Sharing Exterior Completion Images with AR: Smooth Consensus with Clients

Sharing the expected completion image of exterior work (landscaping/exterior construction) with the homeowner (client) in advance is essential for preventing later disputes and achieving smooth consensus. This article introduces a new method of sharing completion images using AR (augmented reality) technology and explains its benefits, aimed at those who find explanations using drawings or perspective renderings limited.

Why sharing the completion image is important in exterior work

The exterior includes structures and equipment installed around the building such as gates and fences, entrance approaches, parking spaces, garden planting, and lighting. These exterior elements form a diverse, interrelated space, and the overall picture only emerges once everything is completed. For this reason, grasping the completion image in advance is by no means easy.

There is often a gap in the sense of scale between professionals such as designers and craftsmen and ordinary homeowners. After completion, homeowners may complain, “The garden is smaller than I thought…” or “The fence is too tall and feels oppressive,” while the construction team wonders, “But we built it according to the drawings—why?” — such mismatches are not uncommon in exterior work. Even after investing time and money to finish the work, if a discrepancy in image leads to rework or complaints, it becomes a significant loss for both parties.

To prevent such problems and align the homeowner’s expectations with the actual outcome, it is important to clearly share the completion image during the planning stage. Communication skills that convey the design clearly are required as much as the design ability itself. Rather than “sort of understood,” you should refine the image until you can say “completely conveyed.” Doing so greatly increases post-handover satisfaction.

Challenges of consensus building with traditional drawings and renderings

Traditionally, the main means of sharing the completion image have been drawings (plans, elevations, etc.) and perspective renderings (CG or hand-drawn images of the expected completion). While indispensable for showing design intent, these have several limitations when it comes to building consensus with homeowners.

First, two-dimensional drawings such as plans and elevations make it difficult for homeowners to imagine three-dimensional space. Drawings show accurate dimensions and layouts, but without specialized knowledge, it is not easy for homeowners to visualize the actual finished result from that information. For example, how one meter on a drawing feels in an actual garden is hard to grasp without experience — 1 m (3.3 ft).

Next, perspective renderings also have limits. Renderings are more intuitive than drawings and can convey color, shading, and material feel, so they are effective, but they are essentially a single, fixed viewpoint. The impressions from other angles or eye levels that concern homeowners cannot be fully conveyed by a single rendering. Also, two-dimensional images cannot perfectly reproduce the sense of distance or scale in the actual site, and there can be differences in the sense of presence, oppression, or openness when built on-site.

Furthermore, even when you think you reached agreement with drawings or renderings, interpretations can vary slightly from person to person. It is not uncommon for someone to feel, “I thought I understood from the paper, but the real thing looks different.” Especially for exteriors, which are outdoor spaces, impressions also change depending on the surrounding landscape and neighboring properties, and traditional materials often cannot cover that.

Of course, in recent years, technologies such as realistic models created with 3D CAD software and virtual experiences using VR headsets have become more common, complementing traditional methods. These improve things by allowing viewpoint movement and enhancing immersion, but they have not completely eliminated the fundamental anxiety of “you won’t know until you see it on the actual site.”

Advantages of visualizing the completion image using AR

Against this backdrop, visualization of the completion image using AR (augmented reality) technology has emerged. With AR, you can overlay a 3D model of the designed exterior onto the real site, allowing the homeowner to experience the completed exterior as if it were already there. Viewing it through a smartphone or tablet screen enables intuitive understanding that drawings and renderings could not provide.

Specific advantages of AR visualization include the following points:

• Sense of height: With AR you can experience the true scale of fence, walls, or trees compared to a person’s height or the building. For example, you can virtually place a screen fence in the actual yard to check “what height of privacy fence will block a passerby’s view without feeling oppressive?”

• Accurate positional relationships: You can accurately grasp where gateposts and parking spaces will be located relative to the building and site boundaries in real space. This helps prevent discrepancies like “the gate is farther from the house entrance than expected” or “the parking space placement is inconvenient” after completion.

• Sense of size and space: You can stand in place and feel the size of the garden, the width of the approach, or the clearance when a car is parked. Spaces that could previously only be understood by square meters become easier to sense in terms of whether “the width is sufficient for adults to walk side by side” or “there is enough room to get out of the car.”

