64: How Photorealistic Renderings Can Serve Luxury Clients & Increase Your Revenue - with Mina Duque

In this episode of The Designer Within Podcast, host John McClain chats with Mina Duque from Duke Renders about the significant impact photorealistic renderings can have on an interior design business. 

They delve into Mina's journey from handling her design business to heading client success at Duke Renders and discuss the external support and benefits that outsourcing renderings can bring to designers. 

They cover how renderings can speed up project approvals, enhance client presentations, and even act as a powerful marketing tool. Mina highlights the importance of delegating to the right people and setting clear expectations, while John shares his insights on incorporating rendering costs into design fees and making a profit.

Whether you’re new to using renderings or looking to integrate them further into your operations, this episode provides valuable strategies and tips for maximizing their potential.

00:51 Guest Introduction: Mina from Duke Renders

03:43 The Importance of Delegation in Interior Design

07:30 Benefits of Photorealistic Renderings

13:24 The Onboarding Process with Duke Renders

20:00 Customization and Unique Design Solutions

22:36 Using Renderings for Client and Trade Communication

23:37 Monetizing Rendering Services

24:35 Transparent Pricing Strategies for Designers

26:17 Incorporating Renderings into Design Fees

27:39 Identifying the Right Clients for Renderings

28:50 Maximizing Profit from Renderings

29:18 The Importance of Deliverables

29:53 Using Renderings for Client Reassurance

31:36 Renderings as Marketing Tools

34:54 Cost and Packages for Renderings

39:26 AI in the Design Industry

43:10 Final Advice and Contact Information

For more information on Mina and Duke Renders:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dukerenders/
Website: https://www.dukerenders.com/interiors/home

Become a Luxury Interior Designer
Find, Service, and Profit With Luxury Design Projects

