Architectural visualisation cost in the UK depends less on the image than on who makes it. A freelancer quotes for one person's hours. A London studio quotes for a team, an office, a project manager and a sales process. Same brief, same four images, and I've seen quotes for it differ by a factor of three or more. Neither number is wrong. They're pricing different things, and the trick is knowing which one your project actually needs.
For reference, my own published rates are in euros: an interior render starts at EUR 250 per camera angle, an exterior at EUR 450, with a EUR 200 minimum order.
I work for UK clients remotely from drawings, and the questions I get from developers and architects in London are almost always the same. Why is this studio three times more? What am I losing if I go cheaper? So here's how I'd read the quotes.
What a UK studio quote usually includes
A mid-sized visualisation studio in London has rent, salaries, account managers and often a dedicated 3D modeller, a lighting artist and a post-production person on one job. Their quote reflects that. You're also paying for capacity: if you need 25 images for a planning submission in ten days, a studio can put four artists on it at once, and that's genuinely worth money. Some also bring art direction (they'll push back on your camera angles, suggest a dusk shot, stage the furniture) and that taste is part of what you're buying.
What you often don't see in the headline number is how the price moves. Studios tend to charge for changes outside the agreed rounds, for extra views of an already-modelled scene and for rushed timelines, and those extras can add a surprising amount by the end of a project. Ask for the change policy in writing before you compare.
What a freelancer quote includes
One person, start to finish. They model, light, render and retouch, and they're the same person who answers your email. The price is lower because the overhead is lower, not because the work has to be worse. The trade-off is throughput and risk: a freelancer gets ill, goes on holiday, or takes on three jobs at once. Quality across freelancers varies enormously too, far more than across established studios.
Is a freelancer always cheaper per image? Mostly. Not always.
Some UK freelancers with strong portfolios charge close to studio rates, and some studios run lean offshore teams that undercut individuals. So the label tells you less than the portfolio and the process do.
How I price as a small studio
IAVisual sits between the two. It's me producing the renders in Blender and Cycles, with published prices so nobody has to guess. Interiors from EUR 250 per camera angle, exteriors from EUR 450, technical drawings from EUR 5 per m², two consolidated revision rounds included and 10% off the render subtotal once you combine three or more renders. The full breakdown is on the architectural rendering prices page.
Worked examples help more than rates, so here are the ones I publish:
| Job | Price |
|---|---|
| One interior view | EUR 250 |
| Apartment, 3 interior views | EUR 675 |
| House launch set, 1 exterior + 3 interiors | EUR 1,080 |
| Furniture plan for a 60 m² flat | EUR 300 |
Prices are in euros because that's how I invoice. For UK clients the conversion on the day is the only moving part, and it's usually small compared to the gap between quotes.
Read the quote line by line, not the total
When someone sends me a competing quote to compare (it happens a few times a year), the totals are rarely the useful part. These are the lines that actually explain the difference:
- How many revision rounds are included, and whether a "round" means one comment list or unlimited back and forth.
- Whether modelling is charged separately from rendering, especially for custom furniture or joinery.
- The output resolution. A 2000 px image for a website and a 6000 px image for a hoarding banner aren't the same job.
- Who owns the model files afterwards, and what extra views cost once the scene exists.
- The first preview date, not just the final delivery date.
A quote that looks expensive but includes three rounds and print resolution can end up cheaper than one that looks lean and charges for every tweak.
A common mistake: paying studio rates for a website image
Here's the counter-intuitive bit. The biggest overspend I see isn't people hiring a cheap freelancer and getting a bad render. It's small developers paying full studio rates for two interior shots that will live at 1600 px on a Rightmove listing. A sales brochure for a single refurbished flat in Croydon doesn't need the same pipeline as a 200-unit scheme going through planning.
Last year a small developer sent me drawings for a two-bedroom flat after getting a studio quote that would have eaten most of their marketing budget. They needed three interiors for the listing and nothing else. We did it as the standard three-view package, with one round of furniture swaps and a lighter colour scheme in the second round, and they got the images before the listing went live. Nothing dramatic about it. It was just a job sized correctly.
The opposite mistake happens too. If you're submitting a large scheme with verified views and tight planning deadlines, a single freelancer is the wrong supplier however good they are, because nobody can produce 30 accurate images alone in a week.
What I'd actually do
Match the supplier to the use. For one to six images of a house, flat, extension or interior refurbishment, used for sales or a client presentation, I'd go with a freelancer or a small studio with published prices and a portfolio full of similar work. Look specifically for interiors if you need interiors and exteriors if you need exteriors; my portfolio is split that way for exactly this reason. For a large planning package, animations or anything with verified views, I'd pay the London studio and stop worrying about the number.
Whoever you pick, send the same brief to everyone: drawings, the views you want marked on a plan, finish references and the deadline. You can't compare quotes from three suppliers who each guessed at a different scope. And ask each of them for a first preview date. A supplier who can show you a clay or grey draft within a few working days (my target is 3 business days after a complete brief) gives you time to catch a wrong window or a misread ceiling height before anyone spends hours on materials and lighting.
If you'd like a figure for your project, my architectural visualisation page explains how I work with UK clients remotely, and the quote form takes plans and a short brief. I'll come back with a fixed, non-binding price from your drawings.