Last year, a 1stDibs survey offered up an eye-catching statistic: Two years into the AI frenzy, and only 16 percent of designers had dabbled with the technology. Now Houzz is entering the chat with its own survey, one dedicated entirely to AI in construction and design. The findings suggest industry adoption is picking up steam.
The report, based on a survey of 722 construction and design firms on Houzz, says that 31 percent of designers now use AI. Those who don’t use it yet likely will soon—66 percent of respondents said AI will “transform” the industry in the next five years. Another bold claim: Houzz’s report concludes that design firms that use AI get an average productivity boost equal to $74,400 per year.
It’s worth putting some context around the study itself. The tone of the report is clearly pro-AI, with glowing testimonials, lots of language about recognizing the technology’s potential, and a rah-rah quote from Houzz CEO Alon Cohen (“For our industry, AI is not just a tool of the moment but a driver of long-term change”). There’s a reason for that: The platform has recently unveiled a handful of its own AI tools in Houzz Pro, which are touted at the end of the report. There’s something to market here.
Still, the report—the first comprehensive survey of AI in interior design—offers up an intriguing look at how firms are actually using the technology so far. A key finding is simply that designers aren’t using it much for actual design work. The biggest use (70 percent of AI-using designers) is on administrative tasks like writing and formatting emails or summarizing documents. (This might be especially helpful when you need to, say, understand the key takeaways of a long vendor contract.)
Sales and marketing is also a key use case, Houzz found, with 59 percent of AI-using designers saying they employ the technology there. The most common task is getting a chatbot to write social media posts, though some designers use AI for lead management as well.
On August 6, digital marketer Jen Smiga guides designers on building meaningful, long-term business partnerships with brands that go beyond single product promotions to become ongoing storytelling opportunities. Click here to learn more and remember, workshops are free for BOH Insiders.
Only 34 percent of AI-friendly designers apply it in design work, and it’s mostly at the beginning of a project. Top usages in that stage include pre-project visuals and mood boards, with only a handful of firms using AI for sourcing. In general, the study found, designers aren’t using the technology for creative work, or for what it calls “client-facing” tasks.
Some of the specific claims in the report are worth looking at closely. For example, Houzz concludes that half of larger firms (10-plus employees) are using AI—the implication being: Want a bigger, better firm? Use AI! However, those only make up 6 percent of the survey’s respondents, which means the report is drawing that conclusion from a tiny sample size (20 or so firms).
The $74,400 figure is also a little wonky. Houzz bases that finding on respondents saying AI saves them 3 hours a week. If you assume that saved time equates to hours spent on other billable work, and you multiply it across a team and a full year, you can get into some impressive hypothetical dollar figures. But it would be worth asking AI-friendly designers how much their paychecks have gone up in real life.
All that aside, it’s hard to argue with the core claim of Houzz’s study: More and more designers are experimenting with AI. If the company does another report next year, that adoption number will likely be higher than 31 percent.
