How do I order?
What happens with the production process?
Can I add new or additional photos to the Interactive FloorPlan?
How do I make a sketch?
How should I name the pictures associated with my floor plan rooms?
How do I compress a folder containing pictures or individual pictures?
Do you have guidelines for taking photographs?
How do I add a floor plan to a brochure or other marketing material?
How do I link the Interactive FloorPlan presentation to websites?
What is the refund policy?
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Do you offer service providers that will do the sketch for me?
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Yes! We are expanding our authorized service provider network. If you are interested in having a service provider perform the floor plan services, please
email us and we will notify you when a service provider is available in your area.
If you are a service provider, we want you! Click here to register as a service provider and be a part of the FloorPlanOnline service network. Once we approve you and assign you a territory, we will add you to our authorized service provider list and discuss the next steps of building out the FloorPlanOnline service.
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How do I order?
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You order by selecting the Order button at the top of our website. If you havent previously registered, you must first register and provide detailed contact and billing information. Please note if you are an agent registering as part of a corporate account, you must have the company code and password to register. Otherwise, you can register as an individual agent or property owner.
After you register, just select the product desired. You can then upload the floor plan files and photos.
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What happens with the production process?
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Once an order is placed, we will produce a draft from your materials. We will email you once the draft is complete with instructions for review and approval. This is an online experience, so Internet access is required and frequent checking of email is a necessity. If the draft is ok, select the "Approve" button. If changes are required, make the changes using the online process and submit the changes. You will receive another email for the re-draft. Once the order has been approved, you will receive a final email and a link to the order detail page. This page will allow you to download the pictures, the floor plan and the flyer. If you requested us to link your presentation, we will do the linking at this time.
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Can I add new or additional photos to the Interactive FloorPlan?
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Yes! Simply login and find the order by clicking Manage Orders, then find the order by Order ID. You can resort your list by clicking on the column heading. To add more photos, click on the link called View under the Uploaded Files column and then click on the Upload New Files button. Follow the instructions. To reduce the upload time, we suggest first reducing the size of the photo files to 800x600 pixels each and select all photos and put them into a compressed folder. Then upload the compressed folder. See the FAQs for how to compress files. Please note at this time, we need to resize the photos you upload, so the pictures will not be immediately available for placing on the floor plan. We are working to improve this part of the file upload process by adding multiple file uploads and automatic compression of files.
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How do I make a sketch?
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The floor plan sketch is best done using a pencil and a blank sheet of paper or graph paper (faintly lined for clearer copying, such as Mead 4 Quadrille graph paper). To save time and minimize errors, please follow these tips:
- Walk and measure the perimeter of the property first. Then draw the house outline and fill in the rooms. Start with the main level. Then draw other floors.
- Name each room. Example kitchen, master bedroom, living room, family room, etc.
- Add room dimensions to the sketch using feet/inches or metric measurements for each room. Make sure the dimensions are legible and in large print.
- Include doors, windows and other features you want to highlight.
- Buy an electronic tape measure. This can speed up the overall measuring process.
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How should I name the pictures associated with my floor plan rooms?
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When you connect your digital camera or media card to your computer, the default photo imaging program should bring up a menu. The menu should allow you to name the picture group and place them in a folder. Use the following process: a) upload the photos for the listing to your computer & name the group of photos as Order ID; b) let the computer assign a picture number to each picture within the group for that listing - this should be part of the normal upload process on Windows-based computers; c) on the floor plan sketch, write down each picture number and circle it on the sketch in the approximate location each picture was taken.
After you name the pictures and once you have the floor plan sketch prepared, you upload these files into the Order Management System. Select the Login button on the home page to access this system. In emergency cases (e.g., the system is down), you may also email the materials to orders@floorplanonline.co.uk or fax to 01425 638438.
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How do I compress a folder containing pictures or individual pictures?
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In order to compress a folder with pictures, follow there steps (process if you use Windows XP):
- Open Windows Explorer (to do so, select Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->Windows Explorer). Find the folder with the photos for the order. The folder should only contain photos for one order, so create separate picture folders for each property.
