How to Create a Project
Projects are a key organisation tool within Houzz Pro. Within a project, you can request payments, collaborate with clients, communicate with your team or subcontractors, share a project schedule, create a floor plan, financial documents, mood boards and more. With this full set of tools, you’re set to manage your workflow and bring every project to completion.
There are several ways to create a new project. You can:
1. Select the Create New Project button in the Projects module on the home page.
2. Select the Projects icon from your left navigation and click the New button (as shown below).
3. Select the Create New Project button from your All Projects page (as shown below).
4. Create a new project while creating a document, such as an estimate or proposal.
5. Create a new project from the client details page.
You only need to enter the project name to create a new project, though you can also invite team members if you'd like. Everything else, such as client information and budget, you can add in later on.
Be sure to click Create Project once complete.
Project Overview Page
Once you have created your project, you can access the project overview page to see key information all in one place. Here are some actions to get you started.
At the top left of your project overview page under the project title, you can:
- Send Team Chats: Click on the Project Chat icon to send or view team chat messages.
- Send Messages: Click on the Message icon to send or view client messages.
- Save Notes: Click on the Notes icon to add notes about the project.
- Edit Project Information: Click on the Gear icon to add more details about the client or the project scope (see more details below).
In the left menu of your project overview screen, you can view:
- Project Planning: In this section, you can create content related to your project, including Contracts, Estimates/Proposals, Takeoffs, 3D Floor Plans, Mood Boards, Selection Boards, Selections Tracker, and Bids.
- Project Management: In this section, you can organise your project details with Files & Photos, Schedule, Tasks & Punchlist, Client Dashboard, Daily Logs, and Time & Expenses.
- Project Financials: In this section, you can request and document payments with Invoices, Purchase Orders, Variation Orders, Retainers/Credits, and Budget. You can also view your Financial Overview to get a big-picture overlook for your project.
In the right menu of your project overview screen, you can view:
- Project Summary: View a detailed summary of your project, including project status, project address, client information, project chat, project collaborators, dashboard access, and project tags.
Project Widgets
In the middle of your project overview page, you'll find widgets related to various features. These display relevant project information and provide quick access to timely items. You can personalise the layout of these widgets to fit your teams workflow. Read How to Customise Your Project Overview Page to learn more.
Track Project Activity
At the bottom of each project overview page, you will find a Project Activities section. This provides you with a feed of activities related to the project you're viewing, enabling better collaboration and awareness among team members, clients, and subcontractors, while also improving transparency and accountability.
You can click on the action to the right of each activity to be taken directly to the feature it pertains to, as well as sort by Oldest to Latest or Latest to Oldest using the Sort option at the top of the feed.
Edit Project Details
If you need to make changes to general information about the project, including client and project information, project settings and payment details, you can do this within the Project Details page. To access, click the Gear icon underneath the project name, then select the relevant tab at the top of the page.
Client Information
In the Project & Client tab, you can view details about the client connected to the project. Click Edit Client Details to make changes to the client information, including name, email address, phone number, home address, and any internal notes you would like to include.
Project Information
Below client details, in the Project & Client tab, you will see project information, including project name, project status, project colour, project type, project code, project address, project budget and additional information. Also in this section, you can delete the entire project by selecting the Delete Project button at the bottom. Read How to Delete a Project to learn more about project deletion.
- Project Name: The project name is required to create a project, but it can be adjusted here.
- Project Status: The project status helps you keep track of where you are in the process. Options include Open, In Progress, Done or Closed. You can also add a custom status and status colour as well. Read How to Change Project Status to learn more.
- Project Colour: The project colour allows you to customise your project colour to better organise your projects within Houzz Pro. Your project colour will be used throughout Houzz Pro for easy identification.
- Project Type: The project type defines the scope of the project. There are dozens of options to choose from, or you can add a custom project type as well.
- Project Code: The project code is used to simplify classification for related project documents. It is optional and and can be a combination of any letters or numbers. If you use a project code, that code will appear on any new associated documents for that project. For example, a project code of RK will appear as ES-RK-1001 in an estimate for that project. If you don't use a project code, that same estimate will appear as ES-1001 and not include a project code. Read How to Edit Your Document Settings to learn more about document codes.
- Project Address: The project address will default to the address listed in the client's detail page. If the project address is different and you would like to edit the listed address, deselect the "Same as Client Address" checkbox. You will then be able to edit the address as needed and deselect or select the billable address and shipping address checkboxes as needed. Read How to Add Multiple Addresses for a Project to learn more.
- Project Budget: The project budget is where you can input the total budget for the project.
- Additional Info: The additional info section is a great place to put notes about project scope, preferences, and more.
Project Settings
In the Project Settings tab, you can set the default GST rate that will apply to all new financial documents within the individual project. Learn more about tax settings in How to Set GST Rates.
Online Payment Details
In the Payment Details tab, you will see online payments information. You can set up online payments, if you haven't already, or adjust which payments are available for that project, if online payments are set up. Read How to Set Up Online Payments and How to Edit Online Payment Settings to learn more about the process.
View All Projects
Your All Projects page, accessible by clicking the Projects icon in the left navigation, gives you an overview of every project, along with key details including client, location, status, type and manager.
There are two view format options — List View and Kanban (Column) View. For each view, you can find projects by using the search bar and filters at the top, or sort projects by columns and/or project status. To learn more about the All Projects page, read How to Manage Your Projects.