What's actually the difference between an orangery preview and a conservatory preview?

An orangery preview shows brick or stone piers carrying most of the structure's weight and a mostly flat roof with a central glazed lantern — that's how an orangery is actually built. A conservatory preview shows a low dwarf wall with glazing running almost floor to eaves and a fully pitched glass roof. The two structures read very differently on a house — an orangery looks like a permanent room, a conservatory looks more like a glass addition — so a homeowner comparing both should see each rendered on their own elevation rather than judging from a shared product photo.

Will the brick and stone in the preview actually match my house, or is it a generic red brick?

It's matched to your house. The preview is generated from a photo of your actual rear elevation, so the software carries over your real brick colour, coursing, and mortar tone into the piers and plinth instead of dropping in a stock texture. That matters most on older or conservation-area properties, where a mismatched brick is the first thing a planning officer or a fussy homeowner will spot.

Can it show a roof lantern and a flat glass roof on the same house so we can compare?

Yes. Generate both roof options — a traditional lantern with a flat perimeter roof, or a fully glazed roof — on the same elevation photo and show them side by side. Most installers find this settles the roof decision faster than any brochure spread, because the homeowner is comparing two versions of their own house instead of two catalogue images.

Can we use the preview in a planning permission application, especially for a listed building or conservation area?

Treat it as a sales and decision-making visual, not a substitute for the certified elevation drawings and scale plans a planning authority requires — those still come from your architect or draughtsman. Where it earns its keep is exactly the cases planning officers scrutinize hardest: listed buildings and conservation areas, where a mismatched brick colour or an oversized lantern gets an application queried or a neighbour objecting. Because the render is built from a photo of the actual house, installers use it alongside the formal drawings to give the case officer and neighbours an intuitive look at what's really being proposed.

Can it show the inside — the vaulted ceiling and the light through the lantern — or just the outside?

Both. Most installers lead with the exterior preview during the initial visit, since that's what settles whether the design suits the house. The interior render — vaulted ceiling, roof lantern light well, bi-folds open onto the garden — tends to get used in the follow-up or design meeting, once the homeowner is picturing themselves using the room rather than just looking at it from the garden.

How is this different from the CAD elevation our architect or surveyor already provides?

A CAD elevation is a technical line drawing — accurate for planning submissions, but it asks the homeowner to imagine glass, brick, and shadow that isn't actually rendered. This preview is a photograph of their real house with the orangery generated onto it, photorealistic brick, glazing reflections, and roofline included, so there's no imagining required. Most installers use both: CAD for the planning file, this for the sales conversation.

Who can see the photos we take of a customer's house, and how long are they kept?

That's your call, not ours — it's your software. We build the storage and retention policy around what your business needs and make sure it meets GDPR or any other regulation that applies. No training on your data, ever.

What does an orangery preview tool cost?

There's no off-the-shelf plan, so there's no published price list. What it costs depends on how many surveyors need access, how it integrates with your CRM and quoting software, and your build volume. Share your details and we'll discuss project scope and pricing on a free consultation call — see /pricing for details.

Sunroom & Conservatory

Show the Homeowner Their Orangery on Their Own House Before They Sign

Your surveyor photographs the rear elevation during the home visit and generates a photorealistic preview — matched brick, roof lantern, bi-folds — in minutes, so the homeowner commits to a design they've actually seen instead of one they've only imagined from a CAD drawing.

Custom-built for your industry · No commitment

What is a orangery preview preview?

An orangery preview tool is AI software that generates a photorealistic image of a proposed orangery — brick or stone piers, roof lantern, glazing, and doors — applied directly onto a photo of the homeowner's actual rear elevation. Glazing and home improvement companies use it during the sales visit or showroom consultation in place of generic CAD elevations and brochure photography, so the homeowner sees the design on their own house rather than having to imagine it from a drawing. The output is a sales visual, not a certified planning drawing, and it's generated in minutes from a single photo taken during the survey.

Why it matters

An orangery is typically the biggest single home-improvement purchase a household makes after a kitchen or loft conversion — installers commonly quote anywhere from £40,000 to £100,000+ depending on footprint, lantern size, and how much brick or stone piering the design needs to match the existing house. Because of that price, homeowners rarely sign on the first visit: they collect two or three competing quotes and deliberate for weeks, and confidence tends to drop exactly at the point where they try to picture a CAD elevation or a stock brochure photo as their own rear wall. A preview built from their actual house — their actual brick colour, their actual roofline — closes that gap between quote and decision. In a market where three companies are often pitching the same lantern roof and the same aluminium frames, the one that lets the homeowner see it on their own house first usually wins the job.

Who uses this

The field sales consultant or surveyor who runs the in-home visit uses it on a tablet at the kitchen table, and showroom-based design consultants use it to swap roof lantern styles and frame finishes live while the homeowner watches. Some installers also hand a generated preview to the in-house designer preparing the planning application paperwork, so the case officer and any objecting neighbours are looking at the same design the homeowner already approved.

Heard This From a Homeowner Pricing Out an Orangery?

"I don't want a glass box bolted onto a Victorian house — will the brick piers actually match?"

"We're in a conservation area. I want to see how this looks before we risk a planning objection."

"Your brochure shows three roof styles and I genuinely can't picture any of them on my own roofline."

How orangery preview previews work

Three steps. Under 10 seconds. No design skills needed.

Photograph the rear elevation

During the home visit or showroom consultation, take one straight-on photo of the rear wall the orangery will sit against — the same shot a surveyor already takes to work up the quote.

Apply the design to that wall

The tool renders the chosen orangery onto the real photo: brick or stone piers matched to the house's actual coursing and mortar colour, the roof lantern or flat-glass roof style, box gutters, and bi-fold or French doors in the selected frame finish.

Present it before the contract's signed

Walk through two or three roof and brick options on-screen at the kitchen table or in the showroom, so the homeowner commits to a design they've seen on their own house rather than a generic render.

Common questions about orangery preview

Straight answers. No jargon.

Let's build the version made for your business

Every preview on this site is a variation of the same engine, tuned to one industry. Tell us about yours, and we'll show you exactly what we'd build for it.

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