If you’ve been shopping around for 3D rendering services you might have been tempted by bargain basement prices offered by 3D rendering companies or freelancers in Asia, Africa or somewhere else where English may not be their first language.
If this sounds like you, consider this a cautionary tale!
The Too Long; Didn’t Read Section
If you don’t read anything else in this blog post, the main takeaway of this article is this:
If you decide to work with a non-native English speaking company or freelancer, you could be setting yourself up for failure, wasted money, extended project deadlines and lots of stress and frustration. Here’s why:
3D rendering costs are not that different when working with an offshore company compared to working with us, as we’ve streamlined our processes to make them incredibly efficient and cost-effective. You can find out more about what we charge for 3D rendering services here.
Therefore you can easily spend more through project delays, time wasted in project management, misunderstood briefs etc. by trying to cut initial project costs working with a “cheap” provider. The old adage is true - you get what you pay for.
Miscommunication with a non-native English speaker is incredibly likely. Even on simple things like the meaning of conceptual ideas and definitions or naming conventions of different architectural elements.
Miscommunication leads to dissatisfaction with results and lots of required revisions
Sometimes you will have to pay for extra revisions which also increases your costs
When you’re working with a 12-hour time difference, revision and feedback cycles take a long time to work through
You will have to spend a lot of time waiting and waste time project managing
You can probably see how a “cheap” provider can become very expensive, not to mention the emotional cost and burden associated with a stressful, drawn out project!
AN Eye-Opening Email From One of Our Competitors
To illustrate why it’s important to work with a native English speaking company, consider the email below.
We like to keep an eye on our competitors to make sure we are always ahead of the curve and constantly providing exceptional service at incredible prices. (Side note: If you’re interested to see how we stack up against our competitors, check out this page where we review and compare 22 architectural visualization firms).
You can imagine our surprise when we received this email from a competing company in Asia (details redacted, as we don’t think it’s right to call them out directly), which contains many grammatical, spelling, punctuation and spacing issues:
An email from one of our competitors pitching their services - complete with many grammar, spelling, spacing and punctuation issues
If we were English teachers, almost all of that email would be underlined in red.
Consider what an email like this might imply about the professionalism of this company if you decided to work with them. If they are struggling to clearly communicate in an email where they are pitching their services, how likely is it that there would be difficulties in the communication process when working on your project?
Also, grammar and spell checkers are widely available nowadays. Would a lack of attention to detail and care like this also occur in a 3D rendering project with them?
How easy is miscommunication actually? The “Penguin” Effect
When we talk with people, we generally feel like we’re probably going to be on the same wave length as them. A recent study from the University of California, Berkeley however has found that this is actually not the case at all.
Even the understanding of simple words like “penguin” can vary widely due to people’s unique personal experiences and perspectives. Most people when communicating, however, don’t realize there is a difference in understanding, assuming their interpretation of words is the most common one.
The study explains how these variations in understanding fundamentally effect our daily communications, and why it can be so hard to really understand and be understood in conversation and written communication.
For this reason, communication has to be as clear as possible from both parties to ensure that the best possible outcome is achieved. Sometimes this is just not possible with a non-native English speaker.
Lost in Translation: What Problems Could Miscommunication Cause?
There are all sorts of problems that can be caused by miscommunication where English is not a first language.
Difficulties interpreting instructions
If instructions are not properly interpreted at the beginning of a project all sorts of issues can arise. Just a few examples include:
Deadlines might need to change if the scope of the project is not understood properly in the beginning
Project budgets might need to be extended for the same reason
The colors and type of design used in your renderings could be wrong
The viewpoint of your renderings could be wrong
You could end up with a different number of views than you expected, costing you more or leaving you hanging
Your project could end up completely wrong from the get-go!
You could end up with a project that has taken artistic license, rather than using a photorealistic approach
You could get floorplans, when you actually wanted interior renderings; and
Lots more issues, clear, concise communication is central to a successful project!
The lack of a common understanding of concepts and terms
Architects, developers, builders, council planners, landscape gardeners and everyone else involved in the real estate industry in North America either as professionals or consumers have a very specific language that they use when referring to different elements of buildings and building codes.