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Transcript

I agree with you. AI cannot hold your hand or brush your hair when you're feeling bad. AI is only as good as it can spit out. AI can be your assistant, but I do not fear AI taking over anything personally. As long as you are hands on with your clients and hands on with the people who work around you, then AI is just going to be your helper.
Exactly. I love what you said. I don't fear it. I don't either. I think it's exciting and it's bringing new ways to increase efficiency in our processes. And maybe for some industries, it is more of a threat. For example, for designers, you do more than just show pretty pictures of what a space is going to look like.
There's a whole execution and working with so many different trades. And ultimately both designers and ourselves, we are providing a luxury service. The types of clients that we get are looking for you to handle it and make their life easier and give them what they want. Hey y'all, you're listening to the designer within podcast, episode 64 designer edition.
Welcome to the designer within podcast, the podcast where business and creativity come together. I'm your host, John McLean, and I created this podcast for my fellow interior designers. but also for creative and innovative minds alike. I've experienced the challenges and celebrated the victories that come with our careers.
And now I'm here to sip and spill the tea with you. There is no sugar coating here, my friend, just the real deal. We're experts at getting creative for our clients. So let's channel that same energy into our own businesses. It is time to dig deep, reimagine your business, and transform your life from the inside out.
It is time to dive into The Designer Within. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Designer Within Podcast. Today's episode is a designer edition episode. As you know, I split my episodes between homeowner edition, designer edition, or everybody edition. And today's edition is for interior designers and those who are working on growing their design business.
Hope you're doing great, and I hope you had a great week with your business. Lots going on in my life. I have so many So, if you're one of those students that I'm coaching privately in my coaching program, and I love it, if you're interested, head to my website, johnmcclain. co, and find out more information there on how I can privately coach you.
Also, if you're happening to be listening to this in real time, it is late February of 2025, and I will be at KBiz next week. If you are at KBiz, find me there. I would love to see you. I'm actually hosting the entire day at KBiz Next Stage on the first day of KBiz, February 25th, 2025. So if you're at KBiz, come by the stage.
We have lots of great panelists, lots of great things happening. The Design Bytes competition is happening as well. And I will be there all day long, as I said, introducing all of the great panelists that we have and all of the great activities that we have going on at KBiz. You'll also see me running around at different booths as well.
And I will be recording a session of my podcast live at KBiz on Wednesday, February 26th. And you can actually listen. It's very cool. You can actually listen to the podcast live as they are being recorded. They have exterior speakers. outside of the podcast studios and you can listen to all the podcasts and that actually starts on Tuesday, Wednesday, and then ends on Thursday, of course, the last day of KBIZ.
So check that out. That is in the South Hall. And again, I will be hosting the first day of KBIZ next stage activities. On February 25th, all day long, on the KBiz Next Stage, also in the South Hall. Would love to see you there. And of course, KBiz is just a wonderful, wonderful trade show. Don't tell the other trade shows, but it's one of my top favorites that I go to.
And it's just packed full of information, new products, you can meet with all of your reps. It's just a great, great show all the way around. Also, if you missed the announcement, I have released a brand new course, my luxury design business blueprint. And this is literally taking you from start to finish on how I attract and take care of my luxury design clients and how you can do the same for yourself.
We start with a lot of foundational aspects from your website to your social media, to your branding, all the things that you need to set a good foundation to attract that right client. But I'm leading you through the process, too, of how you can actually service those clients and take care of them from start to finish in the way that they are accustomed to.
I'm also going to be sharing lots of behind the scenes secrets that I have used to not only find those clients with those wonderful luxury projects that we're all so interested in and that we want, But also how to get referrals from the clients that you are working with. It's a wonderful, wonderful course.
It is brand new material. Lots of things that I know are going to help you to either grow your business to that luxury level. Or if you're just starting out, it can also help you find those clients at that luxury level and have all of the steps from someone who has been there and done that to continue to grow your business to the luxury level that you want.
And again, you can head to johnmcclain. co. That's C O not C O. com and find out all the information for the course there. It is live and ready to go and I forgot to mention that also as part of this course I am doing a two hour question and answer session. So as you finish the course we're going to schedule a live question and answer session with me to review any questions that anybody in the program has.
So head on over to johnmcclain. co and you can find the link there to join the luxury design business blueprint course. All right, that being said, I'm excited about today's episode. If you've ever thought about using renderings to further your design business, to allow clients to make decisions faster, but you're a little curious about how you can either do that yourself, or how you can actually profit from those renderings, today's episode is for you.
I have Mina Duke from Duke Renders on. She is the head of client success at Duke Renders, and Duke Renders does an amazing job with creating photorealistic spaces for interior designers. You're going to love it. And again, we're going to dive into how the process works, how easy she makes it for us. to get those renderings done, but also on the flip side, how it can benefit your business and how you can actually not only help your clients make a decision faster and move your project along, but also add more income to your bottom line by using renderings and working those into your processes.
As I said, Mina Duke is the head of client Renders, where she ensures clients have a seamless and positive experience. She's constantly connecting with clients, gathering feedback, and using it to fine tune services and processes. As a designer herself, Mina gets the challenges that designers face and loves helping them tackle those with Duke's premium 3D rendering solutions.
She's based in Tulum, Mexico, not a bad place to be, and loves spending time with her family and exploring the world together. Alrighty, now it is time to learn more about Duke Renders and what photorealistic renderings can do to grow your own business. Sit back and relax and enjoy my interview with Mina Duke from Duke Renders.
