How to write a 3D rendering quote

The short answer

On top of the usual parts of a quote, a 3D rendering quote should list the inputs you need from the client and the date you need each one, the assumptions the price rests on, a technical spec for every deliverable, the feedback rounds included and what counts as a change, the usage licence, and how render time affects the schedule. Put the price per image or per deliverable, a validity date and the deposit at the end.

This guide does not cover how to arrive at the price. For that, read how to price archviz images. For the general anatomy of a quote, see how to write a freelance quote.

Inputs, with dates

Render jobs run on the client's material: drawings, models, finishes schedules, product CAD, brand guides. Late inputs are the most common reason a render job slips, and the quote is the first place to say which inputs you need and when.

List each input with an owner and a date:

• Architectural drawings or a model (DWG, RVT, SKP, IFC), named version
• Finishes and materials schedule, with product references where it matters
• Landscape plan and planting list
• Furniture and kitchen specs for interiors
• Camera positions, if the client wants to choose them
• Brand guidelines and logo files for signage

Then add one line that links the inputs to the schedule: "Delivery dates assume the inputs above arrive by the dates listed. Each day of delay moves delivery by at least one working day." It sounds stiff in a quote. It saves a far stiffer conversation later.

Assumptions

Every render price rests on assumptions. Write the ones that would change the price if they turned out wrong:

• The model is supplied in a usable state, or you are modelling from 2D drawings.
• The design is final. Changes to the building, the layout or the product after camera approval are design changes.
• Entourage comes from your library. Specific furniture brands or bespoke items are modelled at extra cost.
• The site context is modelled to a stated level, for example massing only beyond the first block.
• One time of day and one season per view.

Short, plain sentences. The client should be able to read them in a minute and say yes or no.

The deliverables spec

"Four exterior renders" is not a deliverable. Each image needs a spec that both sides can check at delivery:

Extra crops, sizes and clean versions cost time. If they are in the spec, they are in the price. If they are not, they are an extra line later.

For animations, add the length, frame rate, resolution, codec, whether sound and music are included, and how many versions (for example a 60-second master and a 15-second cut).

Rounds, and what counts as a change

State the number of feedback rounds included per stage and define a round in one sentence: a single consolidated list of comments from the client side, sent together. Then say what is not a round: changes to the design, the brief or the inputs after sign-off. Those are changes, quoted on request or at an hourly rate.

The detail of how to run those rounds with an architect and a developer is in client feedback rounds in an archviz studio. In the quote you need three numbers: rounds included per stage, the price of an extra round per image, and the rate for changes.

Usage rights and licence

Clients rarely ask about the licence until a render turns up on a billboard. Write it into the quote:

• Where: website, sales brochure, social, print advertising, outdoor, planning application.
• How long: for the duration of sales, a number of years, or unlimited.
• Exclusivity: whether you can sell or reuse the scene, the model or the images elsewhere.
• Source files: whether the scene files are included, and at what price.
• Portfolio: your right to show the images, and from when (often after the client's launch).

A billboard licence and a website licence are different products. If you do not price them differently, at least write down which one the client is getting.

Render time and the schedule

Final renders, and especially animations, take machine time that does not shrink because the client is late with comments. Say in the quote how long final rendering takes after the last approval, for example "Final stills are delivered 3 working days after final approval. Animation renders take 7 working days after approval of the last preview." If you use a render farm, put its cost in the price or as a pass-through line.

Validity and deposit

Give the quote a validity date, usually 30 days. Prices for render work depend on your schedule, and a quote accepted four months later lands in a different month.

For anything over a few days of work, ask for a deposit before you start, typically 30 to 50 percent, with the balance on delivery or at milestones. The deposit invoice guide covers how to bill it and deduct it later.

A sample quote

This is a shortened quote from a made-up studio, Northlight Visuals, for a residential project. Use the structure, not the numbers.

QUOTE Q-2026-041            Valid until 16 November 2026
Northlight Visuals  ->  Harbourside Developments Ltd
Project: Quay Street apartments, marketing images

DELIVERABLES
1 x Aerial exterior, 5000 x 3333 px, JPG + TIFF        1,700.00
1 x Street level exterior, 5000 x 3333 px              1,850.00
2 x Interior (lobby, show apartment living room)  each 1,600.00
1 x Clean version of each image, no people           included
1 x 4:5 social crop of each image                    included
                                         Subtotal    6,750.00

INPUTS NEEDED (from Harbourside or the architect)
DWG plans and elevations, rev. C          by 24 October
Finishes schedule                         by 24 October
Interior furniture specs                  by 31 October
Delivery dates move day for day with late inputs.

ASSUMPTIONS
Design is final. Changes after camera approval are design changes.
Entourage from our library. Context modelled as massing.

ROUNDS
Camera approval: 1 round. Draft: 2 rounds per image.
Extra round: 280.00 per image. Design changes: 65.00 per hour.

LICENCE
Marketing use (web, brochure, social, site hoarding) until
the last unit is sold. No billboard or TV use. Scene files
not included. Portfolio use after public launch.

SCHEDULE
Drafts 10 working days after inputs. Finals 3 working days
after final approval.

PAYMENT
40% deposit on acceptance, balance on delivery, 14 days.

What to leave out

Hours, software lists and render engine names do not belong in the quote. Clients read hours as something to negotiate line by line, and the software is your business. Keep the quote to what they get, what you need from them, what it costs and what they may do with it. If they ask how long something takes, answer in working days.

The quote templates by trade have examples for 3D artists and animators with the lines already in place.

Doing this in OIO

In OIO the quote lines carry a quantity, a unit and a price, so "2 x interior" reads the way the client checks it, in any currency, with the inputs, assumptions and licence in the notes. You can send the quote or a contract for an online signature; these are simple electronic signatures, and the client signs on a web page with no account. Once it is signed, you add each view as a ticket on the project, the client follows progress on a password-protected status link, and the deposit and final invoices come from the same project. If the job came in through your inquiry form, it is already a prospect with its details. More on OIO for archviz studios.

Questions