How to manage client feedback rounds in an archviz studio

The short answer

Fix the cameras before anything else and get them approved in writing. Put the number of feedback rounds per view in the quote. Number every round, keep one list of notes per view per round, and ask the client side for one combined set of notes, not one from each person. When a round goes past what was quoted, say so before you start it, and put it on the invoice as its own line.

Why archviz feedback is harder than it looks

A product render has one client. An archviz image usually has three: the architect who designed the building, the developer who pays, and a marketing agency or sales team who will use the images. They care about different things. The architect wants the facade right. The developer wants the building to look bigger and the sky to look sunnier. The agency wants people in the plaza.

The design is also often not finished when you start. A facade material changes, a balcony moves, a planning comment adds a storey. Each change after lighting is done costs more than the same change before it, and none of that is visible to the client unless you show it.

Step 1: approve the cameras first

Before any materials or lighting, send a clay or grey render of each view with the camera, lens and crop you propose. This is the cheapest round of the job and the one that prevents the most expensive change, which is moving a camera after the image is finished.

Ask for the approval in writing and record it with the date on the view. A sentence is enough: "Camera for view 3 (lobby) approved on 12 October." If the camera moves later, that line is what makes the change billable without an argument.

Step 2: put the rounds in the quote

The quote should say, per view, how many feedback rounds are included and what a round means. A round is one consolidated set of notes on one version of the image, delivered at once. Two rounds after the first draft is common for stills; animations usually get rounds per stage (camera path, draft, final).

Also write what is not a round: a design change from the architect, such as a new material or a changed facade, is a change to the brief and is priced separately. The contract checklists cover the clauses, and the quote template has room for one line per view.

Step 3: one list per view, per round, numbered

When notes arrive, turn them into a list on that view, prefixed with the round number:

View 4, kitchen, round 2 (notes received 18 Oct)
R2.1 Worktop to the darker oak from the schedule
R2.2 Remove the bar stools
R2.3 Pendant lights 20 cm lower
R2.4 Warmer evening light through the window

Each line is one change the artist can do and tick off. Vague notes ("make it feel more premium") get a reply asking for something concrete, or a suggestion from you that the client confirms, before they go on the list.

This does three things. The artist works from a list, not an email thread. You can see at a glance what is left in the round. And when the client says "we only had two rounds", you have the history with dates.

Step 4: one voice from the client side

The most useful sentence in an archviz kickoff is: "Please send one combined set of notes per round." Ask who collects them. Usually it is the architect's project lead.

When notes conflict (the architect wants the real facade colour, the developer wants it lighter), do not pick one. Send the conflict back and ask for a decision before the round starts. A round spent rendering both options is a round the quote did not include.

Step 5: show where each view stands

Clients ask "where are we" far more often than they give notes, and each of those questions is a message someone has to answer. Keep a status per view that the client can see: waiting on cameras, drafting, with you for feedback, round two in progress, final. A shared status page or a short weekly update per view both work. What matters is that the client can see that view 4 is waiting on them.

Step 6: say when a round is extra, before you start it

When the notes for a view arrive and the included rounds are used up, reply before doing the work: "These notes are round 3 for the kitchen view. The quote includes two, so this one is billed at the extra round price of X. Shall I go ahead?" Most clients say yes. The ones who do not will usually trim the notes to what matters, which is also fine.

Then put the extra round on the invoice as its own line, with the view and the round number. The guide on how to price archviz images covers what to charge for it.

Animations and flythroughs

The same method works for animation with one change: rounds are per stage, not per film. Approve the camera path as a grey or clay preview first, then a draft with materials and lighting at low quality, then the final render. A note on the camera path after the final render means re-rendering every frame, so the quote should say clearly that the path is fixed after its approval. Timecodes go at the start of each note ("0:14 slow the turn into the lobby"), so the artist can find the frame without watching the whole film.

Doing this in OIO

In OIO each view is a ticket on the development's project. The camera approval and each round's notes go on the ticket as checklist items (R2.1, R2.2 and so on), so the person doing the work ticks them off and you can see what is left. Set the ticket to hold while you wait for the client. Feedback calls can be recorded with a transcript on paid plans, so a note given on a call ends up written down.

The architect and the developer get a password-protected status link that shows each view, its status and the deadline, and never the ticket contents or your hours. Freelancers doing furniture or post work get a link to their ticket only. Extra rounds go on the invoice from the same project.

What OIO does not have: a markup tool, a version stack per image or an approve button on a deliverable. Clients send notes as text or as a marked-up PDF, which goes on the ticket as a file. More on OIO for archviz studios.

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