I have been rendering for profit for about a year now and I have been able to make a decent living at it. Early on, it was all residential... and I have fixed prices for certain square footage... up to 3000 was a certain amount, 3000-6500 was a certain amount and anything over 6500 was a certain amount. This has worked great. Now I am getting more and more requests for commercial buildings. This is where things seem to be going because of our economy. How do you pros structure your pricing for commercial work? Do you do it like an architect and charge a certain amount per foot? Do you wing it? I would love to know if there is a defacto standard among ASAi members... I am so lost.

Chris...

I used to do design and put work through Tina as a graphic designer. She is the one who actually got me interested in doing this. I was fascinated. She moved to Maine a bit ago, but originated here is Sunny St. George. She had excellent watercolor renderings. I can't help but wonder if she moved to Maine to get to a bigger market. She did a smart thing though and kept a satellite office open here, at least I think she has a sales rep. She has this market pretty sown up. St. George not only has some strange politics to it, but the builders and developers are hurting. She has history and base here that I don't and that probably makes all the difference. I am moving to Boise as soon as we sell the house so that I can get a better foundation under me and hopefully not be so close to other renderers.

That hypershot blew me away! I can't help but feel that those that want quality will pay enough to keep us alive. I love to render, I do it in my sleep, so I am hoping I can do what I love for a job. We are moving to Boise Idaho, which is a larger market than here in Utah, but I am interested in hearing more about where you think we should concentrate our efforts in order to not only keep up, but keep solvent.

This might not be the right forum for this... but I would love to have a discussion on where we see the future of rendering going, as far as a career. I am a fairly new renderer on the scene, and my work is starting to show real promise. I am now getting paid to render, but the market I have started in is too small a town, so we are moving to a large city to continue being able to work in the field of rendering. Here is the question...

It seems that many architects and builders are now going in house for their renderings... is this an accurate picture? Is the future for what we do, when done as an independent contractor or firm, bright? If we want to make it in this field, do we go for the corporate position, or can we stay independent? I would love to here from both employed and self employed individuals, and those that have been in this field a long time and have seen trends come and go.

Thanks!

I know... I thought so too. Here is a picture of the actual clinic. I love St. George, but there landscaping is sparse and at times rather boring. I put shadows on all plants and trees, sharpened and blurred a bit here and there and then lightened it up a bit.

And here are the results of all your help!!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

This has been great... I miss being in college and having peer reviews... (I was a photography major). Just after you leave that warm cocoon of creativity... you are just, without perspective on your own work, and you run the risk of thinking all your stuff is just great. So I love this! Thank you all!

It is actually here in Sunny (and hot as hades) St. George...

Thank you! I Am just starting a rendering firm... (is it a firm if it is just one person?) and wondered how far along I was... MOst of this is done in photoshop, the sketchup is the easiest part, the photoshop, that is the hard part... anyone use Podium and really like it?

Here is a bigger picture... it is sketchup with podium and then a whole bunch of photoshop.