The most common question before a project starts is: "What do you need from us?" And the honest answer is: it depends on what you have. Your data situation determines three things that directly affect you as a developer, project manager or agent: the effort, the price and the delivery date. Anyone who supplies complete CAD data gets a result faster and cheaper. Anyone who sends a hand-drawn sketch still gets a rendering, but pays for the reconstruction work.
This article explains in concrete terms which documents are ideal, which are still perfectly workable, which will do at a pinch, and what happens when information is missing.
The Short Answer: Three Classes of Data
Broadly speaking, every project falls into one of three groups:
- Ideal: a CAD or BIM model. The geometry already exists; the 3D artist only has to prepare it.
- Perfectly workable: dimensioned PDF plans (floor plans, elevations, sections). The model is rebuilt, but on a reliable basis.
- Feasible, but more expensive: sketches, hand drawings, photographed plans without dimensions. Everything has to be interpreted, and interpretation costs revision rounds.
Our renderings start at EUR 399 per visualisation. That figure assumes a clean starting point. The vaguer the documents, the more modelling work goes in before the first image.
Ideal: CAD and BIM Data
If your architect already plans digitally, half the work is done. We can use these formats directly:
- Revit (.rvt) – a complete BIM model including component information
- ArchiCAD (.pln) or its IFC export
- SketchUp (.skp) – common in residential construction and on smaller projects
- DWG/DXF from AutoCAD – highly valuable even as a pure 2D drawing
- IFC as a vendor-neutral exchange format, when nobody wants to hand over the original file
- 3ds Max (.max), Rhino (.3dm), Blender (.blend), if that is how the office works
What really makes a model usable is not the format but how clean it is. A model with correct storey heights, closed wall volumes and a comprehensible layer structure saves hours. A model in which every wall consists of thirty individual surfaces has to be partly rebuilt – and the advantage evaporates.
When in doubt, please export an IFC or a DWG as well. Sending too much is better than being asked for it later.
Perfectly Workable: PDF Plans
On many projects, reality looks like this: the architect will not release the CAD file, the model only exists internally, or the project is so old that nothing but plans survive. That is not a problem.
FotoEstate regularly works exclusively from PDF plans, rebuilding the entire building in 3D from them. What we need for that:
- Floor plans of all relevant storeys, dimensioned
- Elevations from all four sides – without them we are guessing at the facade
- Sections, at least one, for storey heights and roof build-up
- Site plan or cadastral map, if the surroundings are to appear in the image
The decisive factor is scale. A PDF with a clean dimension chain can be measured off precisely. A PDF with no scale bar and not a single dimension entered forces us to estimate.
At a Pinch: Sketches and Hand Drawings
That works too. For conversions, early concept phases or marketing a plot of land, often nothing exists beyond a pencil sketch and a few photos of the existing building.
A rendering can be created from that as well. You should just be aware of two things:
1. The result is an interpretation, not a depiction of your design. It works for concept presentations, not for the sales brochure a buyer will later hold up against reality.
2. It takes longer and produces more rounds of coordination, because every open question has to be settled individually.
If you find yourself in that situation, carry out a measuring survey beforehand, or have the existing building captured with 3D surveying and laser scanning. After that the basis is solid, and every further image becomes faster and cheaper.
Why the Building Specification and Material List Matter So Much
This is the most underestimated point of all. Geometry alone does not make a sellable image. A rendering consists half of material and light.
If the building specification is missing, here is what happens: the 3D artist guesses. He picks an anthracite window frame because that is the current fashion. You receive the image, see white frames in the tender documents, and send it back. That is a revision round you could have paid to avoid.
So send us whatever you have:
- Facade material and colour (RAL or NCS number, if available)
- Windows: frame colour, subdivision, glazing bars yes/no
- Roof: covering, colour, pitch
- Floor finishes and wall colours for interior visualisations
- Doors, frames, handrails, balustrades
- Kitchen fittings, if they appear in the image
A plain list as a Word or Excel file is entirely sufficient. It does not have to be pretty, it has to be complete.
What a Moodboard Achieves
Two clients can supply the identical building specification and still expect completely different images. One wants warm evening light in muted tones, the other clear midday light with high contrast.
A moodboard settles exactly that. Collect three to five reference images – from magazines, from Pinterest, from our own reference gallery – and add one sentence about what you like in them. "This lighting mood" is a useful statement. "Looks good" is not.
It costs you ten minutes and saves an entire round of coordination on average. For how this fits into the overall process, see our guide to real estate rendering.
Checklist to Work Through
Before you hand over the data, go through this list:
- [ ] Floor plans of all relevant storeys, dimensioned
- [ ] Elevations from every side
- [ ] At least one section with storey heights
- [ ] Site plan with north arrow and property boundaries
- [ ] CAD/BIM file, if available (plus IFC or DWG)
- [ ] Building specification or material list
- [ ] Photos of the surroundings or the existing building
- [ ] Moodboard with three to five references
- [ ] Desired viewpoints, roughly marked on the site plan
- [ ] Desired time of day and season
- [ ] One named contact person with decision-making authority
- [ ] Image format and resolution (portal, print, construction hoarding?)
Common Mistakes When Handing Over Data
In practice, these points cost the most time:
Plans scanned out of scale. A plan that lay crooked on the copier and was saved as a JPG at an unknown scale is not a basis for anything. Scan straight and state the scale – or at least include a known reference length in the image.
Missing height information. Floor plans alone say nothing about storey heights, parapet heights or lintel heights. Without those figures the building looks squashed or stretched in the visualisation.
Outdated plan revisions. The classic: we model to the March revision, the floor plan has been changed in the meantime, and nobody said so. Mark every file with a date and revision number, and report changes immediately.
No clear contact person. When three people comment on one revision round without coordinating and contradict each other, the effort triples. Name one person who decides.
Incomplete batches of emails. Twelve attachments across five emails, some duplicated, some superseded. Set up a folder instead, sort it, and send a link.
What Happens If Documents Are Missing?
We tell you openly rather than quietly billing for it. If something is missing, you get a query. If the answer is not available, we make a documented assumption and flag it. In the first draft you can see where we guessed, and correct it precisely.
It does not come entirely without extra effort, though. A rule of thumb: every missing piece of basic information generates one additional round of coordination on average. Three missing details can push the delivery date back by a week.
And If the Property Already Exists?
Then you often need something other than a rendering. For finished but empty apartments, virtual home staging from EUR 59 per image is the faster and cheaper route – good photos are all it takes. For the marketing documents, 2D and 3D floor plans from EUR 19 round things off, a Matterport tour costs EUR 199, professional image editing EUR 49 and drone footage EUR 199.
Which service suits which project stage is something we clarify in the initial conversation. You do not have to decide that yourself.
Conclusion
Good documents are not an end in themselves. They are the direct lever on price, deadline and result quality. CAD and BIM are ideal, dimensioned PDF plans are entirely sufficient, and even with sketches you will get an image – just with more coordination.
More important than the format is completeness: geometry, material, light, viewpoint, one decision-maker. Deliver those five things and the first draft will already be close to right.
Not sure whether your documents are enough? Send them over. We will look through them and tell you honestly what is missing. You will find more on the process and scope of services on our real estate rendering page – and you can request a free sample rendering with no obligation.