Architecture render projects and their fees

How to use architecture renders?

Architecture renders are digital images or visualizations of architectural designs and concepts, typically created using 3D modeling and rendering software. They are used by architects, designers, and clients to visualize and communicate design ideas, present proposals, and make informed decisions during the design process.

Here’s how to use architecture renders effectively:

1. Design presentations: Use architecture renders as part of your presentations to clients, stakeholders, or colleagues. They help to convey your design ideas and concepts clearly, showcasing the overall form, materials, and spatial qualities of a project.

2. Portfolio: Include high-quality architecture renders in your portfolio to showcase your skills and expertise in design, visualization, and presentation. They can help to attract potential clients and set you apart from the competition.

3. Marketing materials: Use architecture renders in promotional materials, such as brochures, websites, and social media posts. They can help to generate interest and excitement for your projects, as well as demonstrate your capabilities as a designer or firm.

4. Design development: Use architecture renders as a communication tool during the design process, allowing you to test and refine different design options, materials, and finishes. They can also help to identify potential issues or challenges before construction begins, saving time and money.

5. Client communication: Share architecture renders with clients to keep them informed and engaged throughout the design process. This helps to ensure that their expectations are met and that they have a clear understanding of the final design. It can also help to facilitate feedback and promote collaboration between the architect and client.

6. Public consultations: Use architecture renders in public consultations and community meetings to present your designs to the public and gather feedback. This can help to address concerns, build support, and ensure that the design is well-received by the community.

7. Planning applications: Include architecture renders in planning applications and submissions to local authorities. They can help to demonstrate how your design meets planning requirements, fits the context of the surrounding environment, and contributes positively to the urban fabric.

8. Fundraising: Use architecture renders in fundraising campaigns and grant applications to showcase the potential of your design and its impact on the community. High-quality visuals can help to generate interest and financial support for your projects.

9. Construction documentation: Use architecture renders in construction documents to provide a clear visual reference for contractors, engineers, and other team members. This can help to avoid misinterpretations of the design and ensure that the built project aligns with the original vision.

10. Post-construction: Use architecture renders as a comparison tool to evaluate the success of the completed project. Compare the renders to the finished building to assess how well the design was executed and identify areas for improvement in future projects. Additionally, sharing before-and-after comparisons can be an effective marketing tool, showcasing your ability to bring design concepts to life.

Remember that the quality and accuracy of architecture renders are crucial for their effective use, so it’s essential to invest time and effort into creating high-quality visualizations that accurately represent your design intentions.

By George Nicola (Expert Stager)

If you are looking forward to hiring an architecture renderer, keep reading to be enlightened on how to work with company like TALLBOX, the software we use, our workflow types, the types of rendering involved + associated fees, and many more.

How to Work with an Architecture Render company?

Working with an architecture render company can be an efficient way to create high-quality visualizations for your architectural projects.

To ensure a smooth collaboration and successful outcome, follow these steps:

1. Research and select the right company: Look for a reputable architecture render company with a strong portfolio, positive client testimonials, and experience in your project type.

Consider factors such as quality of work, turnaround time, and pricing when making your selection.

2. Clearly define your project requirements: Before starting any collaboration, make sure to provide a clear and detailed project brief.

Include information about the project’s context, site, design concept, materials, and any specific rendering styles or techniques you prefer.

Provide all necessary drawings, sketches, and reference images to help the render company understand your design intent.

3. Establish a timeline and milestones: Work with the render company to set a realistic timeline for the project, including key milestones for drafts, revisions, and final deliverables.

Make sure to factor in time for feedback and revisions to ensure the final result meets your expectations.

4. Communicate effectively: Maintain open and consistent communication with the render company throughout the process.

Provide prompt and clear feedback on drafts and revisions, and be prepared to answer any questions they may have about your design or project requirements.

5.Provide constructive feedback: When reviewing drafts and revisions, give specific and actionable feedback to help the render company improve the visuals.

Focus on aspects like lighting, materials, camera angles, and overall composition. Avoid vague or subjective comments that may be difficult for the company to act upon.

6. Be flexible and open to suggestions: While it’s essential to communicate your design intent and expectations clearly, also be open to input from the render company.

They are experts in visualization techniques and may have valuable ideas or suggestions that can enhance your project.

7. Establish a clear payment schedule: Agree on a payment schedule with the render company before starting work on your project.

This may include upfront deposits, progress payments at key milestones, or final payment upon delivery of completed renders. Make sure both parties understand and agree to these terms.

