How to choose a 3D tour company, its evaluation criteria and what to focus on are questions that arise before everyone who orders a photo shoot for the first time. The guide is useful for property owners, hoteliers, production managers and exhibition organizers. Let's look at seven supporting criteria, give a checklist and show you the mistakes that cost the most at the delivery stage.
Step 1. Look at the portfolio in your niche
The first thing to look at is not the total number of rounds, but the presence of fresh entries in your category. An apartment tour and a production workshop tour are different tasks in terms of logistics, lighting and post-processing. We rented a 600 m² restaurant in Kazan, where the client came after a contractor who worked only with housing: the result was overexposure in the open kitchen and “blind spots” near the panoramic windows.
Ask to open 2-3 rounds directly in the browser, rather than look at screenshots in the presentation.
Step 2. Equipment and technological base
Ask what they shoot with: Matterport Pro3, Insta360, DSLR with panoramic head, custom build? Each instrument gives its own image and its own shooting time. Matterport Pro3 quickly takes the subject and gives accurate geometry, but in terms of color reproduction, full-frame cameras win in difficult light.
Specify separately what the company does itself and what it outsources. If all post-processing is outsourced, the timing and quality will vary from project to project.
Step 3. Industry experience and understanding of the task
At the first meeting, a competent contractor asks questions about the purpose of the tour: to sell, show the process, train employees, guide clients remotely. A tour for a beauty salon and a tour for a residential complex under construction are mounted differently - different shooting points, different interactive markers, different integrations with CRM and application forms.
If the contractor silently takes the brief and leaves to draw an estimate, most likely they will sell you a template.
Step 4. Tour accommodation and delivery formats
This is the point that customers almost always miss. Ask about delivery options. 360° Space has three of them: the 360° Space cloud on high-speed servers with technical support; customer server - the tour is deployed on the client’s own infrastructure, which is critical for banks and government customers; offline - a standalone version for PC or a separate assembly for a VR headset, works without the Internet.
Real case: the same plant posted a tour both in the cloud for the website and an offline version for the stand at the exhibition - there Wi-Fi dropped every half hour, and visitors still had to walk around the workshops virtually.
Step 5. Post-processing, integrations and labels
A bare panorama without markers and transition logic is not a 3D tour, but a carousel of photos. Find out what is included in the basic assembly: information labels with text, video and PDF, points with a floor diagram, integration with CRM and application form, click analytics, multilingual.
Even more important is whether it will be possible to finish filming and pasting in the new premises in six months, without rebuilding the tour from scratch.
Step 6. Contract, terms and support after delivery
The contract must fix: ownership of the source code, deadlines for delivery by stages, regulations for edits (how many circles are included without additional payments), technical support and SLA for response time. We specify the safety of files on our servers and notification periods when conditions change - this way the customer always knows what will happen to his tour in a year or three.
A separate line indicates to whom the tour is issued in the platform’s personal account. If it’s the contractor’s manager, and not you, it’s easy to lose access along with his dismissal.
Typical mistakes when choosing a contractor
- Race for the lowest price. On small projects, the difference between an average and a top contractor is noticeable, but reshooting after a bad tour usually ends up being more expensive than doing a normal job the first time.
- No test viewing until full payment is made. Always ask for a watermarked review link after the initial build - before final payment.
- Lack of clear technical specifications. Without a brief with a list of points, tags and integrations, a week after delivery, “can you also do it here...” for some money.
- Silence about support and storage. Ask directly: what happens to the tour in a year, who is responsible for availability, how quickly a critical bug is fixed.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a normal 3D tour cost?
The price depends on the area, number of shooting points, depth of interaction and delivery format. The guideline for our projects is from 15,000 ₽ for a small apartment, large objects are calculated using a calculator or technical specifications.
Is it possible to transfer a completed tour from another contractor?
If you have the original panoramas in your hands, yes, we will reassemble them into our player and connect the required placement format. If there are no sources, but only a published tour on someone else’s platform, it is often more profitable to reshoot.
What should I do if, after completion, I need to rent a new room?
This is laid down at the contract stage. We do a modular assembly: the new room was completed, glued to the existing model, the marks and transitions were updated without reassembling the entire tour.
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