Streamline Construction won for a spacious master bathroom in Southern California. For designer Andrea Schumacher, it was a glamorous sitting area in Denver. An aerial view of an inviting L-shaped pool in Dallas did it for Randy Angell Designs. Those are just a few of the home design and building professionals with projects recognized in the Best of Houzz Design 2021 awards, announced this week.

In addition to a Design award, pros can earn a Service award for receiving positive reviews on their Houzz profile page. Some pros earn both distinctions, each represented as a badge on their Houzz page. Photographers who specialize in interior design and architectural photography also can earn an award. Here’s more on some of this year’s Best of Houzz winners, as well as information about the award process.

Badge Basics

If a professional wins a Best of Houzz award, a badge, like those shown here, automatically appears on their Houzz profile page. High-resolution versions of badges are available for pros to use in marketing materials as well. Winners also receive an email with a full promotional kit that helps them get more exposure for the award.

Just 3% of the 2.5 million home design and remodeling professionals on Houzz receive a Best of Houzz award each year. As mentioned, there are three categories: Design, Service and Photography. Pros can earn an award for design, service or both in the same year. Professional photographers who upload photos to Houzz also can earn an award.

Houzz Pro subscribers also may add the Best of Houzz standout to their profile and directory listing and include it in their profile highlight view. Learn more about standouts.

Displaying the badges on their profile pages helps pros communicate to potential clients that their work is valued and exceptional. “Best of Houzz badges place us among the elite, in the eyes of potential clients,” says Randy Angell of Randy Angell Designs, which won a Design award for the Dallas swimming pool shown here. “It is not an easy feat to attain Best of Houzz, and Houzz users know that. It instantly builds a level of trust and confidence in our company, especially when a potential client sees our team win the award year after year.”

Angell also won a Service award.

Streamline Constructionwon a Best of Houzz Design award for this master bathroom in Mission Viejo, California. The room features a glass-enclosed shower with marble tile, a freestanding bathtub, shiplap walls, a cement tile floor and a large wood vanity. The photo was saved by thousands of Houzz users to their ideabooks. The company also earned a Service award for the fifth year in a row.

“Remodeling someone’s home is a personal and intimate process that requires a great deal of trust,” says Jason Adams, Streamline’s president and founder. “Houzz award badges help build trust from the very beginning of the remodeling process, and they tell potential clients that we are a credible, well-established construction company.”

The best way to become eligible for a Best of Houzz Design award is to upload high-quality photos of your work to your profile page. Photos that get a large number of saves to Houzz ideabooks, among other forms of user engagement, have a greater chance of winning a Design award than those that don’t.

To qualify for a Best of Houzz Service award, pros on Houzz need at least one five-star client review from a project completed in the year leading up to the award year and at least two client reviews overall. In other words, if you want to earn a Best of Houzz badge for 2022, start uploading photos and encouraging clients to leave a positive review now.

Professional photographers on Houzz can earn a badge for photos that get a large number of saves to ideabooks, among other forms of user engagement.

How to Earn a Best of Houzz badge for 2022

Uploading quality photographs of your work to Houzz increases the likelihood that a high number of users will save those photos to their ideabooks. And that increases your chances of earning a Design award.

Interior designer Andrea Schumacherwon a Design award for the brass-accented sitting room in Denver shown here. She also won a Service award. “The awards inspire trust not only in our legitimacy as a company, but in the quality of our unique service, design expertise and brand over a long period of time,” Schumacher says. “Including these awards on our website increases potential clients’ confidence in us and encourages them to engage our services.”

How to get better reviews on Houzz

For many pros, the awards can be affirmation that a business strategy is working. That’s the case for interior design firm Wake + Loom, which won awards for Service and Design, the latter for the stylish Atlanta bedroom seen here.

“Earning Best of Houzz six years in a row means that we are creating work that speaks to the diverse audience on Houzz and further confirms that our company is well respected in the design community,” Wake + Loom designerGabriela Noviello Eisenhart says.

View all the Best of Houzz 2021 award winners