FLOORPLANS
Below: the empty room – with three choices of how it could look!
photos and videos are bringing floor plans to life and adding value to the user. Given its clarity and usefulness it is surprising that floor plan and related technology has not become more of the norm in the market but as access to new products becomes easier and less expensive this is changing. Brian Farrell, says, “There has been
a steady growth in the use of interactive and 3D plans ever since they were first introduced. However, since we introduced PicturePlus interactive plans as part of the standard offer to subscribers the growth of these have increased much faster. More than half of our customers use at least one of the available upgrades on a regular basis.” There is no doubt that agents are wary
Some estate agents commission third
party professionals to carry out floor plan and EPC creation; Chris Holmes, Home Inspector, Gloucestershire, says, “As a DEA I need a room layout for each property that I survey for an EPC and I use the eTech SmartPlan (The Mobile Agent) drawing the plan onto a PDA on site. This populates the dimensions section of the EPC survey and several other data fields also. If the estate agent also requires a basic floor plan then I can add in bathroom and kitchen details as I go and then by ticking a box I then have a floor plan uploaded for very little extra work and a small upload.
Floorplans give us a unique advantage over agents who choose not to
use them.” CHRIS MURPHY SANDERSONS
“This enables me to offer an EPC and
floor plan package very competitively to clients. For clients that require a better quality plan then I have used Metropix, which is excellent value for most properties. A large four bedroom detached house with built in cupboards, alcoves fancy stairs etc. can take someone two or more hours top draw as an A3 sketch. “Some agents get their sales staff to draw
their plans which in my view is misdirected resource, if they are measuring and drawing plans then they are not selling properties!”
OPTIONS: BEER, WINE OR BOLLY?
A floor plan can cost less than a pint of beer! Brian Farrell says, “We provide floor plans via a range of monthly subscriptions. Our standard subscription includes 2D plans, with free PicturePlus interactive plans, free customisation such as branding or company colours, and access to ‘PlanBank’, for archived plans. All this for what equates to a cost-per-plan of less than a pint of beer.” Which can’t be bad, but moving up in
price to a decent bottle wine, is the 3D plan – and beyond. The use of 3D images,
of any unnecessary spend at the moment, with anything beyond the basic imagery often seen as a fancy add-on, but he says, “When the recession first happened agents were cautious on all spending fronts however we didn’t see clients stopping using our service in any large numbers. This is because floor plans are an essential part of the marketing pack from both the buyers and sellers point of view; it really is cost effective so isn’t a large outlay for agents.” The are numerous products available;
slideshows which simply show still photos with added audio; floor plans which allow clients to see 360-degree pictures of the rooms; interactive walk-throughs and professionally filmed property videos. Virtual tours are more widespread but video tours, despite their popularity in the US, are still a rarity in the UK. Prices have come down considerably and most 3D floor plans are included as part of standard design packages. Metropix provides 3D plans at £3.95 as part of a pay as you go package; the Mobile Agent offers a £30 per month all in package which allows agents to use 3D or 2D imagery as they wish. James Davis estimates around 30 per cent of their clients opt for the free upgrade to 3D plans but says it is important to focus on the value delivered, not the format. At the Bollinger end of the market it is
possible to create stunning walk-through tours that accurately replicate the experience of a real-world visit where you can even open fridge doors and turn the tap on. This Hollywood type technology for
such animation is very expensive and beyond the requirements of all but a select few developers and agents.
PROPERTYdrum AUGUST 2012 41
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