketch’ing. You can read more about features here and check out the demo below.

Update your Houzz app on Google Play™ here to get Sketch.

Congrats to the Best of Houzz 2016 Winners!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

You may see a new badge or two on your favorite home pro’s profile. Today we revealed our community’s picks for Best Of Houzz 2016, a homeowner-to-homeowner guide to the top home builders, architects, interior designers, landscape pros and other home remodeling professionals on Houzz. A “Best Of Houzz 2016” badge appears on winners’ profiles, as a sign of their commitment to excellence. These badges help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals in every metro area on Houzz.

The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the more than 35 million monthly users on Houzz. Customer Service honors are based on several factors, including the number and quality of recent client reviews. Architecture and interior design photographers whose images were most popular are recognized with the Photography award. Winners will be announced globally throughout the month.

To check out the most popular designs, go to http://www.houzz.com/best-of-houzz-2016

A Sweet Gingerbread Showdown

Thursday, December 17, 2015

To get into the holiday spirit, Houzzers in our Palo Alto office competed in a fun Gingerbread Houzz contest. Each team worked together to design and build a sweet dream home. There are a number of talented gingerbread architects and designers on our team – selecting winners wasn’t easy for our judges, cofounders Adi and Alon and our office team. After a few days of deliberation, these homes were awarded the top prizes:

The editorial team won first place for their incredible treehouse, complete with a mini lending library and tiny twinkle lights. The concept was inspired by stories on Houzz, including one on an elaborate kids’ treehouse in Dallas, and one on Little Free Library, a nonprofit that places small neighborhood book exchange boxes all over the world.

Second place went to the design team for this midcentury modern masterpiece. The creation even included “save” and “email” buttons, just like photos on Houzz!

The data operations team snagged third place for their intricate Hogwarts-themed design.

Happy Holidays from Houzz!

Introducing Sketch, a New Way to Bring Design Ideas to Life

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Users flip through more than one billion photos on Houzz apps every month, and spend over an hour a month on average on the Houzz app. Today we’re thrilled to introduce Sketch, an entirely new function within the free Houzz app for iPhone® and iPad® devices, that enhances the most popular (and addictive) features of our app – photos and ideabooks. With Sketch, users can communicate more easily through photos and add products from the Houzz Marketplace to any photo. The feature is optimized for the 12.9-inch Retina display on the iPad Pro™ making Houzz photos look even more brilliant, with Apple Pencil™ support.

Sketch was developed based on feedback from our community, and as a tool to enhance the experience on Houzz. Homeowners use the Houzz app at every stage of a home project – whether they’re decorating a small room on a budget or building a custom home and everything in between. Home professionals (contractors, designers, architects, and more) use the app to communicate and collaborate with their clients, as well as with vendors and subcontractors on the jobsite. Sketch enables homeowners to be more specific about what they want, and enriches collaboration with pros and others on Houzz by allowing multiple people to simultaneously annotate the same photo.

We listened to our community to develop many of Sketch’s features. For example, we noticed that many people post hand-drawn floor plans in our Advice section to get input from the community on their design decisions. Now users can select from two dozen Sketch Canvases to create mood boards and floor plans in an easy and lightweight way. People told us they wanted to be able to mark what they like in a photo. With Sketch, users can write notes or select from over 150 stickers to express what they feel about a photo and what they’d like to do for their own design.

You can read more about Sketch features here. From now until December 25th, Houzz users are automatically entered to win the products they add to their Sketch, up to $1,000 in value. See terms of sweepstakes here.

Happy Sketch’ing!

A Happy Houzzgiving!

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Last night, Houzzers in our Palo Alto HQ gathered for our annual Thanksgiving feast to celebrate the holiday together as a Houzz family. Of course we had the staples: sliced turkey, roasted sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts (with brown sugar!), as well as apple and pecan tarts. We had some updated takes on the traditional favorites, too, like butternut squash lasagne. Yum!

The extensive spread at the feast.

Samantha, Arya and Skylar were all smiles ahead of dinner.

Houzzers enjoying the holiday meal.

Happy Thanksgiving from Houzz!

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