- Position your mouse over the folder to be compressed, then press your right mouse button.
- After you click your right mouse button, a menu will appear - scroll down and select Send To and then select Compressed (zipped) Folder. Your computer will then compress the contents of the folder into a compressed folder with the same name as the original folder. This folder will appear on your computer as a file folder with a zipper icon to designate it as a compressed folder.
Once you have compressed the folder, you may upload the entire compressed folder by clicking on the browse button, finding the file in the appropriate folder, and selecting Ok.
Note Windows users. Windows comes with a handy tool to compress files. It is intended for emailing pictures, but it also works to reduce the file size for uploading into our system. Click Here to see a PDF file of this process.
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Do you have guidelines for taking photographs?
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We suggest the following guidelines when taking Photographs
- Always photograph the front of the house that is the lead photo
- Make sure cars are not in view and the photo angle considers the
"good" side of the home (i.e., garage doesnt dominate the photo)
- Take at least 6 to 10 still photos of major property features kitchen, living room, dining room, family/great room, master bedroom, etc., and on all levels of the property. The larger the house, the more photos you should take.
- Include shots of unique property features view, pool, garden etc.
- Use an external flash with a bounce (able to point it to the ceiling) capability, if possible. This illuminates the room with softer light and has better coverage than the built-in flashes of most digital cameras.
- Turn on all room lights in areas to be photographed makes for a warmer look
- Bright window Tip Set the exposure on your camera by first pointing the camera away from the bright window and push your shutter button down half-way, then reposition your camera back towards the window and shoot. Note you may want to use a tripod (we recommend one for most shots anyway) and try it with and without a flash. You may get different results!
- Preview room photos before leaving to ensure they are acceptable
- Dark pictures, unwanted clutter or bad composition can impact the
quality of the interactive floor plan and the success of the product
- Set your camera to correct resolution: Normal to Fine setting and minimum of 800x600 pixels to maximum of 1600x1200 pixels, or around 1 MB/photo but to upload, you will need to compress or it might take some time!
- Send us the files in JPEG format VERY IMPORTANT
Suggested equipment for photography includes:
- Digital camera - at least 3 mega pixel resolution and an external flash shoe mount
- Wide angle lens of at least 28mm wide or more, or a wide angle lens converter (such as .7x converter, but not too wideno fisheye lenses please) - this converts your digital camera lens to a wider angle view.
- Tripod - a necessity for virtual tours. Available at camera shops or major electronic stores.
- External Flash (recommended). Not all digital cameras can accept external flash attachments.
- Memory card for camera - we suggest at least 256 megs of memory
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How do I add a 360 Degree virtual tour to my Interactive FloorPlan?
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All that is needed to create a Virtual Tour or Panorama is a series of photos taken from a fixed location - we do the rest. Once you have taken the pictures, just follow the normal photo sending process. We will finalize the virtual tour by stitching the photos together and placing them on the interactive floor plan.
To create a Virtual Tour or Panorama, follow these steps:
- Mount your camera on a tripod. Use the widest lens setting (28mm or wider is recommended).
- Position the tripod in the middle of the room - a square room works best or outside shots
- Ensure that the camera and tripod are completely level and that the room is moderately well lit. Avoid generally dark rooms that also have a single bright window - the contrast is too difficult to shoot. Either provide even general lighting that compensates for sunlight streaming in, or shut out most of the sunlight in favor of photography lights or a strong, diffuse ceiling light.
- Avoid locations that will cause unwanted image or flash reflections from glass and mirrors (you and your camera should not be in view).
- Start from the left and work your way to the right, overlapping each shot with about 30% of the picture from the previous shot
- Complete the 360 degree sequence for a Virtual Tour or 180 degree sequence (more or less in some cases) for a panorama
- IMPORTANT- do not use any stitching feature on your camera and it is ok to use a flash for some or all of the photos
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How do I add a floor plan to a brochure or other marketing material?
