Houzz Reputation Management

The star rating shown on a Houzz professional profile is a straightforward average of the 1–5 star scores that verified clients leave — Houzz hasn’t published a Bayesian or recency-weighted formula the way some review platforms have. Every review goes through a moderation check for spam and fraud before it posts, which Houzz says can take "up to 5-7 business days, depending on our current volume."

But the star average isn’t the only thing that determines whether a homeowner sees a pro in the first place. Houzz’s own guidance on how its Pro directory works points to several ranking inputs beyond reviews: the number and quality of photos on a profile, how often the community engages with those photos and answered Q&A, whether the pro displays the Houzz badge on their own website, how complete project entries are (cost and location), and how quickly a pro responds to messages from prospective clients. Reviews are one input among several, not the whole algorithm.

Houzz’s Review Policy also permits something Trustpilot bans outright: an incentivized review, provided the incentive is "clearly and conspicuously stated" in the review itself. Reviewers must have first-hand experience as an actual client (not a prospect), can’t be an employee, officer, principal, or relative of the business or a competing business, and anonymous submissions aren’t allowed — each client gets one review per professional.