Inside Houzz: How to Contact a Home Pro and Get Your Project Going

Madelaine Pfahler is finally able to check off one of the things on her bucket list: building a house from top to bottom. Pfahler was living in Los Angeles and in the process of relocating her family to Dallas when she saw a story on Houzz about Scott Powell's Dallas home. “I used Houzz to conduct a lot of my research when we were figuring out where to live," she says. Pfahler checked out the rest of the projects from Powell's firm, New Leaf Construction, and contacted him for her project.

Whether you are looking for a firm to help with a new house or a designer to help update a single room, you can find more than 250,000 home design professionals on Houzz. Here's how to connect with a pro through Houzz and get the conversation started.

More guides to using Houzz

Pfahler contacted Powell after seeing this photo of Powell's family house in an ideabook on Houzz. "I loved Scott's modern homes, and then when I read Sarah Greenman's profile of him, I decided to reach out," she says.

"I like to hear that someone wants to hire us for 'us,'" Powell says. "[Our] clients saw our stuff on Houzz and reached out to us to see what we had available." After a few emails and phone calls, the firm found the family an amazing lot and remodeling opportunity, "which they jumped right on," he says.

"I just had a feeling that he'd be great to work with," Pfahler says. "We actually sent him a check and signed an agreement for our current house without ever having met in person or having seen the lot."





This is Pfahler's home before and during the renovation. Powell is adding a second story and expanding the original footprint by approximately 1,800 square feet. It was important for Pfahler to try to stay true to the home's original midcentury style, so Powell is reusing as much of the exterior brick as possible. The project is about 60 percent done. Pfahler hopes to move in with her family by the end of the year.

How to Find and Contact a Professional on Houzz

Pfahler found Powell through a featured Houzz Tour, but you can also find pros by simply browsing the 2 million-plus individual photos on the site.

Here's how to do that.


When you see a photo you like, you'll see a link to the professional's Houzz profile page next to the photo. Click the link to see more of the pro's work as well as contact info.


Listed on each professional's profile is a phone number, often a website as well and, on the right side, a green Contact Me button that allows you to send a message directly to a professional through Houzz.


After you click the Contact Me button, a box with a basic message and the subject line "Houzz project inquiry" will appear. You can rewrite both of these fields to make the message more personalized.

How to start the conversation. “It's nice to hear what [the clients] are looking for — building or remodeling their own house versus looking for something new — plus what area they're in and what work they're considering,” says Powell. Include any specific challenges you foresee and as many details as possible.

Powell offers this example of a message he enjoys receiving from a potential client:

"We have seen your work on Houzz and love it! We are very interested in getting to know more about you and your company and if working together would be a possibility. We are looking to build [project type] and are hoping to get started [when]. We'd like to begin working on plans [when] and are just looking for the right [professional type]. We're looking in [area names]. Do you do work there? Here are some photos of our project. Lastly, we're hoping to stay under [dollar amount]. Please let us know if you'd like to schedule some time to sit down and talk more."


Say as much as you can about your project. When you contact a design professional, try to include a general idea of when you need your project completed by and when you would like to start — especially if you need it finished by a certain date (like before the school year starts or by next week).

Talking costs. Pros understand that any home design project is a financial investment. Talking about costs early in the dialogue is helpful for both parties. "The downfall can sometimes be not wanting to talk about budget at all, even from the outset," says kitchen and bath designer William Adams. "I want to better understand what the homeowners are looking for and also help educate them on what is realistic and feasible."

Collaborate. When a homeowner contacts landscape contractor Ben Bowen of Ross NW Watergardens, he encourages them to create an ideabook of favorite landscapes and share it with him via the Collaborate button at the top of the ideabook. "I make comments on pictures, ask questions and add my own pictures," Bowen says.

Bowen was approached by a client with a beautiful Rummer home a week after he created an ideabook for himself on midcentury modern landscaping. The client "had been struggling with how to renovate the front yard without obscuring the home's classic lines,” says Bowen. “When he found our post, it clicked. We were both very excited to get to work.”

Find a professional for your own home project on Houzz

More:
Inside Houzz: An Interior Design Match Made Right Here
More guides to using Houzz

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