The plan is the cheapest part of the project
A 2D floor plan with a 3D render of every room costs us roughly 4 to 8 hours of designer time on a typical office project. We deliver it in under 3 business days and we do not charge for it.
The reason is simple. The plan is the diagnostic. Half the projects that start with a free space plan reveal a problem the client did not know they had. A conference room that does not fit the table they wanted. A reception desk blocking the egress path. A 12-person huddle room that turns out to seat 7 with the right chairs. Sometimes the problem is small. Sometimes it would have cost $30,000 to fix in the field.
We would rather find it on a plan than on install day.
What gets caught on a 3D walkthrough
Five problems that show up consistently on the first 3D pass.
Conference table sizing. Almost every client asks for a table 18 to 36 inches longer than the room can comfortably hold. The 3D render shows the chair-pull radius and the door swing, and the conversation shifts from a 14-foot ask to a 12-foot table that seats the same group.
Reception sight lines. Reception desks get specified by face dimension, not by approach angle. The 3D render shows what visitors actually see when they walk in. About 1 in 4 reception specifications change after the walkthrough.
Phone booth count. Clients always under-specify phone booths in the first request. A 3D render with the booths placed shows the visual density and prompts the question of whether the count is really enough. Final count typically lands 30 to 50 percent higher than the original brief.
Workstation density. A 75-person open plan looks different in 3D than it does on a flat floor plan. Aisle widths, panel heights, and ergonomic spacing all read more honestly in 3D. We often reduce density by 10 to 15 percent after the walkthrough.
ADA and egress paths. Compliance issues are easier to spot in 3D. We have caught half-blocked egress doors, narrow ADA paths around storage cabinets, and inaccessible huddle rooms more than once.
What it costs to find these problems later
Cost of fixing each of these on install day vs catching on the plan.
Wrong conference table. Restocking fee plus reorder lead time. $3,000 to $8,000 and 6 to 10 weeks of waiting.
Wrong reception sight line. Custom reception desk rework or full replacement. $5,000 to $15,000.
Under-spec phone booths. Reorder additional units. $4,000 to $12,000 per booth, plus install delay.
Wrong density. Live with it or reorder workstations to redistribute. Reorder cost on a 75-person plan is usually 8 to 15 percent of the project total.
ADA failure. Permit hold or post-install reconfiguration. $10,000 to $40,000 plus schedule impact.
Catching all five on the plan stage costs nothing. Catching one of them in the field can equal the entire project margin.
Why the plan is free
Three reasons we do not charge for the space plan.
The plan tells us if the project is worth pricing. If the brief and the building do not fit, we want to know before we price a bid we cannot deliver.
The plan is the strongest sales document we have. A 3D render of your finished office on your floor plan is more persuasive than a brochure of someone else's office.
The plan reduces our cost of rework. Every problem caught on the plan saves us field labor and reorder logistics. The 4 hours of designer time pays back every time.
If you have a real floor plan and a project in the next 90 days, we will run a 3D space plan. No obligation, 3 business days, no charge.
