Real estate AR: How to use augmented reality for renovations and upgrades

Discover how AR can help you make your projects more efficient, optimize decision-making, and stay within budget in our blog.
By
Celeste Rivas
in
Residential Rentals
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December 12, 2024
7
min read
Real estate AR: How to use augmented reality for renovations and upgrades

Have you ever carefully planned renovations for one of your properties––only for the results to look nothing like what you had in mind?

Planning and executing renovations can sometimes feel like navigating a never-ending maze of decisions, stakeholder approvals, and unexpected challenges. Miscommunications, unforeseen design conflicts, and tenant resistance are just a few of the hurdles that can delay timelines and inflate costs, turning the whole project into a long-drawn, draining process.

From visualizing changes to optimizing collaboration, augmented reality (AR) can help you avoid some of the pitfalls and frustrations of renovations and upgrades. AR tools can make your projects more efficient and reduce the likelihood of expensive mistakes that can negatively impact your tenants’ quality of life and your business’s cash flow.

Read on to discover how AR can bring your vision to life and make your project more efficient and less stressful to complete.

Benefits of augmented reality in planning renovations

Augmented reality offers innovative ways to approach renovation planning, providing property managers with tools to streamline the process, reduce costs, and improve outcomes.

AR can help you across various areas, including:

Improving accuracy in renovation planning

AR creates detailed 3D models of spaces, ensuring precise measurements and realistic visuals. This level of accuracy and detail minimizes design errors and helps you better understand how renovations will look and function in real life. This will prevent disappointment and frustration from unwanted or unexpected results.

Allowing for better space utilization and design optimization

By visualizing changes in real time, AR enables you to experiment with layouts and designs to maximize space efficiency. Whether reconfiguring units or optimizing community areas, AR can help you find the best solutions for your specific space, needs, and expectations.

Reducing costs by identifying potential issues early

AR helps uncover design conflicts or structural issues before construction begins, preventing costly mistakes and rework. This proactive approach is essential for saving both time and money.

Enhancing communication and clarity among project stakeholders

Renovation and upgrade projects have many moving parts and require seamless team collaboration and communication. AR helps to minimize friction or miscommunication between property managers, contractors, and designers, as it provides a shared visual language, making it easier for all teams to stay aligned. It also helps tenants and residents visualize and explore the changes to be made to their living space. 

Minimizing delays by providing a clear visual plan 

Delays often stem from misunderstandings or last-minute changes. AR offers a visual roadmap that reduces ambiguity, sets expectations, and keeps projects on track. 

Helping in selecting materials and finishes 

With AR, you can visualize different materials and finishes in context, helping you make informed decisions that align with your design goals and budget. This will help you prevent last-minute changes and avoid potential frustration.

Facilitating quicker approvals from property owners or boards

Stakeholder approval can turn a project into a seemingly endless back-and-forth of questions, comments, and suggestions. AR’s realistic visualizations make it easier for everyone involved to understand and give proposed renovations the green light, speeding up decision-making.

Using AR to visualize property upgrades for tenants

Tenant buy-in is crucial when planning major renovations, as upgrades can disrupt their daily lives or change their living experience. AR helps bridge the gap between your vision and their concerns by setting clear expectations and offering engaging visuals that show exactly how modifications will enhance their living spaces.

AR helps tenants:

Visualize the impact of renovations or upgrades

AR allows tenants to see how renovations will look once completed, reducing uncertainty and resistance. For example, tenants can preview or virtually tour upgraded kitchens, reconfigured layouts, or improved common areas and easily picture themselves in them.

Compare different upgrade options

If the decision for a redesign or update is not yet final, showcasing multiple design options using AR will help tenants feel involved in the process. This collaboration can give you additional insight into resident needs and help you pick the best alternative to enhance their experience. It also builds trust and demonstrates your commitment to their satisfaction.

Highlight improvements and long-term benefits

By showing how upgrades enhance amenities—like modernized gyms or improved outdoor spaces—AR helps tenants understand the value of changes and how they will benefit in the long run.

Facilitate before-and-after comparisons

Side-by-side AR visuals of current and proposed designs make it easy to communicate the value of upgrades. This helps tenants see the big picture and reduces hesitation.

Real estate AR: How to use augmented reality to identify potential upgrades

AR isn’t just for visualizing completed or approved designs; it’s also a useful tool for the early stages of planning renovations. By exploring various possibilities, you can uncover unexpected solutions and gain insight into challenges you had not anticipated, helping you to enhance the final result and prevent delays. 

Visualize opportunities to optimize space and functionality

AR enables you to explore new ways to utilize and organize a space, such as reconfiguring layouts for better flow or maximizing underutilized areas.

Compare different renovation options 

Side-by-side comparisons of different designs make it easier to identify the most effective and cost-efficient options. This is true for both ambitious, big-scale renovations and smaller redesign projects. 

Provide virtual walkthroughs to see changes before implementation

With AR, you can take a virtual walkthrough of proposed upgrades to ensure the changes align with your goals and tenant expectations. You can also collaborate with stakeholders and residents, inviting them to take a virtual tour of the space to be redone to get additional feedback.

Identify potential design conflicts or issues early

Detecting potential clashes between new and existing elements with AR helps prevent expensive redesigns and delays.

Augmented reality tools enabling enhanced property management and renovations

Several AR tools and solutions can help you plan and execute your renovation project, such as:

  • IrisVR: Provides immersive VR experiences and creates 3D models and virtual walkthroughs for renovation planning and design visualization.
  • ARki: Room Planner: Allows you to create 2D/3D room layouts and plans using mobile devices, enabling you to design spaces by choosing 3D furniture models.
  • SketchUp: Helps you to create 3D models of buildings, furniture, and interiors. With SketchUp Viewer you can navigate and present these models.
  • HoloBuilder: Specializes in creating virtual 360º views and walkthroughs of construction sites, enabling teams to track the progress of their projects.

Transforming renovation planning with AR

AR's accurate visualizations and immersive experiences can streamline your renovation projects, making them more efficient and less stressful. 

By facilitating collaboration, accelerating decision-making, and minimizing the risk of costly redesigns or unwanted outcomes, AR helps you optimize operations while strengthening tenant relationships. This approach builds trust in your property management decisions and positions your business as a tech-savvy innovator, setting you apart from the competition.

Looking for more smart tools to grow your tech stack and make property management easier? We can help. Discover Minut’s insights platform and learn how it can make your day-to-day more efficient.