A single sauna render from my studio starts at EUR 250 for an interior camera angle and EUR 450 for an exterior one. Most sauna manufacturers end up ordering a small set rather than one image, and from three combined renders the render subtotal gets 10% off. Those are the published numbers on the architectural rendering prices page, and they're the floor, not a guess.
What pushes a sauna job above the floor is almost never the sauna itself. It's the scene around it, the state of your drawings, and how many versions of the same model you need.
What one sauna render actually includes
For a single camera angle you get a finished still at full resolution (I usually deliver 4000 px on the long side, enough for a printed catalogue page and a sharp web zoom), two consolidated revision rounds and a first preview targeted three business days after a complete brief.
"Complete brief" does a lot of work in that sentence. For a sauna it means dimensions, wood species and finish, the door and glass layout, the stove model (or at least its type), benches, lighting, and where the thing stands: a garden, a lakeside deck, a basement spa, a hotel wellness floor.
Miss one of those and I'll ask.
Miss three and the clock on the preview starts when the answers arrive, not when the first email did.
Exterior or interior: two different jobs
An outdoor barrel or cabin sauna in a garden is an exterior render, so it starts at EUR 450. The extra cost over an interior view isn't about the sauna. It's grass that doesn't look like carpet, trees that cast believable shadows across the staves, a sky that matches the light direction, maybe a deck and a path. On a typical outdoor sauna scene the environment takes longer to build than the cabin does.
An interior view (looking in through the glass door at the benches and stove, or a built-in sauna in a home spa) is EUR 250 per camera angle. Fewer things to build, but the lighting is harder than people think. A sauna is a small, dark, wooden box with one warm light source tucked under a bench. Get it wrong and the whole image goes orange and muddy.
I tend to light sauna interiors darker than clients first expect, then lift the bench lighting and add a little bounce from the glass. It reads warmer and more expensive than a flat, bright version, and it's closer to how a real sauna feels when you open the door.
A typical set and what it costs at list prices
Here's a set I'd suggest for a manufacturer launching one outdoor model: one exterior hero shot in a garden, one interior view through the door, and one close interior angle on the stove and benches.
| Image | List price from |
|---|---|
| Exterior hero, garden setting | EUR 450 |
| Interior view through the door | EUR 250 |
| Interior close angle, stove and benches | EUR 250 |
| Subtotal | EUR 950 |
| 10% off from 3 combined renders | − EUR 95 |
| Total from | EUR 855 |
That's a starting point at published rates. If your drawings are clean and the brief is complete, it usually stays there.
For comparison, the house launch set on the prices page (one exterior plus three interiors) works out at EUR 1,080 after the same discount.
What makes a sauna render cost more
Honestly, it's mostly files.
This summer a maker of corner saunas sent me two PDF elevations, a hand-marked plan and a photo of the stove they use. No 3D model, no photos of a built unit. I could build it, and I did, but the bench heights only appeared on one section and the glass wall had no frame detail at all, so I sent four questions before I trusted my own geometry. That's modelling time, and it shows up in the quote.
The other big drivers, roughly in the order I see them:
- No 3D model, only drawings or photos of a prototype.
- Several sizes or wood options of the same model, each needing its own set.
- A custom environment (your actual showroom, a specific hotel spa) instead of a generic garden or interior.
- Extra revision rounds or changes to the design after the first preview.
What doesn't add much: a second camera angle on a scene that's already built. Once the sauna, the materials and the light are approved, a new view is mostly render time.
Where manufacturers overspend
The most common mistake I see is ordering a full scene for every model in a range.
If you sell eight saunas, you don't need eight gardens.
Build one strong environment, approve it, then drop each model into it. The catalogue looks consistent (which is what buyers actually notice when they flip through it) and you're paying for one environment, not eight. The variation comes from the camera and the sauna, not the trees.
The second mistake is the opposite: one beautiful exterior and nothing else. Buyers want to see the inside. Where does the stove sit, how deep are the benches, is there room for four adults or really only two? One interior view answers more questions than a second exterior from a slightly different angle.
What I'd actually order for a sauna launch
For one new model, I'd start with the three-image set above. Exterior hero for the website header and social posts, interior through the door for the product page, close angle for the spec sheet or catalogue detail.
For a full range, I'd do the same set for the bestseller first, use it to lock the look, then roll the other models into the same scene with one exterior and one interior each. You'll get a catalogue where everything belongs together, and every model after the first is cheaper to produce because the scene work is done.
Want to see how timber, glass and forest light come out before you commit? The modern cabin exterior study is the closest thing in the portfolio to an outdoor sauna setting, and the interior rendering services page covers small, warm, wood-heavy rooms.
Wood options, sizes and the variant trap
Thermowood, cedar, spruce, aspen. Two, four or six seats. Clear glass or bronze tint. A sauna range multiplies fast, and it's tempting to ask for every combination as its own image.
Don't, at least not at first.
A wood swap on an already approved camera angle is a material change and a re-render, not a new scene, so it's a much smaller job than the first image. But twelve variants of the same view still means twelve images to check, name and file, and in my experience buyers only look closely at two or three of them. I'd render the two finishes you sell most, show the rest as small swatches on the product page, and add more views later if your sales team actually asks for them. If a size change alters the door position or the bench layout, that's a different model and gets its own line in the quote.
Sending files for a quote
A STEP, SketchUp or 3ds Max model is ideal. PDF drawings with dimensions are fine. Add photos of a built unit if one exists, the wood finish you're using, and two or three reference images of the mood you like (they don't need to be saunas).
I look at the files before replying and send back the image list, price and preview date in writing. If you'd like a non-binding quote from your drawings, check the prices page first and then send me what you have.