Confused in New Mexico

[legioxx]

Hey guys;

 

I have a question. I'm interested in creating 3d illustrations and walkthroughs here in NM. I created a business plan for a business class I took at a local college and during the research discovered there was only one large architectural firm that did CG in Albuquerque (where I live), and then mainly for government contracts only. When I've talked to a small sampling of home or commercial contractors they tell me that no one is interested in CG or don't want to pay for it, or farm it out of state. My question is, would you consider this an indicator of a closed or nonexistant market or possibly an open market with the right advertising and/or education of the contractors here as to what is possible with examples? There is a lot of construction going on here, which is why I did my business plan on CG. The results of the research are just confusing though. Are there any other CG artists in NM who could inform me as to what kind of market there is here if any?

 

Thanks,

legioxx

[Devin Johnston]

I think your results are typical when dealing with small contractors that do housing. There really isn't enough money involved, when you’re talking about a project as small as that to justify a rendering or animation. The only place you’re going to find consistent work with CG is going to be in a large city where construction projects are ongoing. I'm sure there are a few exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking it is true. You are also sure to find that any large Architectural firm is going to have someone in house whose job is to create animations and renderings.

Just because you’re not finding anyone in your area doing CG, doesn’t mean that it's imposable to find people who would find it attractive. The hard part is going to be convincing them to use your services, without giving away your product. If you undercharge for your services, then your client is always going to expect that low cost when dealing with you. If you try to raise your rates after the fact, they may not use you any longer or they may find someone else to do their work. Your goal should be to demonstrate how effective CG can be to their operation, how will it help make them money.

[Sawyer]

I am from santa fe. The only 2 places I could think to try looking would be high end custom homes or working directly with a developer. Look for developers that do "semi custom" homes, I remember Inman homes used to do semi custom work in Alb. NM is really late on picking things up, probably in 6-10 years the same people you talked to and they rejected you will be begging someone to do this work.

[legioxx]

Maxer;

Thanks for your input. I only did a small sampling of about 3 or 4 house and commercial contractors. There are alot of house contractors building houses in the $400,000 and above range. What I probably need to do is a larger sampling as well as show some examples of what i can do for them when speaking with them.

 

Thanks again,

Legioxx

[legioxx]

Sawyer;

 

I agree NM is way behind the rest of the country in alot of areas. It is one of the reasons I may relocate to the east coast next year. I was just hoping to gain some experience here before moving. I'll look into the "semi-custom home" market as well as Inman Homes.

 

Thanks,

Legioxx

[Ernest Burden III]

I agree NM is way behind the rest of the country in alot of areas. It is one of the reasons I may relocate to the east coast next year.

 

Maybe, but one area NM is way ahead of the rest of the country is in natural beauty. New Mexico is one of the most beautiful places on this great, green Earth. My mother was born in Albuquerque. I'm not in NM very often, but I treasure every moment. Leave that?

 

While you are looking at home builders, look at ones that do developements. While a house may cost $400K, not really worth a costly rendering, when someone is building a LOT of them the cost goes way down per house. Computers are very good at populating a nasty subdivision with identical units and showing how it will look. When you stand out in a desert it is hard to imagine hundreds of units, street, trees, etc, but that is exactly what a developer needs buyers to do. They especially like pre-sales, and that is where rendering comes in.

 

Also, think about not just what a house will look like by itself, but what you will see from it--pitch view studies, assuming any natural beauty survives the developement.

 

Finally, just because your mail is delivered in NM does not mean you can't offer services to firms in large cities, or do sub work for rendering firms in bigger markets.

[Sawyer]

Maybe, but one area NM is way ahead of the rest of the country is in natural beauty. New Mexico is one of the most beautiful places on this great, green Earth.

 

 

No no beauty there nothing to see move along there. No Aspens and mts and sunsets and fly fishing and skiing. Nope nothing to see.

[legioxx]

Ernest;

 

I agree NM has great natural beauty, but I grew up in Indiana and I miss the green of woods and forests, and water access of streams and lakes.

Developments are a good idea (quite a few expensive developments have been going up recently in this area).

And yes, I was considering offering services to firms in other cities via the web (I'm in the process of completing my web site)

 

Thanks for the input,

Legioxx

[archkre]

It seems to happen quite the same than to Legioxx here in South Florida!

Architects don't want to pay for CG's out of their pockets, large scale homebuilders stick to old fashioned hand drawn rough watercolours styles, newspapers Sunday edition (real estate sections) showing pictures of fine ladies with Martinis in Hands in adds for large condo's instead CG's of buildings!

In many Arch. Firms I was told: "We do the presentations and merchandizing campaigns just with floorplants and elevations"

It is very discouraging!

How would you do to locate the famous Developers you are talking about?

Thanks a lot!

[archkre]

Yes, Developers , ...How to locate them?

[legioxx]

Archkre;

 

Most developers have a large sign at their present building sights (at least here they do). It usually has the architectural firm and main contractors on it. I plan on going around to these sights and taking this info down and then contacting them for any future developments.

 

Legioxx

[charbroil]

I was born in New Mexico and visit frequently. The only people doing CG that I have come across are the architecture firms - and the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Antoine Predock. You might consider that route, rather than trying to convince contractors and developers. Often, the architect must produce renderings to convinve planning departments, so they have no choice but to use CG or hand illustration (which is on the way out).

Good luck. I miss New Mexico, it is beautiful.