Hey, Mina, welcome to the designer within podcast. Hi, John. Nice to be here. I'm so happy to see your smiling face. It is always good to see you. I love the topic that we have today because we're always talking about on this podcast and with my coaching students and programs, how to better interior designers, businesses, and make their day to day easier.
I feel like exactly what that purpose is, is what we're going to talk about today. So before we get into all of that. Tell everyone a little bit about yourself, your background, and how you got into rendering for interior designers. Yeah, of course. So I am also an interior designer and Duke Renders actually started, it was my husband, Fernando, and his brother, they started helping me in my design business because I, like a lot of designers, was wearing all the hats and I was overwhelmed and I, 3D rendering.
But I used to do them myself. It was just not sustainable all the time that it was taking me to wear all those hats and renderings was kind of the first thing that I realized, like, I don't need to be doing this. You know, it's very time consuming and it wasn't even very good quality. So they stepped in, they started helping me and then one thing led to another.
And now Duke renders is its own beast, I guess you could say. And so I took a step back from my design business after having some babies. And then started working with my husband again with Duke Renders. I love it. It's, it's given me a lot of, it's given me flexibility to work from home, but also it's given me a chance to stay in the world of interior design, which I really love and love working with interior designers.
It's been really fun helping transform people's businesses because you're taking something major off their plate and letting them focus on other areas of their business. It's been really rewarding. Your title is head of client success. Tell me about what That means within Duke renderings and what your role is.
Yeah. So I essentially, yeah, it's a fancy way to say, I take care of our client. I love it. I, because I'm a designer, I really understand what a lot of designers are going through and the challenges they're facing. So I talk to them and figure out what, how to incorporate renderings to their process if they aren't already using renderings and there's always kind of an adjustment period as well with incorporating a new aspect to your business.
I'm there. All the way helping brainstorm and figure out a better way to do things. Obviously in relationship to our service, I do everything I can to make sure that they're having a clean experience and a good experience. Yeah, I love that. There is someone to hold the hand along the way because a lot of designers like yourself were doing renderings on your own and you were doing that.
In your business and you saw, Oh my gosh, this takes up so much time and it does. And I always say, remove things from your plate that you don't enjoy doing or you're not good at doing right. And that eliminates a lot for a lot of designers. We feel like we have to do it all. We have to wear all the hats, as you said, and I am a big proponent of delegating.
I'd love to delegate to your company. Like yourself and when we have used you guys before too, and can attest to the great quality of the work, whether it's delegating an actual service or just something that you don't enjoy doing or something that you're not good at doing, delegation is going to make your day so much faster, so much better.
And you can focus on the things that you're good at. That to me is a great reward for using you guys, just the fact of delegating, but any other benefits that you see for designers using. Do well. Yeah, I wanna add that. Of course, delegating does it. It's important, but delegating, I wanna add to the right people because when you, even whether you're hiring or outsourcing, you can create more headaches if it's not the right people.
We've seen, not only the product we deliver, which is exceptional, but also the process. You know, that's where we really focus a lot on as well, because we're trying to make your life easier. Ultimately, if it's not a smooth process and not very clean and organized, but you might get the result that you want in the end, meaning the images, you know, photorealistic and great to show off to your clients and on your portfolio.
But if it was a headache to get there, we don't feel like we've done our job. So. Delegating to the right people is really important. Oh, that's good. That's good stuff. And that can apply to what you guys offer to any other aspect of your business. Make sure the people that you're delegating to are qualified to do what they say they're going to do.
And I think on the side of the designer, the responsibility also lies in, I call it diligent delegating, which means being very specific about what you're looking for, being very specific about what your needs are. being very specific about what you think the outcome is so that you can guide us and give us guardrails to make sure that what we are expecting is what we're going to get because many times expectations are the root of all evil sometimes because it's just a downfall when everyone thinks they're going to get this.
And they get something differently. So I think giving you guys everything that you need to fulfill the rendering is critical. Exactly. We take so much time and care to really understand every single client starting from our strategy call and the very first call that we have, every designer is different, everyone's at a different stage in their business.
Some people use renderings that had bad experiences, which is. Why we're talking to them. Some people have never used renderings and they need more handholding because it's all new and overwhelming. So we spend time asking questions to, you know, where they're at in their business, what their expectations are, what their experience has been so that we can guide them along the way and fill in any information gap.
Or make sure that we set those expectations from the very beginning, as far as what we can and can't do so that there isn't any frustration later about, Oh, I thought it was going to be like this. I think we set expectations pretty clear. There's a great onboarding process that you guys have and a great follow through, which is really important.
I can attest that you want. A great outcome for everyone, because of course you want the client to use you guys again, and you want the designer to take what you have created to show to our clients and turn into a successful project. Let's talk about that aspect, because that is really critical. When you take this beautiful rendering that you guys have created, you work with designers, you figure out what their needs are, how does that help the.
Designer and the client make the process go faster, smoother, and hopefully more profitable. What are the perks of using these renderings and how does it make that process much easier for us in your perspective? First, not every project, not every space needs a photorealistic rendering, but when you're working in the luxury.
Space, your clients are high end and they're investing a ton of money. When you're talking about main areas in a house, like master bedrooms, master bathrooms, the living kitchen, dining, that's where the power of these images really comes into play. And that isn't to say it's the only time there are people, there are projects that they want every room done and that's okay too.
Or, you know, there are even clients where maybe they're not ultra high end clients, but they value. The information that they get from the photorealistic renderings. But what I, what I always tell people is that when you're working with high end clients, especially these are people that are really busy and don't have a lot of time.
