Granny Flat Rendering & Secondary Dwellings

Renders that answer the question every buyer actually asks

Nobody commissioning a secondary dwelling asks what it looks like in isolation. They ask what the backyard looks like afterwards. The render that sells a granny flat is the one taken from the back door of the main house, showing the new building in its real position, with the remaining lawn, the clothesline, the path and the fence line all visible. We build the existing house and boundary from your site survey so that view is honest rather than flattering.

The second view that matters is the internal one, because these are small buildings and buyers assume small means cramped. A wide interior from the corner, with the kitchenette, the living space and the bedroom door in one frame, does more to sell a forty-five square metre dwelling than any exterior.

• View from the main house showing what remains of the yard
• Street or side-access approach where the dwelling is visible from the front
• Open-plan interior showing kitchenette, living and sleeping zones together
• Site plan render with setbacks, private open space and the existing house
• Facade and cladding variants across a standard design range

Approval drawings and what councils want to see

Secondary dwellings are approved through different pathways depending on where the site is, and the imagery expected varies with it. A complying development pathway generally turns on measurable things rather than pictures, but a development application that goes to a council planner, or a proposal that attracts a neighbour objection, is far easier to defend with a realistic view from the affected boundary.

Where overshadowing or privacy is the objection, the useful render is the one taken from the neighbour's outlook, at real eye height, with the fence and existing vegetation modelled. We produce those to the same standard as our planning work: camera height and lens stated, site context from survey rather than invented. Tell us at briefing that a render is heading into an approval and we will produce it to that standard rather than as a marketing image.

Rendering a standard range once and reusing it

Granny flat rendering works best as a range exercise. Most granny flat businesses sell perhaps six to twelve standard designs. Modelling each design once and rendering every cladding and roof combination as a variant is far cheaper than treating each as a new job, and it keeps the range visually consistent on the website, which is where buyers compare them side by side.

Once a design is modelled it can also be dropped onto an individual customer's lot for a specific quote, which is the point where most enquiries convert. That is a variant render rather than a new build, so it is priced accordingly.

• One model per design, every cladding and roof option as a variant
• The same design placed on a specific customer's lot for their quote
• Consistent camera angles across the range so designs compare fairly
• Furnished 3D floor plans that make a compact layout legible

What we need from you

Working drawings for the dwelling, a site survey or dimensioned site plan showing the existing house and boundaries, and a finishes schedule. If the design is standard and already built somewhere, photographs of a completed one help us match materials exactly. Where the render is going into an approval, tell us which boundary or which neighbour's outlook matters and we will set the camera there. Our guide to 3D rendering from house plans explains how to prepare the drawings, the briefing guide lists everything worth sending with a request, and the turnaround guide shows how long each stage takes.