When marketing a new building, one is surrounded by a world of samples instead of the actual property. Model apartments, renderings, flooring and tile samples, product catalogs of optional extras. As a result, prospective buyers are constantly navigating a world full of puzzle pieces that don’t provide a complete picture of their dream home. This article explores how the world of samples can be transformed into a comprehensive digital representation.
Scrolling through the website of a new construction project, you’ll usually find several renderings of interior spaces, commendably and quite expensively created by architects or other third-party providers. But no matter which unit within the project you look at, you’ll find the same renderings everywhere. Only when you look at the caption does it become clear: “Example image.” The renderings could therefore be from any apartment in the project, but not necessarily from the one the prospective buyer is interested in.
A similar phenomenon can be observed with units presented using home staging: Potential buyers want to view the unfinished building and are instead led to the decorated three-room garden apartment, when they are actually interested in the studio apartment on the first floor. “It could look something like this.” However, this “something like this” is only discernible from a black-and-white floor plan and relies on the individual imagination of the prospective buyer.
The fact is, prospective buyers don’t want to know how their future neighbors will live in the building; they want to know how they themselves will live. They’re unlikely to be ringing their neighbors’ doorbells regularly to admire their view or their fitted kitchens—at least, let’s hope that’s something the buyers of the model apartment won’t have to worry about.
Models do offer a starting point, but surely there’s a better way?
With a fully-fledged 3D model of each unit in the project, prospective buyers can truly explore the units that interest them. The helicopter view allows them to see the entire model from every angle, while the first-person view lets them take a digital walkthrough of each apartment. And for those who find 3D a bit too complex, the good old 2D floor plan is still available – in both black and white and color.
The troublesome issue of sample renderings for your project website has also been resolved. You can now even take photos in the FPV view, which our AI rendering can then transform into photorealistic images. These can then be uploaded directly to the respective detail section of each unit. This conversion from model view to photorealism is also available to your prospective buyers – allowing them to experience the future reality from any angle of the model at any time.
The final appearance of individual units is rarely fully visualized for every single one – and it’s not even set in stone yet. Enter optional extras. If one of your prospective buyers decides to purchase a unit (usually based on a floor plan), they have a multitude of options even during construction. This starts with choosing flooring and bathroom tiles and extends to the plumbing fixtures, where the question is which faucet is the most attractive.
In between, the buyer is handed numerous samples and product images from the fixtures catalog. If you’re one of those people who can envision the finished look of the property based on this, congratulations. Most of us would probably struggle to imagine the finished flooring in every room based on a small square of floor texture. The choice often becomes a torment due to a lack of imagination when it comes to such details.
Just like the real property, the appearance of the unit in the 3D model is not set in stone. Unlike on a construction site, however, changes such as the aforementioned special features can be visualized at the touch of a button. A simple small tile sample can be transformed into the complete bathroom. The flooring can also be laid quickly, allowing you to see at a glance whether the overall look meets your prospective buyers’ expectations or whether, for example, parquet flooring (option B) better suits their style.
As the developer and project manager, you decide what exactly falls under your customizable special features. For instance, floor and wall textures can be configured according to predefined options, as can doors, windows, and large fixtures such as the shower, bathtub, and sink in the bathroom, or the fitted kitchen. But it gets even more detailed: Door and window handles, light switches, sockets, and bathroom fixtures can also be changed to a different option from your catalog with just one click in the model.
But of course, you don’t make the changes; your prospective buyers do, choosing the option that best suits their needs. Using the fully-fledged configurator, they select each optional extra step by step and immediately see the result in the model, along with any additional costs reflected in the purchase price. This way, your prospective buyers no longer buy based on a floor plan, but rather, similar to the automotive industry, a fully configured property.
And, as mentioned previously, the customized configuration allows them to view the finished reality from every angle: with photorealistic AI renderings.
The limited world of samples and visualization examples is no longer adequate for prospective buyers when choosing a new-build property. It’s time to focus on the digital twin in marketing – for every single unit. Instead of buying “from the floor plan,” your prospective buyers will now buy “from the 3D model,” configured to their exact needs. A more detailed visual decision-making basis leads to faster sales and a quicker marketing launch – you won’t have to wait for construction to begin or for your architects’ sample renderings.
With a comprehensive visual package for every unit in your project, there will be no more surprises for your prospective buyers when they receive the keys, because each unit already looks exactly as they envisioned it – without requiring any imagination on their part.
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