So when you're presenting, if you're using mood board, 2d floor plans and samples, and you're piecing together all this information to try to give them an accurate depiction of what. Your design is that takes time, not just in the presentation, but also potentially in revisions, because if they're not getting it crystal clear, they might ask to see more options or they might need to sit on it a little bit and think about it.
So what photorealistic renderings does is it. Speeds up the approval process. And that's the number one thing that, that I would say that it does is it speeds it up because there's no uncertainty when you show an image, a client can have that yes reaction or no, but hopefully it's yes, most of the time it's yes, and if there is an element or two that they want to change.
It's quick and easy to pinpoint what it is and why I would say first and foremost, it saves time, not just in the presentation itself, but also in the timeline of the design process, because you're reducing revisions later as well. And the other major benefit I would say is that for a lot of designers, it gives them a chance to get really creative, maybe design something that's really bold because they know that if they can show an image of it.
They'll probably get the sign off versus having to try to justify it or explain it, not just with crazy creative ideas, but also you can upsell more furniture. Like one designer told us that they put in the runner on a stairway. It was really expensive. And they were like, I really wanted the client to sign off on it.
And when they showed the rendering, the client was like, yes. And so the designer was like, yes. So it also helps you sell. It's a selling tool. I agree with that from firsthand experience that we do get married to a design plan when we are putting together spaces for our clients. We're like, please choose that chandelier.
It's perfect for your house. We're begging them to choose this piece because. We know as designers, what is going to look best? What is the optimal solution for them? I think clients just don't have the vision that we have. They don't have the ability to do that, which is why we all have careers, which is why we can do what we do.
But what you can do is take those ideas in our head, those concepts, put those together into a photo realistic rendering. And then the client's like, yes, that is what I was. looking for because many times at consultations or design meetings, I'll just kind of shoot off the cuff and say, we should do X, Y, and Z with this fireplace, or we should do a window design like this.
And then instantly the client says, can you show me a picture of that? And I'm like, no, it came out of my head. But with you and Duke Renders, we actually can, because You can take that concept and then put it into a, a realistic rendering where people can say, Oh yeah, I think that you don't have to do every room.
I don't think you have to do the entire house. I think that if there are spaces that, you know, you think are going to be difficult, like we like to do them a lot for kitchens and bathrooms, as you said, those spaces where it's usually a major renovation happening, right? Like a major tear out of the kitchen and so forth.
I like your idea of being able to choose that for your clients. What we say to is your challenge as a designer, it's not even so much other designers. It's, it's your client's imagination or ability to imagine essentially. So the number one thing that we hear is like, you know, our design clients, clients, they say, I just can't see it.
So that's what you're up against. It's not necessarily, Oh, are they going to choose another designer? It's more, how are you going to get through to them? You know, your vision. So that's really the problem that we solve is it's elevating your design presentations. And I think the most important thing to remember is that we're always trying to get to the closure of something.
So you're trying to. Sell your client on your design plan inside that design plan for all the components, the furniture, the flooring, the tile, the light fixtures. The goal is to sell them on the design plan and to sell them on the products because that's how we make money. We want to make a living as interior designers, right?
So if you can wrap all that up with a nice Beautiful bow. And your client says, yes, that's exactly what I was looking for. That's exactly what I'm wanting. Why not do it now? Tell me about the process of that. You touched on it a little bit earlier, but when someone reaches out to you guys and says, okay, I'm ready to take either take this off of my plate, because I've been doing it as a designer and I don't want to do it anymore, or I don't have time to do it anymore, because when you take something off your plate.
It allows you time to do other things. So you can take on other projects and Duke renderings behind the scene is working on your renderings, which is great. So when you do that, it does free up the time to do those other things. I think that is a critical part of that. But when someone comes to you guys, what is that first step?
And then how does that process look of things that. You need from us as designers. And then maybe things that we should be asking of you as well. Yeah. So the first step, like I said, it's the strategy session where we have a call that could last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, just depending on how the conversation goes.
Are you really going to do a deep dive into your business and what's going on and what challenges you're facing and again, how to incorporate this. Fence practices, essentially, depending on your level of familiarity with 3d renderings. Once we've had that initial call, we go over our process, the different aspects of what we can do, and also our pricing, because we do have a few different ways to price, depending on the volume you need, once you're ready to get started, we connect you with an account manager and someone we call your BFF, even though you have a full team supporting your projects.
It feels like you're working with one person. So it feels like you have a part time employee or somebody who you call in as needed. The account manager is always the same person. So even if you come back three months later, we'll always assign the same account manager to you. You really get into a flow of working together and your account manager.
They're great. They hold your hand through everything. They create a template that you can use for submitting information. And they share that with you. They create a Google Drive folder for you to upload everything. We're so adaptable to our clients. If you use a project management software that allows you to invite the account manager, the account manager can go into your software and extract all the information they need.
We're always looking for how we can increase efficiency and save you time. But if you don't use an account management software, like I said, we have that template. Or if you already have a system that works for you, we can adapt to that as well. So we go with the flow in terms of the submission process.
We have a list of documents that we ask for, but we always say, give us whatever you have. Don't go out of your way. Some designers are like, should I build this first in SketchUp or something? That way I can send it. I'm like, no, don't go out of your way. The whole point is to save you time and make this easy.
