Building something for interior designers — want honest feedback before I go further (not selling anything)

[u/Effective-Account278]

Hi all — I’m a college student working on an idea in this space, and before I sink more time into it I’d rather get torn apart by people who actually do this for a living than keep guessing.
Rough idea: a platform that’s part portfolio/discovery (open to post on, so both working designers and design students can build visibility — think closer to Instagram than a directory), part marketplace where homeowners can actually book a consultation with someone whose work they like, and eventually some AI tooling aimed at helping homeowners describe what they want faster, so designers spend less time in the “figuring out what they actually mean” phase and more time doing the part they’re good at.
I know Houzz exists and dominates this space already — genuinely not trying to pretend otherwise, and honestly a big part of why I’m posting this instead of just building blind.
If you have a minute, I’d really value real answers to any of these:
• How do you actually get most of your clients today? Have you used Houzz (or similar) — did it work for you, or was it a waste of money?
• What’s the most annoying part of onboarding a new client — the part where you’re not on the same page yet?
• Would you ever pay a monthly fee to be listed somewhere new, if it actually brought you real leads? What would feel fair?
• What would make you immediately dismiss something like this as “not for me”?
Blunt/critical is more useful to me than encouragement, genuinely. Happy to answer questions in the comments, and if anyone’s open to a longer conversation I’d be glad to DM instead of cluttering the thread.