17 replies to this topic

[Steve and Carla Farnam]

We have been completing multiple view renderings at the N/C rate for customers. Given the time

involved developing a quality rendering we are contemplating adding an additional fee for the service.

Question for today would be what would be considered a reasonable range for the fee for renderings

to help customer visualize their finished home? Fee based on per square foot or fixed fee.

[Bryan Schultz]

I have been adding a fixed fee based on size/complexity on the more involved designs.

[Sam Morgan]

I'VE NEVER CHARGED FOR RENDERINGS AND NEVER WILL.  OUR LUMION RENDERINGS GET USED FOR STOCK PLAN SALES SO THE CLIENT BENEFITTING FROM THEM IS JUST A BONUS

[Harlon Suttle]

Back in the day, a rendering was typically a work of Art....mainly watercolor, pen and ink or pencil and was a commisioned piece...and seldom done for a residence unless the owner wanted it. In todays digital market and the ease to complete a 3d rendering is very common place...but, the time spent is still a billable item....the question then becomes for what purpose is the rendering developed.... photo-reastic image with the actual site and surrounding included or just a simple Softplan "push the button" rendering....the cost of a photo-realistic image can be pricey, but the generic Softplan plain vanilla varity STILL takes time...even a simple Softplan rendering can take 4 hours to get the image to a quality that some owner would pay....so, that is my two cents....I develop a COMPLETE Schedule of Values of the items I include in each project and in that process, the client has the opporunity to discuss what they need and want.... Never be afarid to discuss the cost of an item....VERY FEW clients realize the the Desigher of Record HAS a liability that never ends as long as the indivual is living....thus at a miniunm, a pro-rated portion of your annual Errors and Omissions Insurance would be a bare minimal fee.

[Allen McDonnell]

I analyze it on a job by job basis.

[Mark Petri]

I don't specifically charge extra, but if someone asks for renderings I will spend the time to get them what they want and charge my hourly fees. Being SP is a 3D program almost every job has at least some 3D view included. Only time there isn't 3D is when I am just drawing something very basic or over another designer's 2D plans.

[Allen McDonnell]

Fun little porch addition.

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[David Zawadzki]

If you have color renderings on your plans, be sure you add a disclaimer…

[Allen McDonnell]

If you have color renderings on your plans, be sure you add a disclaimer…

 

About what?

[David Zawadzki]

About what?

ie.  Artist rendering only.  Actual product size and color may vary.

[Mark Petri]

Good call David. Often I show grey scale or B&W for that very reason. I had a house in Tahoe I was working on where they asked for color renderings and got so hung up on the shade of stain not being exact that they spent tons of extra time worrying about that instead of the structure and layout we were sorting out.

 

For the first time in a long time I got asked to provide color elevations for the building department for a commercial project to be sure our colors complied with their regulations. So, its a fine line. More and more people expect everything to be available in a few clicks. Disappointing when they can't get instant gratification.

[Thomas Roman]

ie.  Artist rendering only.  Actual product size and color may vary.

"The vehicles and human beings shown in the project renderings are for artistic representation only, and are not to be included in the Contractor's Scope of Work"

[Keith Almond]

In the 70's ... obviously before CAD, we had a contractor Cast a NORTH POINT in concrete because it was placed in the front yard !!!

[David Zawadzki]

A friend of mine had to go to court because the house didn’t come fully furnished… like shown in the renderings.

[Keith Almond]

A friend of mine had to go to court because the house didn’t come fully furnished… like shown in the renderings.

 

I really hope he won!

[Steve and Carla Farnam]

Thanks evreyone for the rendering input. In lieu of placing a rendering disclaimer we usually do not place the rendering on the plan set.

We generate renderings as an elevation during the design process, given the ease of developing them in Softplan, and share with the customer

as we work toward the final design, for this there is no additional fee. We have some customers ask if we can then put together renderings using

color schemes and materials they have chosen or would like us to help them choose final colors, materials and manufacturers products to submit

to HOA design review or for the bidding process. This is were we are considering adding an additional fee given some customers can decide within

an hour and others take several hours. At this time we have decided to continue with no additional fees and consider the time well spent as a word

of mouth advertising catalyst. Attached find an example of first phase rendering generated at the beginning of last weeks back and forth with a new

customer that got us to a final layout for generating final drawings.

 

[Chris Proost]

I've started adding ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION in 3D text on my renderings because we've gotten grief over textures and colors not being accurate.

 

 

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[Tim Stockton]

High end renderings take a lot of time to get right.  I have built into my fees the time needed for concept level renderings to help a client understand the design concept that is being drawn/represented.  When higher end renderings are requested, there I charge extra.  They take more time and my time is worth something - I'm running a business and not a charity.  Interestingly enough, I've rarely had anyone complain about the extra fees and it is common sense that this is extra work they are requesting on my part.