Whatever you already have is what we need to envision the design and communicate it. Don't add any more to your plate than what you already have, right? That's the whole point. We can literally go off of anything. The more information we get, the more accurate, obviously, because we're not actually designing these spaces.
We're just taking information and building it in the software. We have some designers who just send us pictures. And they're like, you know, make this visually to scale and then add in these pieces and whatnot. And we have other designers who send, I mean, everything to the last millimeter is, you know, specified and, and sent over.
So we can go based off any information, no matter how vague or specific that's up to the designer and what they need. Yeah, that's great because everyone does work a little bit differently, but I would think after a certain point, you get into a rhythm when you're working with a designer, you know, what they're going to bring to you, what deliverables they have, and then they know what you need.
So I think that relationship like any continues to grow and evolve. Right. And then you get more comfortable with working with each other. Yeah, exactly. And then also an important part is like, once you submit everything, the account manager, they do a thorough review and they see if there's any missing information too.
So that's another reason we say don't stress about it. Actually. The submission part process is probably the part that most people stress about, which when I found that out, I was like, Oh, wow. I didn't expect that. Cause I thought, Oh, you just submit what you already have. But no people stress about that.
And the account managers review everything. If there's any missing information, which sometimes happens, they will let you know that there's no back and forth later. Once they have a full picture. They create a timeline for you so that you know when to expect your different deliverables. We call it the gather stage.
You finish the gather stage with the timeline in hand so that you can plan your presentation with your client based off of that. And then you go on to the clay rendering stage, which for anyone who doesn't know what clay renderings are, they're just. No color, no texture models of the space so that you can make sure all the elements are there and they're to scale.
If you want to swap anything out, maybe add in curtains or swap out the armchair so you can, once you see a draft, make some tweaks and give feedback. Once you've done that, you receive your. Final delivery, which we first deliver in low resolution. We do two rounds of revision in the low resolution, because once you've seen the color and texture, you might have some other tweaks you want to make.
It's really based on how interior designers work. Because we mostly work with interior designers. So that revision process is really meant to allow for feedback, because even though you're a great designer and know what you're doing, when you see it, you might be like, that color isn't fitting the way I want it to, or maybe it's a little heavy on this.
side, maybe I need to add something else over here to balance it out visually. So, like I said, we just really cater to the interior design process. And so our process is largely based off of that. I love it. And we do tend to be perfectionist. You know, you were talking about being a little apprehensive about that onboarding process.
And we're always trying to be the perfect designer, the perfect representation to our client. And when it comes to delegating, we should delegate to people that we know can do that. And part of that is the ability to let them interpret what your needs are. So I love that you said. Don't stress about that part.
We're going to take care of you there. That's really cool because we do want to take that off of our plate. When we're trying to design something and it's not something from a major supplier, there's no model that we can pull from for that, what? Do you offer as far as customization, if I come up with this wild idea in my head, like here's something that's never been done before, or maybe it has, I don't know.
How do you interpret that? And how do you work with us when it comes to truly custom sofas and chairs and tables? It's a good question. And I think it's actually a great tool for people that design furniture or do custom work, bespoke work. What we do is really based on the amount of information we receive.
If you sent us a Sketch, we could go off of a sketch, ideally with some measurements. One time we did probably the craziest model we've done. We call it the spaghetti chair. It was this really artsy looking chair that looked like if you drew a bunch of squiggle and made a chair out of it, it was just something a designer had imagined in their head.
And we modeled it and there's no limit. To what we can model because we use a software that we're not just pulling from a library, like some softwares do. We model everything. So there truly is no limit. So if you have something in your head, that's crazy, bring it on. Cause we can make it happen. You send us whatever you have, whether it's a sketch or a photograph.
In my design business, um, in Tulum, Mexico, we had very little access to a lot of retail. A lot of, a lot of brands didn't ship theirs. So I had my own, you know, carpenters and metalsmith and, and I would basically make all the furniture. And a lot of times I would just pull from photographs online and I might tweak a little bit or whatever, but I would just share photographs and then maybe the measurements that I wanted instead were, you know, the fabric or whatever it is.
And so we can go out photographs too. It's a collaboration. That's great. Cause I do come up with some wild ideas sometimes. And I do come up with some things that I'm like, John, you know, your client's never going to go for that. And you put it in your back pocket and then you show them and they're like, yes, I love it.
But I agree. I love that you can take our ideas and then turn them into something a bit more concrete. I think that also would be something beneficial to the fabricator, whoever's fabricating your piece for you, whether it be a sofa or metalsmith, as you said, those are people who are going to need something a little bit more detailed too.
So I think that rendering could be a double win for the designer to take that to the person crafting the piece of furniture or the item for them too. That's actually probably the less obvious way to use the renderings. A lot of times people think about it in terms of. Using it for their client, which of course that's the primary way because ultimately your client's going to be paying for this or should be paying for this.
But once you have them, it's a great tool for your trades and for renovation. We're hearing more and more clients print them, blow them up really large and put them on a construction site. Even though you give a folder full of specs, details get overlooked. Mistakes happen, tile gets installed the wrong way or whatever it is.
A picture can not make it any more crystal clear. So it's great for your trains too. Agreed. You said it very politely. Things happen. I think it's more of, they don't look at the information sometimes. Not all GCs and not all trades people, but the ones who seem to fail in that part of it are the ones who just don't follow the directions.
