I didn't mean to offend anyone, especially business owners. I just thought it would be a nice gesture, as they are posting pictures, to add the basics that people might want to know ie: paint color seems to be the most asked about. I had no intention of showing disrespect.

Rest easy, Cheri...

I don't think anyone was offended.

In all honesty, there's a learning curve involved with posting products and pertinent descriptions & information. I know it took me a while to figger it out, and I'm still learning.

Point being, that often, the Pro's posting aren't fully aware of how to address that aspect. That's why I suggest... if one is truly interested, step up to the plate and make a call.

Most of the people involved are willing to help... otherwise they wouldn't have invested the time & energy to list on the site to begin with.

Houzz is a fantastic source for ideas & a valuable place to browse designers/contractors for hire. We should appreciate this and not expect service providers to give everything away for free...

and i've promptly posted fairly detailed answers to questions on the story side, and never had any sign that the person who wanted to know the name of the hardware, etc, ever came back to see if there was an answer. so, it goes both ways.

i think its important that pros (as opposed to home owners) have their email notifications correctly set to know if there is any one nibbling on the hook. and if you ask a question make sure you go back and see if you had an answer.

Wowzers. I want my cake and i want you to hand feed me when I say so,or else.

Asking a bit much perhaps, A very unique angle of questioning though.......

Houzz has a wide open concept - so that many people will participate in whatever way is meaningful and appropriate for them. What one person thinks is only his/her opinion as to how it "should be" done. Many pros post photos of their work for inspiration but feel it is inappropriate to provide detailed information for free. It is their livelihood and it takes a considerable amount of work to create these spaces. Many don't mind providing information and readily answer questions. Houzz leaves it up to each individual to participate in the way that they wish and makes no requirements of anyone. When Houzz was developed, there were no product sales or marketplace. Nothing could be bought or sold on Houzz - it was purely for inspiration. Houzz has changed over time - but not all pro participants are hawking products or materials.

As a professional and a consumer myself I can understand your frustration but agree with the other pros responses as to their perceived responsibilities to the outside world and their responsibilities and priorities to themselves and their businesses.

In today's hyper connected world everyone wants an instant answer to their questions. Just look at the response time Twitter says a business should have to an online question - within an hour! If you're a professional out on a job keeping your head in the game, that constant dinging from your phone will lead to distraction and compromise your current job. To penalize someone who doesn't have the resources to sit in front of a screen all day waiting to service every single query is insane.

Considering how many social media sites and websites (like Houzz) there are nowadays, there's a lot to keep up with. If you really want an answer to your question, get to the root source - contact the professional directly. That is the most effective way to get what you need. Relying on a middle man and being dissatisfied with the response is one of the biggest things that makes me laugh in business. What do you expect when playing the game of telephone? This goes for all industries. You get better deals, better service, and a better experience contacting the person you'd like to work with directly.

Sometimes, simply, the messages don't get passed along. The blanket alerts system here has absolutely flooded my inbox so I had to turn them off (they're not very customizable). I've had emails not reach me even though all my info was current and up to date, and sometimes you just miss something. Contact professionals directly if you are adamant about getting an answer.

Also, it also takes A LOT, let me stress this again, A LOT of time and energy to upload photos, tag, and otherwise make perfect all the aspects of a portfolio on this and any site. I can speak to this particularly because I am also a marketing and managing directer of online portfolios for other small businesses. They don't have the time nor the resources in house to flesh out all their online & social sites so they bring me on to get everything streamlined and comprehensive. Not all companies go this route, and this is when you'll have photos without every single tagged material as you would like. It comes down to numbers. Small and independently run businesses would love to have everything fully synced and updated but that takes a lot of time, know how, and energy - something many small businesses don't have in excess. The most important thing for them is actually running their businesses, not being a design/materials/color encyclopedia.

Finally, I wholeheartedly agree with any professional who decides not to give it away when it's not the right choice for their business, as @Select Hardwood explains. We are professionals with years of hard work, experimentation, failures leading to deeper knowledge, success, and understanding fueling our passions to do what we do. Houzz is an amazing platform for sharing and inspiration, and the professionals on here are always doing what they can to help others, to penalize them for drawing a line in the sand is ridiculous. Don't bite the hand that feeds.

Ohhhhh....where do I start with this one? I'm going to put my foot in it any way I step!

@loves2read- I feel your pain....at least that's how politician's answer. I'm going to answer a bit differently.

