Virtual tours and 3D models are extremely popular in the real estate industry as they provide unparalleled visuals for clients. Virtually available real estate properties are highly beneficial to all parties involved in a real estate deal, whether they are buyers, investors, agents, tenants, or potential owners. 

Buyers can gain a thorough understanding of the layout and floor plan of a property without having to physically drive there. Meanwhile, real estate agents can accommodate multiple showings in a limited time. Through all of these transactions, the property itself remains secure and untouched.

Blending virtual reality with real estate is highly effective and convenient, and the technology involved is constantly evolving. Today, 360º drone services are on the list of revolutionary real estate services offered by many different companies. 

What do these services entail, and why are they useful? Everything you need to know is covered in this guide, so read on.

What Are 360º Drones?

Drones enable feats of aerial photography with no danger to the photographer. They capture images within a specific radius or vision and deliver stunning images.

A 360º drone provides a broader or wider range of vision than a regular drone as it captures a complete 360º view around the camera. The images captured are either automatically joined together through in-built software or manually joined in post-production to create a panoramic image of a given scene.

This is also known as 3D photography or virtual reality (VR) images, as the final result makes the viewer feel like they are actually there.

How Do 360º Drone Cameras Work?

360º drones have multiple camera lenses, each facing a different direction. Each lens takes a picture within its viewing range, and the images are then stitched together to create a panoramic, 360-degree photo.

Regular drone cameras have a limited range of vision, such as one camera that faces forward. 360º drone cameras have a much broader vision due to multiple image capture units. This makes them exceptionally useful for photographing landscapes, construction sides, and all other environments. And the resulting images provide an immersive and interactive exploration opportunity. 

How Can You Use A 360º Image On Your Website?

360º photographs have long been popular on social platforms, and they’ve recently become a go-to marketing tool for companies to impress their stakeholders, clients, or customers. 

Immersive drone photography has been incredibly beneficial for real estate businesses. Agents, contractors, builders, and other parties involved in the buying and selling of properties can benefit from 360º images of properties, construction sites, and other locations. This is why it’s becoming extremely common for real estate websites to include these impressive images in their marketing endeavors.

Leveraging 360º images is easy—you can put them up on your business website through an embed code given by your image provider. You can use different 360º hosting platforms for larger files. You can also upload the images to Google so people can use Street View to look at them.

You can use 360 drone services for marketing or promotion on your website to show off many different things:

• Your most recent construction project
• Progress reports for all your ongoings project
• The layout of a certain property
• The exterior environment or landscape around a property
• An interactive, immersive viewing experience for a project or property

How Are 360º Images Beneficial?

360º images can be used to give a clear, complete picture of a property or project, allowing the viewer to feel like they are actually there. This is highly beneficial for management, construction, real estate marketing, and more. 

Here are some ways 360º images are beneficial to the real estate industry:

Construction Walkthroughs

360º images are excellent for pre-construction, phase completion, and close-out walkthroughs so contractors and builders can upload multiple plans for each level or phase. They can compare current conditions and as-built properties to the planned design to check for inaccuracies or changes.

Trade partner inspections also benefit from 360º images as the trader partners’ scope of work performed for each level or phase can be verified and documented. This is then used for payout and punch list items.

Additionally, remote inspections can be conducted using 360º images throughout all phases of construction. This is highly beneficial for promoting safety and streamlining progress tracking.

Ground Viewing of Any Facility

A drone camera can capture images underneath pipes and provide a ground view of the instruments on a site with ease.

You can quickly capture a virtual walkthrough in high-resolution, reducing the time and resources required to tour the entire facility. This boosts efficiency and productivity, as it is also easier for more people to access the virtual facility and conduct inspections without leaving their offices.

Site issues can be marked up quickly and conveniently, so problems or areas of concern can be pointed out and resolved faster. Additionally, it is easier to share and assign work to different maintenance teams and stakeholders, thereby improving productivity.

Property Management Through Ground-Based Inspections

360º images can also help reduce disputes between architects, builders, contractors, and tenants as they maintain a thorough digital record of the site.

Maintenance and engineering teams can also log accurate details of the site’s condition throughout the project. This is crucial to understanding the scope of the building process, potential repairs, and all related expenses.

All of these improve preventative maintenance and enhance routine inspections while improving the productivity of contractors and their teams. This promotes an overall increase of trust and satisfaction amongst all parties involved, especially buyers and stakeholders.

Buyer Interest 

360º photographs offer a comprehensive view of the property and its surrounding areas, allowing buyers to get a clear understanding of the most important site details without needing to visit it.

Based on whether or not they like how the property looks and its features, they can decide whether it’s worth seeing in person or even purchasing it right then and there.

This saves time and resources for buyers and their agents and streamlines the shortlisting and selection process. It becomes much easier for buyers to expand their search and consider properties in a broader range of locations. After all, they don’t have to worry about visiting every property and worrying about wasted time if it doesn’t meet their expectations.

Higher Promotional Value and Convenience

This immersive experience provided by 360º images is extremely valuable for attracting new clients and piquing their curiosity about a particular property. The beautiful, detailed pictures will appeal to potential customers and make them more likely to be interested in learning more about what they’ve seen.

These types of images can add a lot of promotional value to your website, social media accounts, and marketing collateral. After all, most people are guided by what they see—and if you provide them with stunning imagery, you can boost your brand and elevate your properties in their eyes.

The inverse works as well; if some element of the property does not fit their requirements, buyers appreciate the fact that these images let them see it without wasting time visiting the property. This leads to better customer relationships and more benefits for your real estate company.

Final Thoughts

Technological advancements have made virtual reality a common tool in the real estate industry. Being able to experience and “see” a property without actually visiting it is something potential buyers and renters are beginning to expect as the norm.

In fact, even real estate agents prefer being able to offer virtual tours rather than making clients visit multiple properties only to have them be rejected. 

360º drone servicesare exactly what the real estate industry needs for maximum convenience, increased efficiency, and next-level marketing. Book a call with Plus Render for all of your architecture and real estate rendering needs.