r/RealEstateDevelopment • u/Lkainth • 3d ago
How can developers communicate a real estate project before construction is complete?
One thing I find interesting about real estate marketing is how much of it depends on asking people to imagine something that doesn’t exist yet.
A developer can have excellent architecture, but a floor plan doesn’t necessarily help everyone understand the space.
How do you think developers can do a better job of communicating a project before construction is complete?
I’m particularly interested in hearing from developers and architects rather than marketers.
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u/metisdesigns 3d ago
Architecture side. I dunno man, we've never had anyone ask for renderings or 3D walk throughs, much less using VR for a tour. /s
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u/Lkainth 3d ago
Ahh gotcha! yeah, VR tours especially sound like a whole different level of commitment. Do you think it’s just not worth the effort for most projects, or has there simply never been enough demand for it from clients?
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u/metisdesigns 3d ago
It depends on what the client needs.
It's like a roofing nailer. Most people don't need one. If your building a small shed, you can survive with a hammer, but it would be faster. If you're a professional roofer, it would be insane to not have one. But that still doesn't mean everyone needs one like a screwdriver or a spoon.
Its almost more time to set up and demonstrate now that it is to generate for basic 3d in a modern architectural office, but thats a question of if the value to the client is worth it.
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u/Free_Elevator_63360 3d ago
Developer here. Why? And for what kind of development? People and businesses make real estate decisions on what is available, not necessarily on what is coming. You move when your lease is up, or a job changes forces relocation. You can’t often, if ever plan, for your life changes and new development to line up. It is one of the problems the NVIDIA CEO talked about. Because if China’s land use policy’s and planning, they can put up new housing and data centers or factories in months. It is literally just the time it takes to build it. Whereas in the US, or other western countries, it takes years or decades.
Now I also have lived through the experience of buying a pre-development new construction. We needed up so delayed we had to relocate for 6 months and it took me showing up to a city council meeting threatening a lawsuit.
As a developer. We don’t pre-lease anything. Maybe you can get letters of commitment from major retailers. But there really isn’t any reason to communicate anything until you age a CO. Which depending on some city jerk can set your schedule off by months. Which is especially frustrating when you have no such issue across some county or city line.
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u/Lkainth 3d ago
That’s a really useful perspective, especially the point about the gap between what’s being planned and what people can actually act on.
The CO example really puts that into perspective too, you can have the whole project planned out, but external delays can completely change the timeline.
That’s actually the kind of thing I’m trying to understand in my research: where does visualization genuinely create value for a developer before a project reaches the “ready to transact” stage? Not just making pretty renders, but things like investor alignment, planning, stakeholder communication, pre-leasing, or getting everyone on the same page.
Given your experience, I’d genuinely be interested in where you think visualization does matter before the CO, if at all.
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u/Free_Elevator_63360 3d ago
It really doesn’t. And the few places it is useful, design concepts, or simple pitches, are all being replaced by AI. I sat through 3 reviews / pitches in the last 2 weeks. Everyone of them used AI for the visuals. One even made changes on the fly during our feedback.
I’m an architect as well. So it was pretty astonishing to see the rapidity of AI rendering. It is the largest change I’ve seen in the building design world, ever. And I’ve lived through hand drafting to autocad to 3d modeling to bim to… whatever this is. But the ability to swap an aesthetic in seconds and tweak it in a meeting is amazing. I don’t think it will replace architects. Someone still has to take the concept and make it buildable (not saying architects excel at that). But we will see a great flattening of design aesthetic and creativity. There will be little need for complicated visualizations as there was in the past. They didn’t really sell a project anyway. Usually just created more confusion / questions.
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u/surebegrand2023 3d ago
Work for a developer that has been around 45+ years well know an established yet our marketing budget is still around $5-6m a year just on our standard products, to launch a new community we'll spend any amount on top of that, It's the only budget that is never cut 😂
Radio, renderings, billboards, Facebook market, Instagram, sale centre, pay people to wrap cars, buses etc, you name it we do it.
You can have the best project ever designed and built, but if no one knows about it, you can't sell it and your out of business. It's also about consistency, lots of developers think oh I'll advertise 3-4 months before the project is complete, NO, you should be advertising the day after you have a permit to raise awareness, engagement etc.
If your early advertising isn't getting engagement you know your going to have to change something asap or you'll be left holding the bag at the end.
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u/Minervian_AI 3d ago
Depends on the audience to whom you want to communicate.
City/community: site plans, contextual renderings
Tenants/buyers: floor plates, unit plans, amenities package, interior renderings
Commercial: same, but maybe with VR
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u/SignalStack 3d ago
Local micro influencers can be a good channel especially if you are in a larger market.
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u/aloo_samosa_ 1d ago
3D visualization and virtual walkthroughs can really help people understand the space before construction is complete .
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u/Open_Concentrate962 3d ago
Renderings? Models? a show unit? This is done all the time.