Houzz Adds Tap to Pay to Home Remodeling Platform

Houzz now enables residential contractors and design professionals to quickly collect electronic payments in person.

The company has equipped Houzz Pro, its platform for home remodeling and design, with a Tap to Pay feature that turns iPhones into point of sale (POS) devices, Houzz said in a Tuesday (April 25) press release.

“Builders, remodelers and designers have told us that they need to process everything from retainers and deposits to change orders more quickly to keep projects running smoothly,” Houzz Co-Founder and President Alon Cohen said in the release. “Tap to Pay enables pros to conveniently accept payment in person.”

Tap to Pay continues to be widely embraced by consumers.

For example, Visa reported Tuesday (April 25) that 34% of all face-to-face transactions in the United States are now Tap to Pay. That’s up 10% from last year and 700% from three years ago.

Outside the U.S., the percentage of face-to-face transactions that are Tap to Pay now stands at 74%, according to Visa.

PYMNTS research has found that merchants are aware of consumers’ spiking interest in digital payments and fear that a failure to meet this demand will harm business.

In fact, more than 75% of merchants said consumers would be at least very likely to switch merchants because retailers are not providing enough modern capabilities, including alternative payment methods, according to “Retail Payments Innovation Year in Review: How Real-Time Payments Drive the In-Store Customer Journey,” a PYMNTS and ACI Worldwide collaboration.

Houzz’s new Tap to Pay feature joins the company’s other solutions that allow pros to accept payment in the field or at their desk via credit card, debit card and ACH transfers, and that enable a centralized view of cash flow across projects, according to the press release.

When using Tap to Pay, pros open an invoice in Houzz Pro, choose a scheduled payment, select “Collect Payment” and then tap their iPhone to the client’s contactless credit card, debit card or smartphone to accept the charge, the release said.

“Since the tool is integrated directly into Houzz Pro, it also contributes to greater visibility into a pro’s overall cash flow as they schedule, collect and track payments across all projects in one place,” Cohen said in the release.