An interactive apartment selector is a building image or 3D model where every home is clickable. Buyers pick a floor or a window on the facade, see that home's plan, size, price and status, filter the rest by rooms or budget, and send an enquiry that already names the unit. It works by joining a visual layer (the building) to a data layer (the price list), and its cost depends mostly on which visual layer you choose.
How an interactive apartment selector works
Every selector, cheap or custom, has the same five parts.
- Facade or site picker. A render, a 360° spin or a live 3D model with clickable shapes over each floor or home.
- Unit card. Hover or tap a home to see rooms, area, floor, orientation, outdoor space, price and status.
- Filters and a list view. Rooms, floor, size, price, balcony or terrace. The list and the building highlight the same results.
- Interactive floor plan. The plan for that home, with dimensions and a PDF download. A 3D apartment viewer or interior visualisation is an optional upgrade.
- Lead capture. A form or callback request pre-filled with the unit ID, sent to the sales team's CRM.
The data flow
The visual layer should never hold prices or statuses itself. Each clickable shape carries only a unit ID; everything else is looked up from one table.
A minimal unit record looks like this:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| unit_id | B-4-07 |
| floor | 4 |
| rooms | 3 |
| area_m2 | 74.6 |
| outdoor_m2 | 9.2 (balcony) |
| price | 289,000 |
| status | available / reserved / sold |
| plan_url | /plans/B-4-07.pdf |
Values are illustrative; the point is the structure. Maverick Frame's roadmap notes that when prices and statuses sit in one table or CRM, changes appear on the website and sales screen within minutes, with no new PDF. Agents update status; the studio only touches the model when the design changes.
Four ways to build an apartment selector
| Option | What you get | Typical timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress plugin | SVG shapes drawn over a render, unit popups, statuses | Days | Small projects, tight budgets |
| Specialist SaaS / module | 360° spinner, filters, comparison, PDF exposés, embed code | ~4 weeks | 20+ units, fast launch |
| Custom 2.5D | Your own design, render + SVG layer, CRM sync | 4–8 weeks | Brand-led projects |
| Custom real-time 3D | Live building model, day/dusk, camera moves, highlights | 8+ weeks | Flagship and off-plan launches |
The specialist timeline is the vendor's own; the others are our planning estimates and assume renders or a model already exist.
Plugin. The Interactive Real Estate plugin for WordPress lets you upload a building render, draw clickable shapes over units and show price, area, rooms and status. Its free tier covers one project and up to 25 flats; lead capture forms and filterable lists sit in its paid Gold tier.
Specialist module. Render Vision offers a browser-based viewer with a facade selector, colour-coded availability, filters, side-by-side comparison and per-unit PDF exposés, and says a standard project takes about four weeks, built from 140 high-resolution renders for the spinner.
Custom 2.5D. Pre-rendered views with an SVG or canvas hit layer, designed as part of your site rather than embedded in it. You control the look, the motion and the interactive website design around it.
Custom real-time 3D. The building is a live model: rotate it, switch from day to dusk, light up only the homes that match a filter. We go deep on this in 3D real estate websites.
What an interactive apartment selector costs
There is no honest single number, but the inputs are predictable:
- Visual assets. Maverick Frame lists 2026 ranges, drawn from its own rate card and inbox rather than a survey, of $250–600 per exterior still and $1,500–4,000 for a package of 5–8 views at studio level, and $3,000–8,000 per minute of animation (PDF). A 360° spinner needs many renders, so it costs more than a single facade view.
- Build. Utsubo's 2026 guide puts custom 3D/WebGL at +$15K–80K on top of a website, depending on scope.
- Integrations. A CRM or price-list connection, languages and currencies add scope.
- Running costs. Hosting, plugin or SaaS licences, and someone keeping statuses current.
A plugin costs mainly your time; a custom real-time 3D selector is a design and engineering project. Ask us for a scoped quote once you know your unit count and launch date.
What we would insist on, whatever you build
- Mobile first. Tap targets big enough for thumbs, and a list view that works without the building.
- Crawlable units. Each home or home type should also exist as plain HTML for search and accessibility.
- Status colours plus labels. Never colour alone; add "Available", "Reserved", "Sold" text.
- Pre-filled enquiries. Pass unit ID, rooms and price into the form and the CRM.
- The selector serves the site. It is one part of a complete real estate development website, not a replacement for floor plans, location and progress pages.