Lots of good points have been made by a number of Pros already, but I might as well reiterate, why not? I'm just sitting around waiting for some stain to dry.

Some of us are lone wolves and don't have a staff to do the following labor - intensive tasks: take photos, upload photos, label photos, tag photos with key words so people will find them, keep track of every color, price and supplier/manufacturer of every item in the photos. There is also the fact that while some on Houzz sell retail, others sell services. Then there is the rather inconvenient fact that while Houzz GP's can fill out hardly any information to get a screen name, it is to our advantage to give out as much business info as is proper. This causes a problem when someone out of our service area raises inquiry about something we posted. We can, with near certainty, expect no business from that person who inquired(so we may not bother to answer). Other times, there may be a question about a custom color or technique that is proprietary and we don't want to give it up without due compensation.

The lion's share of the reason to be on Houzz is to expand our customer base by pulling in interested people who make it worth our while to work for them. The rest of it is entertainment and ego-stroking.

I get not a little annoyed by consumers abusing Pros on this site, but it comes with the social media territory. It's easy to vent, snark and complain in anonymity.

Sometimes we just don't know the answers. Just yesterday someone asked me about a shower bench in one of our projects. It was specified and purchased by the contractor who worked on the project. They left the country with no forwarding info. For the most part I think pros on Houzz really want to be helpful and engage with members, but sometimes even we don't have all the answers. :)

I think it would be helpful if they were to list the names of the basics. What Houzz should consider is making comments go from page 1, 2, etc. when comments go over 100. Also, I don't think they should be penalize.

@River...

You need to use quick drying stains to keep you out of trouble. lol

i'm just a homeowner but i'm always interested in how the gears are working behind the curtains. thank you to all of the pros willing to wade in on this.

On the other hand, I think it's tedious for someone to ask a question, answer it and/or read other answers and then have no idea if the original poster sees it, because they are never heard of again.

summery... you know if you click 'my houzz' and then 'activity' you can see the threads you've posted on. not sure if this is what you meant.

I suspect a lot of the pros don't make answering questions a priority as they know they probably won't generate any business from the query. I wonder how many questions are simply out of curiosity by people who have no interest in doing business with that pro. Has anyone bothered to figure out what percentage of business they generate using Houzz?

I'm sure those in areas of high population do generate business on Houzz and I have seen some of the more attentive ones express satisfaction at what Houzz is doing for them.

@Select- I DO use fast drying stains(SW BAC industrial stains, one hour dry time). The problem was that I was trying to match a difficult color and nearly had to start over.

I am considering expanding our Houzz content but comments like this frankly worry me; we are a landscape designer, what if someone asks about the color of the siding, the roofing materials, the window treatments - are they going to expect me to reply??? Just because it is shown in the photo does not mean the contractor posting it spec'd or installed all aspects of the job. People get that, right?

As a non-professional with a huge interest in design, I think it's awesome when pros answer photos and spill the beans on where they found great things, but half the time the stuff I like is to the trade anyway, so it's not like I can go buy it. I don't see much incentive for the pros unless someone really wants that particular item and is willing to use that pro to get it for them. I doubt that happens very often?

Stoneworx-- I wouldn't expect you to know the answer to those things. It would be nice if you could respond that you don't know, but surely people would understand that wasn't your role in the project?

Why would anyone expect this information? People posting photos are doing so for their benefit, not for someone looking for free information.

One thing I have to get clear because it's going to bug me - the First Amendment has nothing to do with Houzz. It has to do with the government restricting free speech. Houzz is a private site so with the exception of some discrimination laws they need to keep in mind, they can do pretty much whatever they want in terms of banning posters or deleting posts, in keeping with their Terms of Service.

Second, I do think it'd help some pros to be more clear about their role in a project since sometimes it can be a little unclear by the company name exactly what they do. A simple "we were the landscapers for this project" would help at least some people figure out not to ask about unrelated stuff. (Or at least if they asked, they're more likely to say 'I know it isn't your area, but do you happen to know...?'

Third, Pros should be careful about writing off people not from their neck of the woods. The internet being what it is these days, a lot of people know people all over the place, and while it isn't worth turning away paying clients to answer a freebie question, a good freebie question response might keep your name in mind when someone has a friend or family member in your area who is looking for help. I've definitely passed along names for that reason before after interacting with professionals online. (Not so much on Houzz, but in other areas.)

