Prices for exterior 3d Visualization

[Kost4d]

Hello, colleagues!
I am about to start 3d rendering outsource business. I tried to work with clients in my country, but prices for 3d visualization here are much lower then in "outer world".
I am currently in state of negotiations with construction firm, but I want to know what to ask and want to be prepared for the prices they may offer.
Quick google search gave prices for studios, but not for private visualizer as I am. This search made me happy with what I may have, but I feel that reality can hit me hard :)
Since here come people from many countries, please can you give some examples of average prices for cottage houses exterior visualization?

Thank in advance!
my portfolio https://www.behance.net/roxtonc4def72

[Kost4d]

Anyone?

[maru]

So what country are you based in? :)
This is probably a very broad topic, and maybe that's why nobody responded yet. Have you tried asking this question in various FB groups?

[Kost4d]

So what country are you based in? :)
This is probably a very broad topic, and maybe that's why nobody responded yet. Have you tried asking this question in various FB groups?

Thanks for your reply, Maru!
I did ask and the results are just mind-blowing comparing to my country! Few very cool studios here in Ukraine even does not not work forlocal market because of this. But from the other point of view it gives way to the clients, but hence 3d-rendering services in Ukraine are underestimated for now.
This is just my point of view based on my experience with the clients I had.
Last year I did some cottage exterior renders for $11 per image and this year I made exteriors for $17 (as most of non-studio artrist in Ukraine).
Ohh I know :) please dont laugh!
I think this is not fair price for the images that help construction company to sell their product. But this is the current market situation, so no blames.
That is why many Ukrainians do outsoure.

[Nejc Kilar]

Well, the numbers definitely vary. I don't really see how anyone can afford 3ds Max / Cinema 4D, heck, can't even afford Blender (which is free) for 17$ per image so as a community we are kind of screwing ourselves in the butt here. Its not inherently our / your fault though, I started with low prices (and probably still have fairly low prices) too. Its probably just an easy field to get into in terms of investments and most people seem to think that whatever you charge for a project is actually profit. I know I didn't think much about it, I was just happy to get paid for what I do.

Anyway, I tend to charge based on value more and more. I'd also like to pay my "team" based on value. Value of course is subjective so its quite an unhelpful thing to say.

In my country (Slovenia) you get all sorts of different prices - from 50$ per image to more than 1500$+. Granted, I think most of those 300$ per image and more projects are being made in Slovenia but not for local clients. Just like in Ukraine I presume :)

The reasoning is not because Slovenia sucks or we are a bunch of mindless people with potatoes instead of computers. To me its just a natural order of things. While the living standard is still competitively awesome (compared to the US / Western Markets) our mean wages are quite low. The country has like 2million people on a good day and so we don't usually build 500.000$ private buildings just like that. Heck, most of the private market is imho between 100-200k. So to these people the value of renders is pretty low.

In that case its pretty low to me too. If I were building a house right now, I'd be looking for someone who can simply put a few things in the DCC app and I probably wouldn't even need him to render. On a budget of 200k I'd rather spend that extra 10k for an army of rumbas rather then "magazine quality renders".

I suppose I wanted to share that sentiment because I often find people get stuck on hating their local market and do nothing productive to get out of that situation. Yes, most markets don't value commodity services because well... They are commodity services so its best you focus on thinking about the value you can bring to your clients. Presentation is important.

So long story short, you'll probably want to start finding people that value what you do. And you need to do a good job doing it. Locally or abroad, it doesn't matter, use the modern tools like the internet to spread word about what you do.

If you are still not comfortable with your skill level then you'll need to compete on prices but don't drive yourself into the ground as that ultimately works only for the present, you'll be too tired tomorrow :) Don't forget to network, get to know people, try to enjoy being around people.

I'd also recommend thinking about what your business can do to for other business / brands and don't forget to present that to them. Like, if a sweet realestate agency comes to you, how does your service affect their product / brand image / whatever.