8. Protect intellectual property rights: Ensure that you discuss ownership of intellectual property rights for the rendered images with the company beforehand.

Clarify who retains copyright over the images and any restrictions on their use by either party.

9. Request necessary file formats: Specify which file formats you need for your final deliverables (e.g., high-resolution JPEGs or TIFFs for print materials, optimized PNGs for web use).

Make sure that these formats meet your requirements in terms of resolution, color space, etc.

10. Maintain an ongoing relationship: If you’re satisfied with the results of your collaboration with an architecture render company, consider maintaining an ongoing relationship with them for future projects.

This can help streamline communication and workflows as they become more familiar with your design preferences and expectations.

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Architectural Rendering Workflow Types

The workflow in architecture rendering depends on the project type and timeframes. Tallbox ensures project success by implementing a tailored workflow to accommodate specific requirements.

A simplified workflow follows the below process:

Preparing the Project

You must determine the feasibility and scope of your project. This begins with exploring the building site and taking photos to assess what is feasible within the existing code of practice. Additionally, complete sets of files should be submitted to the architectural rendering company.

Designing the Concept

This phase is the most exciting, as it involves creating visually appealing designs for the proposed building using powerful software while simultaneously evaluating iterations.

Developed Design

In this stage, architectural renderers further develop the schematic concept of the design by consulting key specialists such as civil engineers, interior designers, and landscape architects. Using automated tools, they add roofs, walls, and floor plans while adjusting the building’s size to refine the design.

Finalizing and Submitting the Design

Architectural renderers finalize the detailed design and specify the required materials, fixtures, and services.

They also customize various elements of the proposed building to ensure that all design features are added realistically before submitting the completed version for approval or presentation.

Click here to learn more about the architectural rendering and illustration workflow process before committing to a project.

Type of Architecture Renders and their prices

Below are brief descriptions of various types of architectural renderings, their approximate costs, turnaround times, and the project they are used in.

Interior and Exterior Rendering

Interior renderings showcase interior spaces, while exterior renderings provide various perspectives, such as bird-eye, street view, worm-eye, and close-up views of proposed buildings. Real estate companies and builders typically use exterior rendering, whereas interior designers opt for internal rendering.

Consequently, the cost of exterior rendering is generally twice that of interior rendering.

Interior rendering prices average around $900 (£650) with a 4-5 day turnaround time, while exterior rendering costs approximately $1150 (£840), taking 10-16 days to complete.

Photomontages

Photomontages are popular among landscape architects, urban planners, and engineers as they combine photographs of real buildings with digitally rendered images of proposed designs.

Typically, the actual photo depicts the surroundings, while the 3D-rendered images focus on the foreground. Photomontages help viewers envision how a proposed design would appear in an existing context.

Photomontage visualizations generally cost around $1300 (£1000) and take between 8-16 days to complete.

Verified View Photo Montages

Verified Views or Accurate Visual Representations (AVRs) offer greater accuracy than basic photomontages, demonstrating how a proposed project would appear in the real world.

Utilizing site-specific data and computer-generated images (CGI) captured at precise angles, AVRs help assess the visual impact of a project for local planning authorities at various stages of the planning process.

Verified view photo montages typically cost around $1000 (£800) and have a turnaround time of 10-16 days.

Aerial Rendering

3D aerial view renderings offer a realistic bird’s-eye perspective of a site and its surrounding landscape, allowing for the assessment of a proposed construction project’s impact on existing surroundings and identification of compliance requirements.

Aerial renderings are widely used by property professionals, including architects, developers, builders, agents, advertisers, 3D marketers, investors, and customers.

These visualizations typically cost around $1200 (£950) with a turnaround time of 10-12 days.

Off-plan Rendering (3-D Floor and Site Plan)

Off-plan rendering is ideal for visualizing a property before construction, providing insights into its various aspects.

3D floor plan renderings offer a bird’s-eye view of floor plan layouts, helping to understand the interior organization of spaces.

On the other hand, 3D site plan renderings illustrate how the landscape would appear with plantings, structures, and other elements, making them suitable for property plans, garden plans, landscape designs, and backyard plans.

The cost of 3D floor plan rendering averages around $500 (£395), with an 8-12 day turnaround time. Meanwhile, 3D site plan rendering typically costs $1290 (£1020) and takes between 12-18 days to complete.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual reality (VR) creates 3D walk-throughs for visualizing proposed spaces or buildings still under development.