• Perception of distance: Distances such as from the entrance to the gate or the separation between the building and a wall are intuitively understandable. Distances shown numerically on drawings can be judged in terms of daily movement—whether they feel too far or too close—when overlaid on the real view via AR.

In this way, the greatest advantage of AR visualization is that homeowners themselves can confirm important spatial elements such as height, position, size, and distance from their own viewpoint. If you attach material information to the model, color and texture can also be rendered quite realistically. For example, if a homeowner “wants the gate color to match the house exterior but can’t imagine it,” you can instantly switch between color variations in AR for comparison.

As a result, homeowners can concretely imagine the “post-completion appearance” and entrust the work with a sense of security and confidence. For contractors, the likelihood of rework due to “it wasn’t supposed to be like this” is reduced, enabling smoother project progress.

Steps to display the completion image on-site with a smartphone or tablet

So how do you actually share the completion image on-site using AR? By using AR apps for smartphones and tablets, you can do this relatively easily without special equipment. Below is an example of a typical workflow.

• Prepare 3D data: First, prepare the expected exterior as a 3D model. You can add exterior elements to the building’s CAD data or create them with dedicated exterior CAD software. Include as accurate dimensions and material feel in the model as possible.

• Load into an AR app: Next, load that 3D model into a compatible AR display app. Use an app that runs on a smartphone or tablet and open the model data as a project. Nowadays, a variety of general BIM/CAD viewers and dedicated architectural AR apps are available, making it easy to carry models to the site.

• On-site alignment: Bring the smartphone/tablet to the actual site and align the model in the AR app. Overlay the model on the existing building, site boundary, and ground level, adjusting it to match real-world coordinates. For example, by aligning the same points in the model with building corners or the entrance location, you can match the virtual object to the real space with an accuracy within several tens of centimeters (within several tens of in).

• AR display and review: Once the model’s position and scale are correct, review the completed exterior image on the smartphone/tablet screen. Have the homeowner view the screen and walk around the site to check the design from various angles and distances. The experience can feel so immersive that the homeowner may feel as if they have time-traveled to see the finished exterior.

• On-the-spot feedback and adjustments: While viewing the AR display, collect feedback from the homeowner. If they request, for example, “Can we move the gate a bit forward?” or “I’d like the planting to be lower,” you can discuss it together on-site. In some cases you may edit the model on the spot and immediately reflect the revised image in AR. Because you can modify the image in real time, consensus building becomes much smoother than discussing things verbally or by imagination alone.

• Record and share: Finally, record the AR-verified state by taking screenshots or video. Share these later with family members or staff who could not visit the site so they can also see the image. Keeping records also helps everyone maintain a common understanding of the “originally agreed completion image,” serving as a reference if decisions are needed during construction.

By confirming the completion image on-site with the homeowner before construction, you can greatly reduce mismatches of “it’s different from what I thought.” Homeowners gain reassurance that their requests were conveyed, and contractors can start work knowing they have consensus—strengthening confidence in the process.

AR benefits for homeowners, contractors, and designers

Sharing completion images via AR brings benefits not only to homeowners but to everyone involved. Here are the advantages for each party.

• Homeowner (client) benefits: Being able to grasp the completed image concretely in advance resolves anxiety and uncertainty. They can contract and start construction with confidence, reducing psychological burden and deepening trust. Seeing it with their own eyes also fosters attachment, making completion more eagerly anticipated. Because they can communicate concerns early, regrets after completion are reduced, resulting in higher satisfaction with the final exterior.

• Contractor (on-site) benefits: Proceeding with construction after aligning recognition with the homeowner reduces the risk of rework or additional work on site. Details that are hard to convey by drawings alone—such as assembly details or height standards—can be checked in advance with AR to prevent construction errors. Comparing the AR model with the actual work as you go also helps avoid situations of “we built something different from the design.” Communication costs decrease and work efficiency improves.

• Designer benefits: Designers can deliver their design intent directly to homeowners. This reduces the need for lengthy explanations and lets homeowners intuitively appreciate the merits of the design, increasing the persuasiveness of proposals. Designers can respond to homeowner change requests on the spot, reducing the number and time of design revisions. If sufficient consensus is obtained in the early stages, there is less worry about plans being overturned near completion, reducing stress for the designer.