I know its a little offtopic but hopefully the wall of text is helpful. If not, well, ignore it :D

[Kost4d]

nkilar!
Many thanks for your answer!
Yes, this looks strange when the price of the software exceeds the earning with it in many-many times. Our western collegues after 3-5 average projects may earn the money they paid for the software. But this is offtopic as well :)

I never thought of market size in the way you show me. Your are completely right!

[Nejc Kilar]

Hey, I just hope some of that wall of text was useful. Looking back at it its a bit off topic but ... :)

I think part of the problem might actually be the way we look at our markets. Everyone thinks locally and some people even feel bad when they charge a Western firm 1500$ per image while the average month income in their country is 500$. I sure did when I started. Its almost like, the world is going global faster than ever but our way of thinking is still stuck in our local markets - which makes sense in a way since your living costs are based on your local market but... Software and some other stuff just isn't. The difference gets bigger the more you head East for some reason :)

Ultimately, the surplus you get can be used to ensure better services for your clients. This is a stupid example probably but, with all the excess you get from giving competitive prices to a Western firm you can invest that money into a backup cloud service or a NAS. That way when poo hits the fan on a project your clients will have more value from you as you'll actually be prepared for that occasion - instead of charging them 50$ per image and hoping nothing ever fails on you.

Thats just one example but ultimately, if a client is searching for "real" value they can't afford to underpay you as that probably means you don't have half of your shit together. Pardon my French.

Obviously, you need to have top-notch work first. You can't offer value without great work as thats the core of your business.

To illustrate my point further... If I'm searching for a web designer for my business and I see two bids, one for 10$ per hour and one for 50$ per hour, who do you think I'll trust more to do a good job? Portfolio matters to me for sure (its the number one thing) but so does that persons sustainability as that shows a serious business attitude to me. Now obviously, if I can't afford the 50$ guy (which is often the case in real life) I'll need to get creative with what I can afford. Its a bit of an oversimplified example but I hope you know what I mean :)

If you get shitty clients who want the world for .99 cents then I guess you need to do everything you can to get better clients or educate your current ones. At that point you'll again need stellar work (to prove your value on first sight) and work on positioning your brand. I guess thats how it works most of the time :)

[vkiuru]

You've got a good conversation going already, not much to add (except in a way it pains me to see professionals who easily win a project because they can offer lower price as we have global differences in living expenses :D )

But that's the one thing you've been circling around and I'd emphasize it once more: you need to figure out your monthly expenses (not just your job but living; rent, food, electricity, extra for clothes etc + taxes and something for your savings account) and there's pretty much what you *should* be getting, at bare minimum. How you can pay for licenses and do work for $10 per image or anything alike, I  can't fathom.

Anyway, good luck and do keep in mind you need to make more than just what covers the models you need to buy for the next project etc. You have a life on top of the job- it's something that is never free!

[Juraj]

I will only add one thing to this:

For years, I've read how people on cgarchitect, usually from US, claimed their prices based on their living costs. This is totally irrelevant on global market. It's obvious you need to charge enough to make living & prosper, that is the base of any business.
But it's not what should justify your prices. Quality & Service should.

And thus, it works vice versa and this is what lot of people never get. Do you live in some random shithole in middle of nowhere ? Your living costs don't matter. If your quality is the same or better then from someone from San Francisco or London City downtown, you should and need to charge the same.

Always charge the highest amount of money you can get for your service, that is how business works. It doesn't matter if you're from small rural village of Lithunia living in house of your grandparents. Your image quality rivals NYC studio ? Charge 5000 euros.

Not only will you massively benefit, everyone benefits.


Never get a client because you are cheaper. If someone chose you on price, you've already lost.

[vkiuru]

I will only add one thing to this:

For years, I've read how people on cgarchitect, usually from US, claimed their prices based on their living costs. This is totally irrelevant on global market. It's obvious you need to charge enough to make living & prosper, that is the base of any business.
But it's not what should justify your prices. Quality & Service should.

