01. Stand Out From The Crowd
The building industry is an extremely competitive market. Whether working as a builder, interior designer or any of the associated building trades (architects, cabinet makers, joiners) there is always a high level of competition. Standing out from the crowd is a big challenge. There are, however, ways to separate yourself from the competition. Providing professional visuals to your prospective customers, giving them a clear picture of your project, is a powerful way to do this.
I have often spoken to customers who were left unhappy with the result of a previous building project. On further discussion, it's clear that from the very outset, the only information they could base their decisions on were estimated cost and on occasion, 2D CAD plans. Plans are not enough to give a customer an accurate view of a project, which only leaves price.
The price of a project tells a customer nothing of the final result. Customers sometimes select the lowest price, as it feels like the best value. Some customers choose higher priced contractors as they think this will guarantee a better result. Neither option reveals anything of the final finished project.
02. Winning Contracts
I recently worked on a project with a designer to build an entrance hall re-design proposal for a residential block in St John’s Wood, London. The customer had previously paid a designer in the region of eighty thousand pounds to refurbish the entrance hall, hoping that the expense would ensure a good result. On completion, they had decided to remove and re-do the work as they were unhappy with the final result. It was an enormous amount of money to spend on a design they were unhappy with.
Unfortunately, the customer had entered the project blindly and without accurate images to show the final result. They were now unwilling to accept any design contract, without a clear view of the work the new interior designer would produce.
Along with the interior designer, I worked with the customer to understand the style they wanted and produced some realistic 3D renderings. We worked together to refine the design and create a set of renderings that the customer was happy with, before even starting any building work. The customer was so impressed with the work that they requested all of their seven blocks to be re-designed and rendered in the same way, thus winning the interior designer a big project.
A selection from the many 3D renderings produced for the entrance hall project
This project demonstrates how powerful the drawings were and it subsequently led to the interior designer landing a significant amount of work. Additionally, when building work starts any potential builder will be able to see what is expected of them, enabling them to plan for work on all of the blocks at once, rather than individually. Working on more than one entrance hall could lead to a significant reduction in costs to the overall project.
Beginning a project with professional 3D renderings is such a powerful workflow, as it leaves very little to chance. Many things can be discovered and adjusted at the drawing stage, rather than during building, which can be very expensive. Working in this way means that there are no big surprises for the customer at the end of the project.
Along with the above example, I’ve worked on many projects where interior designers, carpenters or builders have won contracts due, in part, to the drawings that I’ve produced. One such example is a hotel refurbishment project that a start-up building company pitched. I had worked with the company on previous projects, so they immediately got in contact to request a set of renderings to use as part of their pitch to the hotel.
They were competing against more prominent and more established companies but due, in part, to the fact that they provided professional 3D renderings, giving a clear view of exactly what work they would produce, they won the contract and have recently completed, a very successful project.
A few of the 3D renderings produced for the hotel project
The hotel specifically mentioned the 3D renderings as one of the reasons they chose the company for the project, demonstrating that investing in professional images can set you apart from the competition and increase the chance of winning contracts.
03. Professional Images
These are just two examples of how, even in such a challenging industry, interior designers, builders, joinery companies, architects and other related trades can set themselves apart. By pitching a professional and modern view, of proposed work, customers can make informed, positive decisions, rather than relying solely on price. Your customers will relax in the knowledge that they have a clear understanding of the project that you will produce for them.
Contact me to discuss 3D Renderings for your project pitches