How Design by the Jonathans Manages Hundreds of Projects with Ease on Houzz Pro

When Jonathan Gordon founded Design by the Jonathans, he set out to deliver an end-to-end design experience where every detail — from floor plan to final pillow — was carefully considered.

As the firm expanded, so did the complexity: multiple designers, multiple projects in parallel, and countless vendor relationships to manage.

“We may use seven different vendors in a single room,” says Jonathan. “We used to have spreadsheets, emails, and notes everywhere — and keeping track of what was approved, ordered, and paid was getting impossible.” 

Jonathan quickly realized the company needed software that could centralize everything — sourcing, proposals, purchasing, and finances — in one connected system.

The team runs every stage of their process — Proposals, approvals, Invoices, Purchase Orders, and reporting — on Houzz Pro. Designers create detailed, image-rich, proposals that clients can approve per line item.

“You start to see the true value of Houzz Pro when we’re putting together a cost estimate for a furniture package or invoices for plumbing fixtures, tile, or lighting,” says Jonathan.
“Having everything clickable and with images has been great internally and for client presentations. We don’t have to make giant paper packets or PDFs. We send the digital proposal for approval, then share the invoice — it’s all there.”

Jonathan calls the Houzz Pro Clipper a “lifesaver.” “It gathers the information for you — it’s fast and requires minimal effort and time. When you clip a product to your library, all the images, descriptions, and pricing are ready to pull into a proposal.”

What makes Houzz Pro especially powerful is how seamlessly it supports their structure: six designers each managing their own clients and projects, yet all working through the same proposal, invoicing, and approval workflow.

With everything standardized and in one place, the client experience remains consistent and polished no matter who leads the project. From there, their purchasing manager steps into Houzz Pro to handle procurement for the entire design team — all from the same place where designers build proposals and track client approvals.

And when it’s time to close out a project, the operations point person can quickly log into Houzz Pro, verify that everything has been paid, and confidently wrap up the job without chasing down information.

The platform brings every business function under one roof. “It’s all under one hood — onboarding clients, creating design visions, generating invoices — and it syncs with QuickBooks. It speeds things up phenomenally.” says Jonathan.

Since adopting the software years ago, Design by the Jonathans has run every aspect of the business on Houzz Pro — from design proposals to purchasing to financial tracking.

With everything operating seamlessly under one roof, the team has managed more than 800 projects on Houzz Pro so far, with over 160 currently active and more coming.

“Keeping track from team member to team member is really important. Having those live updates — where everyone has access to the same information — has been very helpful” says Rachel Malenfant, the purchasing manager.

For Jonathan Gordon, the impact is simple: peace of mind and financial visibility. With built-in reporting, he finally gained full cash-flow visibility. “Now I can open Houzz Pro and know exactly what’s owed, what’s paid, and what’s still open.”

And with a large team of designers working independently, Houzz Pro ensures every project is handled with the same level of professionalism and consistency — from the first proposal to the final payment.

"Everything is in Houzz Pro and everything is connected.” Jonathan says.