Houzz released the 2026 U.S. Houzz State of AI in Construction and Design Report, providing a detailed look into how the industry is reacting to the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Based on a survey of more than 600 U.S. construction and design professionals, the report finds that businesses have moved from curiosity to using AI for everyday business tasks (41%, up 7 percentage points year over year), with meaningful productivity gains and rising expectations for AI’s impact. For the first time ever, Houzz also surveyed nearly 3,200 U.S. renovating homeowners, and found that 1 in 5 homeowners are experimenting with AI during their home project (22%).
Among construction and design firms that have made the leap to AI, the payoff is substantial.
More than half of pros report saving three or more hours per week (52%), and nearly 1 in 5 (18%) save eight or more hours, a full workday returned every week. On average, that translates to an estimated $134,000* in annual productivity gains per firm. Given these benefits, it’s little surprise that 97% of professionals expect AI to transform the industry within the next five years. But as adoption deepens, so does scrutiny: concern over the reliability and accuracy of AI-generated output rose from 33% to 37% year over year, even as worries about cost and training eased.
“Professionals are folding AI into their everyday workflows and seeing significant time and cost savings,” said Alon Cohen, Houzz co-founder and CEO. “We see that impact echoed in Houzz Pro activity, where pros are getting the gains from AI built into the tools they already rely on. For example, estimates are created 60% faster than those created manually, and Houzz AI is used to generate over half of the estimates sent to clients.”
Construction Firms Move From Testing to Daily Use
Construction has seen the sharpest gains of any segment. More than half of firms (52%) now use AI for everyday business tasks, up 20 percentage points from a year ago, and adoption runs deep once it takes hold: 80% of construction firms that use AI do so daily.
AI now touches nearly every function, led by sales and marketing (64%), planning and design (61%) and project and client management (59%). Construction firms using AI save an average of 4.7 hours a week, worth an estimated $244,000 in annual productivity gains per firm, and credit the technology most for time saved (71%), stronger written communication (51%) and better-organized projects (34%).
For Designers, AI Earns Its Place In Pre-Project Visuals
Nearly 2 in 5 design firms now use AI (39%), up 8 percentage points from 2025, with planning and design overtaking administrative work as the sector’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 work begins. Design firms using AI save an average of 3.6 hours a week translating into an estimated $80,000 in annual productivity gains per firm, and satisfaction with AI has climbed sharply, to 84% from 70% a year ago.
New This Year: A First Look at Homeowners’ AI Use
For the first time, the report looks at the other side of the renovation table — homeowners. In 2026, more than 1 in 5 homeowners (22%) have used AI tools for their projects. Adoption varies widely by generation (from 41% of millennials to just 7% of seniors) and homeowners consistently reach for AI 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.
More than a quarter of homeowner AI users are very satisfied with the AI technology they used (27%), while 50% of AI users are somewhat satisfied. Only 5% are dissatisfied.
Interestingly, while visualization is one of the most popular use cases for AI, it is also the top area homeowners say falls short of expectations (26%). Among homeowners who chose not to use AI at all, the top reason across every generation was a simple preference for professional expertise (38%), reinforcing that even as AI reshapes how homeowners explore ideas, the value of a trusted pro has not diminished. In fact, the majority of homeowners continue to hire professionals (80%) to execute their vision.
Among homeowners whose pro used AI, the technology’s biggest impact was clarity and confidence in their pro. Homeowners say their pro’s use of AI helped 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 a result of using AI.
* The estimated annual productivity value is based on self-reported weekly time savings from AI use and average annual revenue among construction and design businesses. The calculation assumes a 40-hour workweek and that time saved translates into productivity gains.
About the Surveys
The 2026 U.S. Houzz State of AI in Construction and Design Report is based on two surveys: a survey of 601 U.S. construction and design businesses fielded in June and July 2026, and a companion survey of 3,149 U.S. renovating homeowners fielded in June 2026, both among professionals and homeowners registered on Houzz. Download the complete report here.