Also, they are an artist in their own way, but their job is. Interpret what we're saying. They don't necessarily have that creative gene like we have inside of us to envision something. So let's talk about how to profit from this or how to not lose money from this. If you are a designer, many designers, and I preach this all the time as well.
If you're going to add a new service, if you're going to elevate your business. If you're going to make it an easier process and a better process for your client, you should be charging for that. So this is not something in my opinion, that should ever be just absorbed into your current plan. Tell me about what you suggest on those lines and maybe what you've seen other designers do of how to.
Past this cost along to their client. And that could be whether they're charging a flat fee for something, which is the easiest, I would think to do that. Or maybe if someone's even charging hourly, how do they recoup the cost of this great service that they're providing for our clients? It depends to some extent on how, what their relationship with renderings is like already.
Like we found that when somebody is new to this world, they don't know offhand what the value is. So it's hard for them to communicate that to their client, but if they're hiding it into their fees, it's going to inflate their fees a little bit. Understandably, they might want to dip their toes into it.
So for those types of designers, what we usually recommend is include one space in your fees. And we charge, we do flat fees for everything. We're very, very transparent upfront. So there aren't surprises. And you can build your client and know exactly what the total cost is going to be with what deliverables.
So that makes it really easy for the designer. But essentially what we say is our recommendation is choose one space in the house, a main area, like a kitchen or a master bedroom or something like that. And just include one space in your C's and not as a line item, because as soon as you make it a line item, You're giving them the choice to remove it.
And if you know that that client could benefit from these renderings, because maybe they're indecisive or bad at visualizing or whatever reason you just, you want to do it, just include one space and tell them that when you hire me, essentially you get one main area rendered photorealistic rendering, and it's going to blow your mind and you're going to love it.
And then they have the option once they've experienced the value for themselves to add on more. And most of the time they do. So that's a great way to dip your toes into it and not have it inflate your fees too much because you're only including one space. Maybe you want to do four or five spaces, but you're like, let me just start with one.
And then they can add on more later. The other way, which is what we see more from our designers who are more seasoned and use renderings already as part of the process is that it's just included in their fees. That's not a line item. They decide. Which spaces they want to have rendered for their client.
And it's not even a question to the client. It's just like, you're going to get these spaces rendered period. And I mean, that's a power move. And I think also the designer has to have their own design fees to a certain point to justify it. It has to be a certain type of client as well, who is going to, you know, say okay to that and not bat an eye.
So, but that is really the best way to incorporate it. It's like, look. We're going to do this space, this space in this space, and we're going to show you a rendering of it. And there's no question it's factual. And then the other way is just a line item. And that's also something that some designers do where you're giving your client an option, but they can turn it down essentially.
But even that it still does elevate your, your business to some extent, because you're able to say, we do offer this if you'd like it, it's an option. I'm hearing it comes down to the client. If you're at a consultation and you're speaking with a client and they can't envision anything, then yes, that's the time to think, okay, this could be the perfect client to work into their presentation, um, all the rooms, right?
Because I can tell from this client that they are indecisive. They have no creative vision in their head. They have no sixth sense, so to speak, like we have. So I think if you look at it from the get go of thinking about what is this client going to need from me. And then you can work that in because you haven't done it at the consultation.
You haven't done any sort of presentation of financial investment for the client. So that's the point where I'm like, yes. Okay. This one can see it. That one can't see it. I'm going to do renderings for every single space in the home. I think a lot of designers and y'all who are listening know exactly who you are.
You're doing renderings for every single project that you bring along and you're doing them in house and it's sucking your time. You're doing renderings for every client, whether or not they are quote high end client, electric client. Who definitely, you know, would benefit and is willing to pay for that.
A lot of designers, unfortunately, are doing it for every single project, even lower end projects. We have to draw the line and say, this is not the right fit for this type of client, but for this other client, yes, it is perfect for them. And I love your ideas of how to weave that into the pricing structure.
I would like to, and the way I do it is, and I want to encourage everyone else too. You should profit from what you are giving to that client. So whatever you're paying for those renderings. Add something onto that for your time, energy, and the time spent to get that rendering done along with Duke renderings.
And then that client is benefiting from that. So make sure you're making profit from it, right? You don't just need to pass this along as a direct cost. Make sure you're making profit from that. But the other thing that you hit on, which I think is so critical. Is deliverables. You want to let that client know, look, we're not only going to design the space and show you the samples and floor plans.
We're going to give you photo realistic renderings of what your dream home is going to look like. And I think that is the key to selling that to the client early on is by letting them know exactly what you're going to bring to them. Because a lot of times that's the kicker when someone's like, Oh, are you going to do this?
And then if you set those expectations up from the beginning, the client never has to wonder about what you're going to provide to them. You know, I've heard that, especially with those really long projects that can take years, the renderings are, it gets them through the tough times. You know, it's like, okay, I know what's going to happen.
I know what the end result is. And I'm holding on to that. They look at the pictures to get through those times. And it's helpful for those long wait periods that clients have. You can be the best designer on earth and have 20 plus years. experience and still things come up in projects because you're dealing with a lot of people.
So the renderings can really help push through those tough times and problems to remind them, but this is what you're going to get. This is the goal. Don't lose sight. Excellent point. That brought to mind a project where we did just that. The project was delayed because of something the contractor found when they were removing the flooring in their bathroom.