In this way, AR usage creates a state where everyone proceeds with the project sharing a common understanding of the final appearance. This approach is ideal not only for exterior work but also for architectural and civil engineering projects.

Applications for checking changes during construction and explaining to neighbors

AR-based sharing of completion images can be applied not only before construction but also to communication during construction and explanations to surrounding stakeholders.

One use is checking changes during construction. It is not uncommon for small changes to occur after construction starts to accommodate site conditions (for example, moving planting locations to match pipe locations). Even then, showing the post-change state in AR lets you visually explain to the homeowner, “It will change like this—does this match your image?” Visual explanations are understood much faster than verbal descriptions or redlined drawings, preventing unnecessary misunderstandings. If you use AR to show and obtain agreement on partial changes during construction as they occur, discrepancies in the final result will approach zero.

AR is also useful for neighbor relations and explaining plans to the surrounding area. Exterior work sometimes requires consideration for neighboring houses and residents. For concerns such as “How will the new wall look from the neighbor’s property?” or “Will planting tall trees affect the neighbor’s sunlight?” AR can reproduce the post-completion appearance on-site and visually reassure neighbors. Having neighbors view AR footage before construction and explaining “the wall will be this high” or “the planting will be positioned so it won’t affect your house” tends to be more convincing than words alone, making it easier for them to accept the plan. This can help prevent neighborhood disputes and build amicable relationships.

There are also increasing examples of using AR for materials submitted to authorities or for landscape simulations. For instance, in areas with strict landscape regulations, you might create AR footage to pre-check the effect of height and color on the surroundings and submit it to the local government. Thus, AR-visualized completion images are applicable beyond homeowner consensus building and can serve as persuasive materials for various stakeholders.

High-precision visualization by integrating point cloud survey data

With advances in AR technology, high-precision visualization linked to real-world survey and point cloud data is becoming feasible. Conventional simple AR displays mainly relied on smartphone GPS or camera markers for rough alignment, but recently it has become possible to combine 3D point clouds obtained by laser scanners or photogrammetry with design data and display them precisely in the real-world coordinate system.

For example, if you pre-scan the site terrain and adjacent buildings to obtain point cloud data, you can accurately place the exterior design model on that data and display it in AR. Because ground elevation differences and positional relationships with surrounding structures are accurately reflected, errors such as “the model floating in mid-air” or “slight positional shifts” are minimized. Simply pointing the camera at the site will display the exterior model precisely at the pre-surveyed coordinates, eliminating complicated alignment work.

Furthermore, with high-precision position information, AR-based “coordinate guidance” becomes possible. This feature navigates users to the exact positions specified in the design drawings (for example, the installation position of gateposts or embedding points for lighting). Arrows or markers appear on the screen, and workers can identify target points simply by following them on site. Tasks that traditionally required surveying instruments or layout work, such as staking or equipment placement, can be performed easily with AR coordinate guidance.

The fusion of point cloud surveying technology and AR dramatically increases the accuracy of completion image visualization. Because models are displayed with lifelike realism as if they truly exist at the site, this not only aids consensus building but is also expected to improve construction accuracy and streamline inspection tasks.

Conclusion: How AR has advanced consensus building for exteriors

Methods for sharing completion images in exterior work have evolved significantly with the emergence of AR technology. Because homeowners, contractors, and designers can proceed toward the same goal image, common mismatches and disputes that used to occur are greatly reduced. The result is shorter construction periods, cost savings, and—most importantly—higher homeowner satisfaction.

In particular, the fact that advanced AR displays can now be achieved with a single smartphone has greatly lowered the barrier to AR adoption. For example, our company’s LRTK is a tool that displays exterior models in AR on-site simply by pointing a smartphone. In addition, the aforementioned coordinate guidance function supports accurate positioning, and it even includes point cloud surveying capabilities utilizing built-in LiDAR where available. By adopting these kinds of easy-to-use, state-of-the-art solutions without relying solely on specialized equipment, consensus building and construction management for exterior work can be conducted more smoothly and with higher precision than ever before.

If you feel uncertain in exterior planning and wonder, “Will it really turn out as I imagine?”, consider sharing the completion image using AR. That realistic experience will surely give you a strong push toward creating the exterior of your dreams.