Often it takes a local professional with familiarity of this “language” in order to correctly interpret instructions given in a project brief. If the person you are working with does not understand this “language” then it is very likely that you will get output you are not happy with, and that you will need to spend a lot of time either explaining terms, or looking up and sending explanatory images so that the designer is able to properly understand your request.
Consider something as simple as asking for “trees” to be put into the background of a rendering. If the CGI artist you use is not familiar with the type of trees that are likely to be in your area, you might get a rendering that looks like it is from a completely different place. This could be a subtle issue, but even subtle things like this can have a psychological effect on how people perceive your renderings and whether or not they “feel” right or give a good impression.
Cultural differences in communication
There can also be cultural differences in communication style that come into play. For example, in some cultures it may be disrespectful to try and clarify misunderstandings in communication if receiving instructions from someone considered to be a superior, like a boss or employer, as it may come across as undermining their authority. Or the employee might simply want to appear as if they understand when they don’t.
For example, one of our co-owners used to work in Taiwan.
When he was in Taiwan he used to have local guys working with him and would need to give them instructions. They would receive the instruction or description of a project requirement and say they understood. Our co-owner would then say “Great, please go and do the project and let me know if you have any questions”. After awhile he’d go back to see what they were doing and check on the progress of the project and it would be completely wrong. He would then try to clarify the miscommunication, and the conversation would go something like this:
Co-Owner: “When we spoke, I asked you if you understood and you said yes”.
Taiwanese Employee: “Yes, I do not understand”.
Co-Owner: “No, you said that you understood”.
Taiwanese Employee: “Yes, I did not understand”
Co-Owner: “Then why did you say yes, you understood?”
Taiwanese Employee: “Yes, I did not understand”
and it could just go around in circles like that for ages!
Time Zone Differences Can Lead to Long Project Delays
If you’re working with a non-native English speaker, chances are they are also in a completely different time zone from you, potentially up to 12 hours apart.
Consider the example above of using the wrong trees in a rendering. When you see the mistake, you might email your rendering company (lets say in India, with a time difference of 10 hours).
You ask them at 9am your time to change the trees to a specific variety for your area. It's 7pm for them in India. 14 hours later when they get to the office, it’s 11pm for you. They respond with a question that you can’t answer until around 9am the next day. Or they send back a rendering that still has the wrong type of trees, and you respond saying it still needs work, at which point they’ve gone home for the day again. This can lead to weeks of back and forth and very long delays in receiving your renderings, or days of time wasted to get simple changes made.
Are we being racist or targeting non-native English speakers?
Definitely not! This is not about race, nationality or ethnicity in any way, it’s simply about the importance of clear communication in the 3D rendering process when it comes to getting the best results for the best price.
Communication can be fraught with difficulties even between native speakers as we have seen with the study above. These issues can be exacerbated in a big way when working with non-native English speakers, as we can see by the example email from our competitor that was included above.
In summary, the benefit of working with a North American company are:
Clear Communication and the ability to precisely interpret instructions
A common / shared understanding of concepts and terms likely to be used in the process
Synchronized working hours that facilitate better collaboration and faster project outcomes
Beyond this, here at Render3DQuick we have further streamlined our processes to ensure communication is as easy as it can possibly be!
If you compare our prices, you’ll also find we are very competitive, even with companies that are based outside of North America.
So why not give us a try? Give us a call on 1-877-350-3490 or send us a quote request. We’d love to help you with your next project.
Alex Smith
Manager & Co-Owner Render 3D Quick
Alex Smith is a manager and co-owner at Render3DQuick, with over 6 years’ experience project managing their large team of 3D rendering professionals. Alex is obsessed with architecture and is a CAD design specialist in his own right and an expert in the field of architectural visualization, 3D rendering, and virtual reality tours.
As the first point of contact when you get in touch with Render3DQuick, Alex loves sharing his knowledge and answering any questions you may have about architectural visualization or the latest technologies and techniques they utilize.
Connect with Alex on LinkedIn here.