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You can easily add a floor plan layout to a brochure or other electronic or printed document by selecting the button labeled Floor Plan on the Interactive FloorPlan presentation. Once you select this option, you will be presented with an Adobe PDF file. You can then select the Snapshot Tool within Adobe Reader to copy the selected floor plan and then paste it to a document, such as a Microsoft Word or Publisher document. Note we also have a Flyer on the Interactive FloorPlan!
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How do I link the Interactive FloorPlan presentation to websites?
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There are two ways to do the linking. First, FloorPlanOnline can do it for you! Just complete the appropriate section on the Order Form that asks for website log in information. If you would like us to link the Interactive FloorPlan for you, we can include that service at no additional cost. All we need is the website address and log-in information (user name/password) for the websites you would like linked. If not included on the Order From, just send us an email to orders@floorplanonline.co.uk with the order ID and the specific website information and request FloorPlanOnline to complete the linking. Please note if you have a corporate account, there may already be arrangements in place to do the linking to your corporate website.
Second, you can easily copy and paste the link to most websites. You may include the link to the Interactive FloorPlan on your personal websites as generally specified here. Currently, all of our links to Interactive FloorPlan look something like the link below (the ending part of the link will be different for each order):
http://uk.vifp.com/p/?Branded=1&agent=10&mls=12345678
This link will show up as a generic text link in this case "See the Floor Plan with Pictures!" If you want to change the link text, simply type in new text in the area between the quotation marks.
| MLS# |
HTML Code Fragment |
| 123456 |
<a href="http://uk.vifp.com/p/?&agent=10&mls=123456">See the Floor Plan with Pictures!</a> |
Note: If you use the HTML code, the copied code must match up exactly with what is written here. If it is not exact, the link will not work. See the Help function of your website development program on how to copy an HTML code fragment into your program.
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How does my Interactive FloorPlan get linked to Realtor.com?
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FloorPlanOnline has a special arrangement to link each Interactive FloorPlan to Realtor.com through their PicturePath program. We can do this automatically on your behalf. Just check the appropriate box on the order form and we will link it once the presentation has been approved. All that is required is the listing must be listed in your local MLS, your company must allow Realtor.com to pull the listings from the MLS into Realtor.com (not all companies allow this, check with your broker), and you must agree to the $20 linking fee Realtor.com charges FloorPlanOnlinethis is on the order form. We do the rest. The benefit of this arrangement is all Interactive FloorPlans get included as a virtual tour for search results, so they can get prioritized in terms of what a buyer can see.
REALTOR.com, is the official Web site of the National Association of REALTORS. Ranked as the No. 1 homes-for-sale site, REALTOR.com currently offers potential homebuyers more than 2.1 million REALTOR-listed homes for sale, as well as the most brokers and agents to contact. The site also provides home sellers with the Internet's largest marketplace to reach more than 5.5 million consumers per month.
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How to you calculate the Price of each product?
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We price our product based on several factors, including the square footage of the property, the type of service requested and the type of product ordered. At the time you order, you may estimate the price of each order. Click Here for the Price Calculator. Note additional fees apply for linking to Realtor.com, architecturally challenging properties and other add-ons.
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How am I billed for the floor plans I order?
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FloorPlanOnline currently uses the QuickBooks Merchant Service to process credit card payments along with a VeriSign payment gateway. QuickBooks Merchant Service is provided by Innovative Merchant Solutions LLC, an Intuit company as well as VeriSign. Please click the following links to see information on the Intuit and VeriSign security services. Users are not required to create an account with QuickBooks or VeriSign in order to pay for FloorPlanOnline Services. FloorPlanOnline accepts major credit cards including Visa, MasterCard and American Express. For corporate accounts, and as previously agreed upon by FloorPlanOnline, FloorPlanOnline will issue invoices to User on a schedule as mutually agreed upon. Payment of such invoices will be made pursuant to the terms on such invoice, generally payable upon receipt.
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What is the refund policy?
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Our policy is we do not issue refunds for work completed. You will get billed at the time a draft FloorPlan or Interactive FloorPlan has been produced. If there is an issue that needs our attention, please email us at care@floorplanonline.co.uk and we will work with you to resolve the issue quickly.
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