It employs simulated media to generate a continuous flow of sensory images in a photorealistic setting, complete with textures and lighting effects.

While the development costs can be high, VR is widely used by architects and developers to effectively communicate their ideas.

Virtual reality visualization typically costs around $6.12 (£4.50) per square foot, with a turnaround time of 16-24 days.

Digital Architecture Diorama model

Digital Architecture Diorama models provide architects, construction engineers, and planners with enhanced 3D representations of physical spaces using digital components.

These realistic visualizations help clients understand how their ideas will function in real space and time while allowing for effortless adjustments.

The cost for creating a Digital Architecture Diorama model ranges between $800-$1200 (£630-£950) per project, with a turnaround time of 15-20 days.

360 Panorama Renderings

360-degree panorama renderings offer an interactive real-time experience, enabling users to explore and experience spaces by examining every detail and moving around freely as they would in real life.

This type of architectural 3D rendering is highly effective for persuading clients and investors to invest in a design based on their own intuition.

The cost of creating a 360-degree panorama rendering is approximately $1480 (£1170) per panorama, with a turnaround time of 10-18 days.

Animation Rendering

Animation rendering is a visualization method similar to a 3D animation movie, designed to provide clients with an in-depth understanding of a space while focusing on specific aspects of the project.

Although time-consuming and costly, this approach offers valuable insights and is usually limited to durations between 30 seconds and 10 minutes.

Widely used for show houses, websites, and marketing suites, animation rendering costs range from $7,955 to $11,970 (£6,300-£9,450) per 90 seconds with a turnaround time of 20-45 days.

Photogrammetry

Photogrammetry involves using a large set of still photos taken with a digital camera or drone to create a navigable 3D model.

Renderers extract information from the intersecting images and convert them into 3D or 2D models, which are then utilized for surveying and mapping spaces.

The cost of photogrammetry is approximately $999 (£750) per project for processing 4500 images, with a turnaround time of 10-15 days.

Should You Hire a Company or Freelance Architectural Renderer?

An architectural renderer can help you produce beautiful 3-D illustrations through special CAD and BIM software. If you are torn between hiring an architectural rendering company and a freelancer, start by assessing their pros and cons:

Pros and Cons of Architectural Rendering Company

Pros	Cons
High-level professionalism	Higher prices
Provides legal contracts and liability insurance	Often Overbooked
Guaranteed expert advice	Edits attract extra charges
Wide-ranging technical skills	Less Availability
Quicker delivery	No control over the process

Pros and Cons of Freelance Architectural Renderers

Pros	Cons
Lower Prices	No guarantee of quality
Easy to find them online	You might need to hire many renderers
More dedicated	Hard to supervise
Round-the-clock availability	Requires constant communication
Some lack professionalism & expert advice	Lack of employee support

Amateurs versus Pro Architecture Renderers?

As architectural rendering gains popularity, investors are increasingly weighing the pros and cons of hiring amateurs versus professionals.

This is due to the rapid growth in visualization and modeling across various industries, as they adopt architectural rendering to visualize characters and objects in real-life scenarios.

Amateur architectural renders may initially appear more affordable and could be suitable for simple designs that do not require expert attention.

However, their lower pricing often compromises quality because they lack specialized knowledge. Additionally, you may incur extra costs during subsequent stages of your project.

In contrast, professional architecture renderers employ state-of-the-art software and have received formal training to execute their tasks effectively and successfully.

Although their pricing might be higher, they can be relied upon to deliver high-quality work for any rendering project. Investing in professional services ensures a better outcome in the long run.

Click here and discover what cheap amateur renderers don’t tell you and why you should be cautious.

Main Clients of Architectural Renderers

Nearly all property-related industries require architectural rendering. The following are 7 main clients and their top three potential projects:

Category of Clients	Potential Projects
Architects	Internal and external renderings – Aerial renderings – Off-plan renderings
Interior Designers	Internal renderings – Virtual tours – 360-degree panoramic renderings
Surveyors	Aerial renderings – External renderings – Photogrammetry
Civil Engineers	Internal and external renderings – Aerial renderings – Off-plan renderings
Developers	External rendering – Animation renderings – Digital diorama models – Virtual tours
Residential Clients	Internal and external renderings – Aerial renderings
Furniture and Manufacturing	Internal renderings – Virtual tours – 360-degree panoramic renderings

Key Takeaways