Why Estructuras 3D: a platform, a render studio or Excel?
By Facundo Campo, 3D quoting tool developer
In short: A construction company that builds to order has four ways to show and quote its product: a subscription 3D configurator platform, outsourced renders, Excel plus drawings, or a 3D quoting tool built on the rules of its own product, like the ones Facundo Campo develops with Estructuras 3D.
A company that builds metal buildings, prefab homes or horse barns has, in practice, four ways to show and quote what it sells: subscribe to a 3D configurator platform, commission renders from a studio, stick with Excel and drawings, or build a 3D quoting tool around the rules of its own product. Each one fits a different situation. Here I explain when Estructuras 3D makes sense and when it doesn't.
The four options a small construction company has
Take a metal fabrication shop in Pilar, outside Buenos Aires, that sells open-sided sheds and metal buildings. A customer messages them on WhatsApp: "How much for an enclosed 18 × 30 m building with a sliding door?" To answer, the shop can:
- Use a 3D configurator platform (Zakeke, Mimeeq, Roomle, Expivi and others): a monthly subscription service where you upload products, options and 3D models.
- Commission renders from a studio: photorealistic images of the building, made from drawings.
- Quote with Excel and drawings: the spreadsheet with per-m² or per-item formulas the sales rep already uses, plus a CAD drawing if the customer asks for one.
- Build a custom 3D quoting tool: a web app where the customer or the sales rep puts the building together, sees it in 3D and gets a price calculated with that manufacturer's rules. That's what I, Facundo Campo, do with Estructuras 3D.
A 3D configurator platform: when it fits
Platforms have real advantages. Several publish their prices and offer a free trial: according to their website, checked in October 2026, Zakeke starts at USD 59 per month on an annual plan plus 1.9% per customized product sold, with a 14-day trial and augmented reality included in every plan. They connect to Shopify or WooCommerce without code.
A platform is a good fit if you sell through an online store, your product comes in color or material variants on 3D models that already exist, and you have someone in-house to upload and maintain the catalog.
It gets harder when the product is a structure whose dimensions change continuously. A metal building with a span of 6 to 40 m and a length of 6 to 90 m isn't a catalog of variants: every combination changes the number of frames, purlins and metal sheeting. The full analysis, with each platform and its prices, is in 3D configurator platforms vs custom development.
Outsourced renders: when they fit
A rendering studio produces images or videos with top visual quality. For a catalog, a highway billboard or a social media campaign, that's hard to match.
A render studio is a good fit if you need a few carefully crafted marketing pieces for models you sell a lot.
It gets harder when every customer wants to see their variant. A render is static: if the customer goes from 18 × 30 to 20 × 36, or from a gable roof to a curved roof, you need another commission. And a render doesn't calculate the price of the job. The two can coexist just fine: the studio for the shop window, the quoting tool for each inquiry. I go deeper in 3D quoting tool vs Excel, drawings and outsourced renders.
Excel and drawings: when they fit
The spreadsheet has a huge merit: no extra license cost if you already use Office, the whole team understands it, and it can be adapted in an afternoon.
Sticking with Excel makes sense if you quote a few projects a month, the person quoting is the owner or someone they trust, and the customer doesn't need to see anything before deciding.
It gets harder when the spreadsheet lives on one person's computer, when prices change every month and someone has to remember to update every cell, or when the customer says "send me what it would look like" and nobody is available to draw it. The customer can't see the spreadsheet or use it on their own. That's where the company loses sales team autonomy and the quoting mistakes start.
A custom 3D quoting tool: what's different about Estructuras 3D
Estructuras 3D is the parametric rendering engine I developed for construction quoting tools. It runs in the browser, on phones too, with nothing to install. What sets it apart from the other three options is concrete:
- The rules are your product's, not a template's. We program how your building, home or horse barn is put together: which dimensions it accepts, which parts come out of each choice and which combinations can't be built.
- No variant is modeled by hand. Every part is generated from building rules (frames, purlins, sheeting, walls, stalls). Changing one dimension doesn't break the rest. I explain it in parametric rendering.
- It's built for construction and for how things are sold in Argentina. Argentine Spanish, quote requests over WhatsApp with the configuration already set up, offline mode for trade fairs and agricultural shows, and a price table the manufacturer updates on its own when steel goes up.
- You talk directly to the person who programs it. I design and build everything: the 3D engine, the interface, the pricing logic, the backend and the production deployment. There's no sales department in between.
- It's already in production at a real manufacturer.
You can try it right now in the public configurators for metal buildings and open-sided sheds, prefab homes and horse stalls. They don't show prices: pricing is part of each project, because it comes from each manufacturer's costs.
EQUIBOX: what it looks like at a real manufacturer
EQUIBOX is a manufacturer of horse stalls and modular horse barns in Berazategui, Buenos Aires. When I developed their system, they needed to sell at agricultural shows, in the sun and with no signal, with sales reps who could quote without calling the owner.
The result has three parts. A public 3D quoting tool, where the buyer builds their horse barn in 7 steps and sees it in 3D with real wood textures. A sales panel with prices visible only to sales reps, shipping calculated per kilometer, installments, coupons and a CRM with follow-ups and collections. And an installable app that works offline and syncs when the signal comes back. The PDF quote includes the isometric view and the floor plan from the same render the customer saw. The full case is in the EQUIBOX case study and you can see the quoting tool at cotizador.equiboxarg.com.
So which one fits you?
A quick summary to help you place yourself:
- If you sell through e-commerce, with variants on fixed models, look at a configurator platform.
- If you need a few top-quality images for marketing, commission renders.
- If you quote rarely and it's always the same person doing it, Excel may still be enough.
- If your product is a structure with free dimensions, the price comes from building rules, you sell over WhatsApp or at trade fairs, and you want the customer to see what's being quoted, that's where a custom 3D quoting tool like the ones built on Estructuras 3D makes the most sense.
The options can also be combined. To understand what development involves, see what a manufacturer needs to have ready and how much a 3D quoting tool costs.
If you're not sure which of the four cases you're in, tell me how you quote today. Message me on WhatsApp at +54 9 11 6193-3176 or email facundocampo100@gmail.com and I'll tell you honestly whether custom development makes sense for you or whether something simpler will do.
Frequently asked questions
Is Estructuras 3D a subscription platform?
No. It's a proprietary engine on which Facundo Campo builds custom 3D quoting tools for each manufacturer. It's quoted per project based on the product and the features needed; there's no list price.
Does a 3D quoting tool replace a rendering studio?
Not necessarily. A rendering studio is for marketing pieces with top visual quality; a quoting tool lets every customer see their own variant instantly, with a price. They can coexist.
Can I keep using my Excel spreadsheet if I build a 3D quoting tool?
Yes. The spreadsheet's formulas are usually the starting point for programming the pricing logic. What changes is that the logic lives in a tool your sales reps use and, if you want, your customers too.
Why don't the public configurators show prices?
Because the price depends on each manufacturer's costs. Live pricing, with a table the manufacturer manages, is developed in each project, as with EQUIBOX.
