AI Exterior Rendering vs Expensive Interior Designers

Paying for “Design”

When I started planning the exterior, I got quotes from interior designers. Thousands of dollars. For what? Some concepts? A few renders? I’m building in the Philippines. Every peso I save on a “concept” is a peso I can spend on actual steel or cement.

So I skipped the designer. I used AI. Cost me $20.

The Toolkit (Cheap)

Sora + ChatGPT

I pay for ChatGPT Plus ($20/month). It has Sora. I upload my ugly sketch or a basic boxy 3D model. I tell it: “Make this look like a tropical modern house with wood accents.” Boom. It gives me 4 variations in 30 seconds.

It’s actually absurdly good.

• “Show it at sunset” -> Done.
• “Change wood to stone” -> Done.
• “Add a Ferrari in the driveway” -> Done (I can’t afford the Ferrari, but it looks nice).

Nano Banana (Google)

For tweaking. It’s free. I use this when Sora goes too crazy and adds extra floors I didn’t ask for. You can adjust the “temperature” so it sticks closer to your original drawing.

How to actually get good results

Don’t say “make a nice house”. AI is dumb if you are vague.

Be specific:

• “Photorealistic architectural rendering, professional lighting, DAY scene”
• “Industrial materials: dark metal cladding, exposed concrete”
• “Bronze aluminum windows, grey tint glass”

If you use technical terms (“cladding”, “soffit”, “stucco”), it thinks you are an architect and gives you better results.

The Good vs The Bad

The Good:

• It is essentially free.
• fast.
• You can try 50 ideas in an hour.

The Bad:

• It hallucinates. Sometimes it puts a window in a column.
• It is NOT a blueprint. Do not give an AI render to your foreman and say “build this”. He will laugh at you. Or worse, he will try to build it and the house will collapse.

Verdict

I am not saying “fire all architects”. You need a pro for the structure, the plumbing, the actual plans. But for visualizing? For deciding “do I want grey or beige paint?” Don’t pay someone $2000 for that. Use the robot.

Credit

Big thanks to Sameh Dabit. He showed me this workflow.

(Also, if you are an interior designer reading this… sorry. But $3000 for a mood board is criminal).