All of that said - the pros don't really OWE anyone anything. They're contributing something to the site just by sharing photos with the ideas contained. In exchange for that contribution, they get exposure. Anything beyond that (answering questions, etc.) is an additional aspect of their participation in the site.

As a contractor houzz won't let me see contact info or respond to inquiries. I use the free account through houzz as thier basic membership starts at $500 per month. I would try contacting the business through the phone number thats listed. Hope this helps.

I think they should remove the option to post questions to save us all the frustration of never getting an answer. In the many years I’ve been using Houzz ,one question has been answered out of many. I always look at questions posted by others first, because i dont want to repeat questions. I have literally never seen a response.

I, too, have found that the non responsiveness far out weighs those who answer questions. HOWEVER, I would like to give a shout out to Dee Elms of Elms Interior Design in Boston. She is exceedingly gracious and helpful in responding to each and every question posed about the work her firm has done. She is truly organized in logging all information about projects. She answers quickly ,with much detail ,and a with very pleasant demeanor. She is exactly the kind of person with whom I would want to work and who I would want to engage as a designer. This is why I chose to follow her on Houzz and why I’m certain she must have loads of very satisfied clients.

HOUZZ is trying to Fleece contractors and dangle carrots as there platform continues to lose respect in the industry.

For those of us that propped it up early ON its a shame. They limit the info WE can see thru our profile as they continue to try and upsell us to pay monthly and lock into a long term scam.

See thru it smart people.

TBH, were I a pro posting, say, pictures of various hardwood flooring options in room settings, the last thing I would want to answer is questions about paint colors, furniture and lighting sources, ceiling heights, and where to buy that rug. I'm stunned even as an amateur, that people would see a blue painted room or a leather footstool and not know how to develop their own sources.

I think Houzz should remove the option to ask questions because they are NEVER answered. Its a joke. Houzz has changed. I think now it is geared to sell products that they consider "similar" to items in the photos. Yet the quality is never like the photos since so many items in the photos are purchased by designers.

"I think Houzz should remove the option to ask questions because they are NEVER answered."

I get several questions a month from my participation here and have for years. I've always answered. In a decade, I've gotten a $350.00 job and a Starbucks gift card for a decade of emails.

Just like your Aunt Bette will never reveal the recipe for her pound cake that has garnered her so much attention over the decades, many Pros think the sources and materials they assembled are their proprietary information and never reveal it to anyone. You can ask. They don't have to respond.

First ? It's an eight year old thread.......and there are more just like it that should be allowed to die.

Queries........non answers:

"What was the paint color, what was this or that"? When I ACTUALLY remember or when the information is quickly accessed? I will reply.

But in design, a poster must understand that quite often, they are asking on a custom item , or a custom look, and just as often a tweaked and customized paint formula created for a space and specific client.

I see no reason for any pro to be "punished" in ANY way for a lack of response to such an ask.

Truth? All photo's here on Houzz, or anywhere else on the internet, should be treated as inspiration- not duplication in an exact mime. Space, light, proportion, scale ....... as well as resources are individual and personal.

Teaching yourself to "see" and to be able to use that inspiration, to tailor it to you and your home? That Is a topic/ and recipe ( lol ) for a different day: )

Many times it’s clients who do not want their designer(s) to share custom sources — paint colors, furniture, curtains, etc.

Sometimes designers have to work with existing elements and again, are asked not to share the info of such. Great example — the famous ”green with brick” house we see posted so often here for every OP who asks about a color with their brick:

The design firm had to work with the custom-mix color the house was previously painted.

(BTW: I’ve seen many photos of this house in different lighting and no filters … it’s not the sage green everyone thinks. It leans very gray.)

The pro account pages on Houzz are like business pages — to show the pro’s work, give contact information, etc … not as DIY information. If a pro does happen to answer questions about their work (many do), that’s just a nice bonus. But it should not be expected.

I’ve seen lots of pros answer that they can’t divulge an exact source, but do try to help a poster find what would work with their project. Again, a nice thing to do for free.

Yes, this thread is old, but clearly still relevant. My suggestion to people looking for sources are to find the pro’s Instagram or Facebook page and look for the project. If the answers aren’t there, either, than they most likely will never be shared.

On that note, Heidi Caillier is an extremely popular and talented designer and one who does not give sources. Anywhere. Ever. So don’t ask. ;)

ETA: In the OP’s defense, Houzz was still fairly new when they posted, had taken over Gardenweb, and things were sort of confusing in regards to all the changes. My post is directed to the present.

Well said, Jilly.