Setting Business Goals for the New Year

Managing a design or construction firm is challenging, but especially if you don't have any clearly defined goals to help set you up for success. To learn how companies are streamlining their business plans in 2026, home remodeling and design firm Houzz spoke with housing industry professionals who shared insights about their processes and how they create actionable goals that prepare them for the year ahead.

They found that the best methods residential construction and design firms use to set themselves up for success include: scheduling times to review and reflect on what is and isn't working; focusing on and learning from both the positives and negatives; envisioning what they want for the future and creating an action plan to get there; and making sure to prioritize a work-life balance in the process.

When you’re juggling projects, managing client relationships and keeping an eye on your day-to-day finances, it can be difficult to see the forest for the trees. So it’s a good idea to plan a time for reflection to examine your business as a whole.

“A quieter time of year —acknowledging that it’s never completely quiet — can be the perfect time to review your business and goal setting,” landscape designer Peter Reader says. “Creating protected time to do it as a concentrated task can deliver coordinated and better results than relying on a hit-and-miss approach throughout the year.”

Interior designer Anna Auzins calls in an expert to help her review and plan. “I meet with a business adviser each year to go over how things have gone, and to make plans for the year ahead,” she says.

Reader adds that while a dedicated period at the beginning of the year is crucial for reviewing the business, you should be careful not to let everything build up. “It’s important to keep your eye on all these areas throughout the year and either make a note of them to roll into your annual process, or give them protected time if they’re more urgent,” he says.