What to Send a Rendering Studio, and How Long It Takes
Quick answer: Send architectural floor plans, elevations and a site plan in any standard format: CAD (.dwg, .dxf), PDF, Revit (.rvt), SketchUp (.skp), Rhino (.3dm) or ArchiCAD (.pln). With complete documentation, first visuals land in 48 to 72 hours and standard delivery runs 5 to 10 business days depending on the deliverable. Rush at 48 hours is available. Almost every delay traces back to missing documentation rather than production time.
What to send
| Item | Why it is needed | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Floor plans | The base geometry. Everything is built from these | Yes |
| Elevations | Vertical dimensions, window and door profiles, facade rhythm | Yes |
| Site plan | Orientation, setbacks, how the building meets the street | Yes for exteriors |
| Sections | Floor-to-floor heights and ceiling conditions | For interiors |
| Material and finish specs | Cladding, glazing, flooring. Without these, materials get guessed | Strongly recommended |
| Mood boards or references | Establishes the look before production, not after | Recommended |
| Furniture and fixture selections | Interiors read generic without them | For interiors |
| Landscape direction | Exterior context and the indoor-outdoor relationship | For exteriors |
| The views you want | Camera positions. Otherwise the studio chooses and you review twice | Yes |
Formats that work
CAD (.dwg, .dxf), PDF, Revit (.rvt), SketchUp (.skp), Rhino (.3dm) and ArchiCAD (.pln) are all usable. A dimensioned PDF set is enough to start; a live model is faster because geometry does not have to be rebuilt.
What does not work on its own: a rendering from another studio, a photograph of a printed plan, or a description without drawings. Those can supplement, not replace.
Turnaround by deliverable
These are our published timelines, measured from complete documentation:
| Deliverable | Standard turnaround |
|---|---|
| First visuals for review | 48 to 72 hours |
| Architectural drawing or drafting set | 5 to 7 business days per set |
| Renderings, standard scope | 5 to 10 business days |
| 3D walkthrough | 5 to 10 business days, depending on scope |
| 360 virtual tour | 7 to 10 business days |
| Rush option | 48 hours, for permit or closing deadlines |
Every project gets a dedicated project manager and direct contact with the team producing the work. Send project details and you get a personal response within 24 hours.
Where projects actually lose time
Not in rendering. In four places, all upstream:
- Incomplete documentation. Plans without elevations, or a set that does not match itself. The studio either waits or assumes, and assuming produces a revision.
- Materials undecided. If cladding is unresolved, the render shows a guess, and then it is redone once the real material is chosen. This is the single most common avoidable revision.
- Views not specified. Without camera positions the studio picks, and stakeholders discover they wanted a different angle after seeing the first draft.
- Design changing during production. Legitimate, and it happens, but a change mid-production costs more than the same change before production.
The pattern is consistent: scoped changes are efficient, and open-ended cycles are not. A project that arrives with complete drawings, decided materials and named views moves at the fast end of every range above.
Costs, for reference
A single exterior render runs $750 to $1,250 production grade and $1,250 to $2,500 investment grade. Investor presentation packages run $5,000 to $25,000. Full development packages with exteriors, interiors, floor plans and animation range from $10,000 to $40,000, and larger multi-deliverable programs from $5,000 to $75,000. See the full cost breakdown.
If your documentation is not complete yet
Send what exists. It is usually possible to start on the parts that are resolved and stage the rest, and it is always better than waiting for a perfect set that never quite arrives. What we will do is tell you specifically what is missing and what it blocks, rather than starting and inventing the gaps.
If the building already exists and there are no usable drawings at all, that is an as-built set, which is a different starting point.
See scope, deliverables and pricing, or send what you have and we will tell you what is missing.
Frequently asked questions
What file formats does a rendering studio need?
CAD (.dwg, .dxf), PDF, Revit (.rvt), SketchUp (.skp), Rhino (.3dm) and ArchiCAD (.pln) all work. A dimensioned PDF set is enough to start, though a live model is faster because the geometry does not have to be rebuilt.
How long does architectural rendering take?
From complete documentation, first visuals in 48 to 72 hours and standard delivery in 5 to 10 business days. Drafting sets run 5 to 7 business days each, 360 tours 7 to 10 business days. A 48-hour rush option is available for permit or closing deadlines.
What do I need to provide before rendering starts?
Floor plans, elevations and a site plan at minimum, plus sections for interiors. Material and finish specifications, references, furniture selections and the specific views you want are what separate a first draft that is close from one that needs a full revision.
Can you start if the drawings are incomplete?
Usually yes, by starting on the resolved parts and staging the rest. What matters is being told what is missing and what it blocks, rather than having the gaps filled in with assumptions that get revised later.
Why do rendering projects run late?
Almost never because of render time. The four recurring causes are incomplete documentation, materials still undecided, views not specified, and design changing mid-production. All four are upstream of the studio.
Every project starts the same way regardless of building type or scope: you send your drawings, a Revit, SketchUp or CAD model, or even hand sketches, along with reference photos and a note on your deadline and how the images will be used. There is no need to schedule a call before getting a number. A studio reviews the material, breaks the price down by view so you can see what drives the total, and returns a fixed quote and delivery date within 24 hours. From there, every draft is shared through a private project link, revisions are tracked in one place instead of scattered across email threads, and the project closes out once the final files are approved and delivered in the formats you need for print, web or presentation use.
Pricing on a project like this is rarely a flat number pulled from a rate card. Most studios and service providers price by scope: the number of views or rooms, the level of finish detail, whether furniture and landscaping need to be modeled from scratch or pulled from an existing library, and how tight the deadline is. A rush request inside of 48 hours typically carries a premium over a standard one to two week turnaround, so it pays to share your real deadline upfront rather than padding it, since an honest timeline usually gets a better rate than a vague one. Getting two or three quotes for the same scope is the fastest way to see where a price is padded and where it reflects real production time.
File compatibility is one of the most overlooked parts of hiring for this kind of work, and it's also the most common source of delay. Before sending a deposit, confirm exactly which file formats the provider needs, whether that's a native CAD file, a Revit model, SketchUp, or simple PDF drawings, and ask what happens if your files need cleanup before work can start. Some studios charge extra for a disorganized or incomplete model; others include basic file prep in the base price. Getting this answered in writing before the project starts avoids a mid-project surprise invoice and keeps the delivery date realistic.
Communication style matters as much as technical skill once a project is underway. Ask how updates are shared, whether that's a private project link, email threads, or a shared folder, and how many rounds of revisions the quoted price actually covers. Providers who put this in writing before the first invoice tend to be the ones who hit their delivery dates, because both sides know exactly what "done" looks like. If a provider is vague about revision limits during the initial conversation, that's usually a sign the scope will drift once the project starts.
Reviews and past client references tell a more reliable story than a polished portfolio page alone, since anyone can showcase their best five projects while quietly leaving out the ones that ran late or over budget. Asking for two or three references from projects similar in scale to yours, and actually calling them, remains one of the most effective ways to separate a provider who performs consistently from one who got lucky on a handful of showcase pieces. It takes an extra day, but it's a small cost against a project that could take weeks to complete.
Delivery formats are worth confirming before the final invoice, not after. A studio should be able to hand off high-resolution files for print, web-optimized versions for a listing or social post, and source files if your team plans to make small edits later without going back for a full revision. Ask whether these formats are included in the base price or billed as add-ons, since that distinction can shift the total cost more than the headline rate suggests.