It was delayed substantially because after permitting had to be changed, the drawings had to be changed. The client was getting very discouraged, very upset, very angry. Every time we would come over, they were upset. So we came up with, let's remind them of what the end results going to be and to trust this process.
So not only did we post the render and we created a huge board for them. We put it on their wall. It was the rendering. It was all the fabric swatches. It was all the tile on it. And I was like, listen, I know this is arduous for you right now, but when you're upset, just go back in there. Look at that image, touch the fabric, touch the tile.
Remember what this is going to look like in the long term at the end of the game. And it does work. It really does work on them down. That's a really good selling point for people when they're considering adding this into their business model. Yeah, that's really cool. I love that you put that large with all the textures, they can touch it.
Um, the other thing is it's also like a business card. People show their friends and family, these images during the project while everything's happening and they show it off because they're excited. It's like, Oh my God, look at. What my house is going to look like or my room or whatever. And then people inevitably ask, Oh, who did that for you?
So it's kind of like a business card too. Yeah, very good point. And I think from the designer's side of things, I love to repurpose content on social media, on blog posts. I think of a rendering as many forms of content. It can be a blog post that you can talk about what you're planning to do with this space.
Oh my gosh, look, this. Client just approved this rendering. This is what the final outcome is going to look like. I can't wait to share with you guys the actual reveal of the space. So I think that if you look at it as not only an investment for your client to benefit from, but also from you as, as a designer, from a business perspective, it does give you things to talk about on your blog posts, on your social media, with other clients, let's say you have a meeting in your office and you're showing them some of your past projects.
So yeah, look, this was the rendering. This was point a. And this was point Z when we finished, this is the final result. And that prospective client is like, hello. Okay. I'll do that. And to that point, it's also great. If you didn't get photographs of a past project, it's for your client, of course, but it's also for you because not only can it be good marketing material, you know, good for social media, obviously your portfolio, but if you had a project that for some reason or another, you couldn't photograph it because maybe.
The client added a knickknacks and changed the essence of the design. You're like, that doesn't reflect my work anymore. Or we even heard like unfortunate fallouts with clients or with contractors or whatever it is. So designers also use these photorealistic renderings to keep the hard work they put into these projects alive in their portfolio.
I agree with all of that. And I think another wonderful way to use it is if you are a brand new designer and you don't have a huge portfolio, maybe you've only worked with. Friends and family, just to get your foot into the door and to get your experience. Why not reach out to you guys and say, Hey, I'm going to design a space and I want you to render that space for me.
And then you can use those as a brand new designer. I could use those on my website to promote what my design aesthetic is. So it's almost like a foreshadowing of what you're able to do for clients as well. Exactly. Technology is advancing so much and there's so much out there nowadays. I think a lot of people are really intimidated.
Buy it and all the possibilities they want to keep up with the times, but it's really overwhelming. So we try to help technology be your friend and make you look what I call techie without having to actually be super techie. You know, it's an easy piece of technology to use to your advantage, but you don't have to know all the intricate details behind it because it's a whole career in and of itself.
So I agree with that. I never want to touch it. I want to look at it from a distance and say, yes, please give me my beautiful rendering. I will now sell that to the client. You elevate us and make us look better. So for people who have never used a rendering service like yourself before, now we've talked about the process.
We talked about what it looks like. You touched a little bit on the cost effectiveness of that. Should someone come in and assume anything about the pricing of this? Or should they know? Because you guys are willing to do one space, or multiple spaces, or an entire home, right? But what does someone do to find out what the cost would be for them for their space?
So I come to you, I have a kitchen, I'm getting a kitchen, I'm adding on an extension to the space, I'm taking out You know, some space from a different room. Here's the floor plan. Do I send that to you? And then you give me an estimate of cost at that point. And then I can go ahead and work that into my plans for my client.
So yes, the way we price is based on square footage. So the number of spaces, but then we do try to look at the square footage. So if you have plans, that's helpful. But the idea of a space can be a little tricky sometimes, especially with commercial spaces. So it always is helpful for us to see at least the floor plans and the number of spaces based on that we can create a custom quote, but we also have packages, which are meant for designers who know they're going to use a certain number of spaces within the course of a year.
We call them retainer packages because you can essentially purchase a package and then just deduct as you go. So you can use three spaces for one project, one for another, it's easier to plan that way and to bill. But yeah, to give you an idea, a typical bedroom could be 7. 99 for the initial view, because that's with all the modeling additional views are 1.
99. If it's a smaller space, like a powder room, it could be less. Or if it's a larger space, like an open concept kitchen, living, dining, it could be more, but additional views are always the same. So when we do all the cart, like not the packages, we're just looking at the size of the space, the number of spaces, and how many views you want per space.
With the packages, you have a certain number of views already built in, and it's a convenient way to get multiple deliverables for each space. Yeah, and by view, just tell people what you're meaning by view, for those who may not understand. Right, okay, so view just means Because if you have a bedroom, you might want to see a shot head on of the bed, but you might also want one from the corner where the bed is looking at the opposite wall.
Some designers know exactly what views they want from the get go, but we also can make recommendations. And then in the clay stage. We always send multiple. So even if you're like, I want two views of this bedroom, we might send four just because you might see another view that you like better, or you might decide, actually, I want that view instead of this one that I initially said, so we always send more so that you, you can make a decision based off of actually seeing it, you know, modeled.
That's great. And another way that I think this would work for people is when you get to the photography stage of your project, if you are allowed to take photos of the home, you can show your photographer, the renderings and the views that you've created ahead of time and say, I love this view. I love this angle, recreate this in an actual photo.