And thus, it works vice versa and this is what lot of people never get. Do you live in some random shithole in middle of nowhere ? Your living costs don't matter. If your quality is the same or better then from someone from San Francisco or London City downtown, you should and need to charge the same.

Always charge the highest amount of money you can get for your service, that is how business works. It doesn't matter if you're from small rural village of Lithunia living in house of your grandparents. Your image quality rivals NYC studio ? Charge 5000 euros.

Not only will you massively benefit, everyone benefits.


Never get a client because you are cheaper. If someone chose you on price, you've already lost.

Oh, without a doubt, this.

I need to stress my point was more about the way you need to find out the bottom price at which you can support yourself/family and if you can't reach it, you need to think twice about entering the field all by yourself.

[Juraj]

Yup, bottom price is good description.

Because how I remember those discussions, esp. for US guys, this is what it all came down to. "I have 4 kids and house in California, I need to charge XYZ, but you're from cheaper place/without family/etc.. you don't". It always came to this strange privilege where pricing was based almost like moral imperative to your personal needs. And that's not how capitalism works, maybe in the heads of baby boomers in 60s.


Price should always be based on your market value. Charge what you believe you are worth and what market will accept. Our portfolios are online, anyone can work for clients from California to Tokyo. Never lower your prices because you feel you don't have to/need to charge more.

Strong business position should be something we all should be more educated in creative business. Because this "poor artists" mythology didn't create itself, artists created it by devaluing themselves because they are just happy to work anyway. Who needs profit ?

[Hung Nguyen]

Hi everybody, i'm also new in the freelancer jobs, interior visualizer, most of my work is from UK, but since i'm newbie, and past some project, really teach me how to value your time and man power, and slowly learn to make a decent contract, to not put myself to weak position, still, i think i still need to make it tighter, price aside, i sill have some big questions, and want to ask everybody with experience :
- Revision : how much changes you can start to count as 1 revision ? some of my client have the habit of incremental changes, after the first Revision they start slowly ask for changes in small details like color, items position, changes decoration, artwork.. these kind of changes is small but still, they're add-up quite significant in amount of time and work.
- Modeling : Do you take the 3d model like furniture, decoration, into price at the beginning? some client will discuss the price before they finish the design for that space, thus cannot see the furniture selection and take that into the price in advance.
- Working time : i know that we are freelancer and cannot asking for normal working time, but for example i have some project run for 2,3 week and client push alot, they send revision, changes by friday, and expect to see the result in monday, it's fine till you want to scale up and hire more people to work for you, then with this kind of working time will have problem in long run.
Thank everybody for your opinions !

[Juraj]

I'll write you on these over the weekend, after years I've developed what I consider quite healthy approach and both us and clients are satisfied with the system.
Good that you ask this early in your career, you'll save yourself the painful hassle of figuring it out :- ).

Though I wish bigger studios would sometimes talk more openly about this. There are some articles on cgarchitects but they mostly just skim and say something smart to look cool instead...

[Hung Nguyen]

Hi Juraj Talcik,
 i'm really appreciate you take time to answers, love to hear from your experience. I try to read as many threads in the internet about this but the information is quite messy. I think have a good contract, workflow, and up to industry standard is good for the community. Thank you!

[JoeVallard]

I'll write you on these over the weekend, after years I've developed what I consider quite healthy approach and both us and clients are satisfied with the system.
Good that you ask this early in your career, you'll save yourself the painful hassle of figuring it out :- ).

Though I wish bigger studios would sometimes talk more openly about this. There are some articles on cgarchitects but they mostly just skim and say something smart to look cool instead...

Interesting in hearing this as well. I've searched the net for prices and a lot of places seem to charge based number of images. Seen a few that charge based on Meters squared, which seemed unusual.