Houzz Survey Finds AI Adoption Soars Among Construction and Design Pros, While Homeowners Rely on the Experts

AI use across construction and design climbs to 41% offirms; 1 in 5 homeowners consult AI for their renovation

Houzz, the leading AI platform for construction and design,today released the 2026 U.S. Houzz State of AI in Construction and DesignReport, providing a detailed look into how the industry is reactingto the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Based on a survey of more than 600 U.S.construction and design professionals, the report finds that businesses havemoved from curiosity to using AI for everyday business tasks (41%, up 7percentage points year over year), with meaningful productivity gains andrising expectations for AI's impact. For the first time ever, Houzz alsosurveyed nearly 3,200 U.S. renovating homeowners, and found that 1 in 5homeowners are experimenting with AI during their home project (22%).

Among construction and design firms that havemade the leap to AI, the payoff is substantial. More than half of pros reportsaving 3 or more hours per week (52%), and nearly 1 in 5 (18%) save 8 or morehours, a full workday returned every week. On average, that translates to anestimated $134,000* in annual productivity gains per firm. Given thesebenefits, it's little surprise that 97% of professionals expect AI to transformthe industry within the next five years. But as adoption deepens, so doesscrutiny: concern over the reliability and accuracy of AI-generated output rosefrom 33% to 37% year over year, even as worries about cost and training eased.

“Professionals are folding AI into theireveryday workflows and seeing significant time and cost savings," saidAlon Cohen, Houzz co-founder and CEO. "We see that impact echoed in HouzzPro activity, where pros are getting the gains from AI built into the toolsthey already rely on. For example, estimates are created 60% faster than thosecreated manually, and Houzz AI is used to generate over half of the estimatessent to clients.”

Construction FirmsMove From Testing to Daily Use

Construction has seen the sharpest gains of any segment. More than halfof firms (52%) now use AI for everyday business tasks, up 20 percentage pointsfrom a year ago, and adoption runs deep once it takes hold: 80% of constructionfirms that use AI do so daily. AI now touches nearly every function, led bysales and marketing (64%), planning and design (61%) and project and clientmanagement (59%). Construction firms using AI save an average of 4.7 hours aweek, worth an estimated $244,000 in annual productivity gains per firm, andcredit the technology most for time saved (71%), stronger written communication(51%) and better-organized projects (34%).

For Designers, AIEarns Its Place In Pre-Project Visuals

Nearly 2 in 5 design firms now use AI (39%), up 8 percentage pointsfrom 2025, with planning and design overtaking administrative work as thesector's leading AI application (doubling to 68% from 34% in 2025). In fact,designers point to pre-project visuals as their most concentrated use case,with 82% of firms applying AI to develop and refine a concept before workbegins. Design firms using AI save an average of 3.6 hours a week translatinginto an estimated $80,000 in annual productivity gains per firm, andsatisfaction with AI has climbed sharply, to 84% from 70% a year ago.

New This Year: AFirst Look at Homeowners' AI Use

For the first time, the report looks at the other side of therenovation table: homeowners. In 2026, more than 1 in 5 homeowners (22%) haveused AI tools for their projects. Adoption varies widely by generation (from41% of Millennials to just 7% of Seniors) and homeowners consistently reach forAI to imagine a project rather than manage it.

Getting renovation or design ideas (64%), visualizing concepts (58%)and comparing options (50%) top the list of uses, while tasks like budgeting(24%), permitting (10%) and understanding contracts (6%) trail behind. Morethan a quarter of homeowner AI users are very satisfied with the AI technologythey used (27%), while 50% of AI users are somewhat satisfied. Only 5% aredissatisfied. Interestingly, while visualization is one of the most popular usecases for AI, it is also the top area homeowners say falls short ofexpectations (26%). Among homeowners who chose not to use AI at all, the topreason across every generation was a simple preference for professionalexpertise (38%), reinforcing that even as AI reshapes how homeowners exploreideas, the value of a trusted pro has not diminished. In fact, the majority ofhomeowners continue to hire professionals (80%) to execute their vision.

Among homeowners whose pro used AI, the technology's biggest impact wasclarity and confidence in their pro. Homeowners say their pro’s use of AIhelped them to visualize their project (76%) and understand their pro's ideas(49%), while nearly a third (35%) said their pro seemed better prepared as aresult of using AI.

* The estimatedannual productivity value is based on self-reported weekly time savings from AIuse and average annual revenue among construction and design businesses. Thecalculation assumes a 40-hour workweek and that time saved translates intoproductivity gains.

About the Surveys

The 2026 U.S. Houzz State of AI in Construction and Design Report isbased on two surveys: a survey of 601 U.S. construction and design businessesfielded in June and July 2026, and a companion survey of 3,149 U.S. renovatinghomeowners fielded in June 2026, both among professionals and homeownersregistered on Houzz. Download the complete report here.

About Houzz

Houzz is the leadingAI platform for construction and design, empowering industry professionals andhomeowners with the tools they need to make every project a success. Houzz Pro(pro.houzz.com) is an all-in-one softwarefor construction and design professionals that puts AI trained on real industrydata to work helping pros collaborate more effectively with clients and teams,deliver exceptional projects, and run more efficient, profitable businesses.The platform gives pros and their clients 24/7 access to project information,3D visualizations and financial tools. Houzz helps people find ideas andinspiration, hire professionals and get advice for their projects, with morethan 3 million pros and over 70 million homeowners and home design enthusiastsaround the world relying on it today. For more information, visit houzz.com.

 Source: Houzz.