And that would help that process go faster too. Right? Yeah. And a lot of designers do, and they send it to us afterwards, which is super cool because internally we have something called real or render. Which we want to actually take to social media because it's like a fun game we play where when a client sends us that view in real life, we send it to our team and we ask people to tell us what's real or render.
And even though we see renderings all day long, sometimes we get it wrong. And it's kind of. Just a fun game, you know, it's like, wow, reinforces the good work that we're doing. It does look so realistic, you know, it brought to mind some designers who are using renderings as their actual portfolio, which I, we do not, we're not recommending that at all because I know some people who are like, yeah, look.
I'm a quote designer and their entire social feed is filled with only renderings. And I'm like, are you really a designer? Or are you just like to post renderings of photorealistic renderings of the space? They look so real and they look so natural and the lighting and everything else is so great in those that you can definitely see why people would get those confused.
That's wonderful. Tell me about this whole AI thing happening. And if someone's like, well, I don't need renders anymore. I have. The capabilities of using AI. Tell me what your thoughts are on that and how AI is or is not affecting your business setup. So right now AI, we get this question a lot too. And obviously our eyes are always open for what's happening.
It's changing on a day to day basis. But there's nothing out there right now that does what we do. There are some AI tools that can be really good for inspo. And even if you have already, for example, a photograph of a space that's fully done and designed, and you could see how other styles can work in that space, but it's not fully customized the way that we do.
We do. Highly customized pieces. And every last detail is what you've chosen and there's pieces that don't exist yet. So there's nothing out there like that. And hopefully won't be, I think that what we're going to see are AI tools that might help expedite the process a little more. But I don't think at least right now I'm going to replace us or do what we do.
Because what we do is, is really a collaboration with the designer. And that's what I took away as well from you and for anyone who's concerned about AI taking over their businesses. As long as I'm personalizing my services to the people who I'm serving, then AI can never take that over from me. And just like you were saying, you have all these touch points.
You have a manager for them. You are their client success person. So there's all these ways that. AI can help things go quicker on your end. But like you said before, turn that over to you guys. I don't have to worry about those advancements. You're going to work that into my project and make sure that what I'm looking for.
It's ultimately what I, what I get from you guys. I agree with you. AI cannot hold your hand or brush your hair when you're feeling bad. AI is only as long as it can spit out. AI can be your assistant, but I do not fear AI taking over anything personally. As long as you are hands on with your clients and hands on with the people who work around you, then AI is just going to be your helper.
Exactly. I love what you said. I don't fear it. I don't either. I think it's exciting and it's bringing new ways to increase efficiency in our processes. And maybe for some industries, it is more of a threat. For example, for designers, you do more than just show pretty pictures of what a space is going to look like.
There's a whole execution and working with so many different trades. And ultimately both designers and ourselves, we are providing a luxury service. The types of clients that we get are looking for you to handle it and make their life easier and give them what they want. Sort of almost read their mind to some extent, but they're looking for you.
and not have to play around with a bunch of things and do it all themselves. There are people out there that want that, but those aren't the people that necessarily hire interior designers or photorealistic renderings. Yeah, you're selling the end result. You're selling the solution to their problem. As designers, we're selling transformations.
We're selling life transformations a lot of times for people and most design clients. Don't care really about how you get from there to there. They want to know that you're going to take care of that for them and that you're going to hold their hand in those times when there's a delay on the project and you have to put up that rendering and show them how beautiful it's going to be, get them through that.
And that's really what we do when we serve our clients and how you can best serve us. So any other final advice for people, if they're considering renderings, adding that to their business before we wrap up today, Nina? Yeah, I would say if it's something that you're considering, get information. and learn about it because it really is something that can not only elevate your presentations, but speed up your process.
You get approvals, increase sales, all the things that we talked about. We would be happy to have a strategy session, even if you don't have a project that you're ready to use it on. Or if you're just trying to plan ahead to see how you could incorporate this into your process, because we dig in and figure out what could make the most sense for you and your business and where you're at in your business right now.
So even if it's just to get information, feel free to reach out and we'd be happy to, to talk to you about it and see if and how you can make it work. And for people who want to reach out or see some of your beautiful work, tell them where they can find you. You can follow us on Instagram at DukeRenders and of course our website, which is dukerenders.
com. And if you'd like to book a call, you can do dukerenders. com slash call. You can choose a time and day that works for you. You'll get an automatic message and zoom link sent to your email. And that's it. Great. And we'll put all of that in the show notes. If anyone's ever at a high point market or Las Vegas market, you guys are usually there.
And it's a great chance to ask questions in person as well. Exactly. And you can send us a DM on Instagram too. So that's easier. We always love talking to people. So don't be shy. Yeah. You guys are awesome to work with. And it's great people honest to the point and giving great value to us as designers.
So. sharing all of this today. Thanks for letting everyone know the benefits of using photorealistic renderings and the process of getting there, how we can make money from that. It's a really great conversation. I think for people who are either on the fence of using it, or perhaps they want to incorporate that further into their businesses.
Thank you so much for sharing everything today. Thank you so much, John. I had a great time. See you soon. Thanks for tuning in to the designer within podcast. I hope you found today's episode. Inspiring and full of actionable ideas to help you design a better home, a thriving career or simply a more intentional life.
For more tips, resources, and free downloads to support the design of your home or the design of your career, head on over to johnmcclain. co. That's johnmcclain. co. And remember, to make big changes on the outside, you need to start within. Until next time, I'm John McClain. Stay creative and stay inspired.