Marketing visuals for off-plan projects in Saudi Arabia: a guide for Wafi launches

An off-plan launch is sold almost entirely on visuals. The exterior render on the hoarding, the lobby view in the brochure, the floor plan a family studies at home and the film on the sales centre screen all describe a building that does not exist yet. In Saudi Arabia, off-plan sales also sit inside a licensing framework run by the Real Estate General Authority (REGA) through the Wafi platform.

This guide does two things. First, it sets out what official REGA sources say that touches marketing, with a link to each one, and is clear about what they do not tell you. Second, it gives our own advice, as a visualisation studio, on producing renders, brochures and floor plans that stay consistent with each other and with the sales contract. The first part is a summary of public sources, not legal advice. The second part is practice, not law.

What the official sources say about off-plan marketing

These are the points we could check on REGA’s own website. Read the full text through the links, because the exact wording matters and the rules can change.

• No advertising before the project is licensed. The Law of Selling and Leasing Off-Plan Real Estate Projects says, in Article 3, that a developer must be registered in the Registry of Developers, and that off-plan projects may not be advertised in local or foreign media, nor exhibitions held to promote them, unless the project is licensed by the competent authority.
• A marketing licence can come before the project licence. The Implementing Regulations say, in Article 8, that a developer may apply for a real estate project marketing licence before the off-plan project licence, and that the application includes architectural designs and engineering layouts.
• Buyers receive the actual plans. Article 14 of the same regulations says the developer shall provide the buyer or tenant with all actual plans and drawings of the unit, and implement the project according to the specifications agreed in the contracts.
• Brokers follow the brokerage rules too. Article 9 of the regulations says a real estate broker marketing an off-plan project must follow the Real Estate Brokerage Law. The Implementing Regulations of the Real Estate Brokerage Law require brokers and real estate service providers to obtain a Real Estate Advertisement Licence for each advertisement, and their violations table lists leaving out the name or licence number of the licensed person in a property advertisement.
• Wafi is where licensing happens. REGA’s Wafi off-plan sales and lease page describes the platform as the place to submit qualification requests, obtain licences and use post-licensing services for off-plan projects.

What we could not confirm

We did not find an official page that tells you, for example, what wording must appear on a render, whether a licence number must be printed on every brochure page, or how the project marketing licence and the per advertisement licence apply together to one campaign. We are not going to guess.

Before any visual goes public, confirm the current requirements with REGA and the Wafi platform, and with your own legal adviser. Do it early in the project, because moving a licence block or a disclaimer on a finished brochure is cheap, while re-rendering a set because the wrong design went out is not.

Our advice: plan the visuals around the licence, not the launch party

Renders are usually needed long before anything is advertised: for the feasibility study, investor and bank meetings, the design approvals and the licence application itself. We suggest splitting the work into two clear stages.

1. Internal set. Key exterior views, a masterplan view and typical unit plans, produced from the current model for internal and licensing use. These files are marked “internal” and do not go to brokers, portals or social media.
2. Public set. Once your adviser confirms the project can be marketed, the approved views are finished for the brochure, website, hoardings, portals and WhatsApp, with the labels and licence details your adviser asks for already in place.

This keeps a sales team from posting a teaser render on Snapchat in the week before the licence arrives.

Label every view as an artist’s impression

This is our recommendation, not a quote from a regulation. Every rendered view of an unbuilt project is an artist’s impression, and it should say so on the image itself, not only in the small print at the back of the brochure. A short line such as “Artist’s impression. Final specifications as per the sales contract” travels with the image when someone forwards it on WhatsApp.

Good labelling goes beyond one line of text:

• Furniture and decor are shown as illustrative if they are not part of the delivered unit.
• Landscaping is drawn at a size it can reach in a reasonable time after handover, not at full maturity.
• Views and neighbours follow what the site plan supports. If a tower is permitted on the next plot, an open horizon is misleading.
• Future phases and amenities are marked as future in the masterplan render, with no implied opening date.

Keep renders, brochure, floor plans and contract consistent

Article 14 of the regulations is a useful reminder: the buyer receives the actual plans and drawings of the unit. If the brochure plan, the 3D floor plan and the contract plan disagree, the buyer notices, and the sales team spends its time explaining the difference.

Our advice for keeping one story across every piece:

• One model feeds everything. Stills, floor plans, the brochure and any film or tour come from the same SketchUp or Revit model, so the kitchen in the render matches the kitchen in the plan.
• Areas come from the approved drawings. Unit areas, room sizes and balcony depths in the brochure are copied from the drawings submitted for licensing, not from an early concept or a sales sheet.
• One specification sheet. Finishes shown in the renders match the specification your sales contract refers to. If the delivered kitchen has a standard worktop, the render shows that worktop, and any upgrade is shown and labelled as an option.
• The contract is checked last. Before print, someone on your side compares the brochure plans with the plans attached to the sales contract template, page by page.

If you are also producing a tour or a film, our article on 360 virtual tours for off-plan sales covers how those fit into the same kit.

Version every file when the design changes

Off-plan designs change: a unit mix is adjusted, a facade material is swapped, a floor is added after approvals. The risk is not the change itself, it is old visuals staying in circulation.

• Every file carries a version and a date in its file name, and the brochure carries a revision line on the back page.
• Keep a short change log that lists which views and plans each design change affects.
• Re-render only what changed, from the updated model, so the rest of the set stays consistent.
• Withdraw old files everywhere. Website, portals, broker folders, WhatsApp catalogues and the sales centre screen. A single shared folder with only the current set makes this much easier.
• Keep the old versions on file with their dates, in case a buyer later asks what they were shown when they reserved.

What buyers in Saudi Arabia look for in the visuals

Within those limits, the visuals still have to sell. For family homes in the Kingdom, these are the points worth getting right:

• Guest and family separation: where the majlis sits, a separate entrance, and how the family living area stays private.
• Real daylight: strong sun, deep shade and believable materials, not a soft grey sky.
• The masterplan: where the unit sits, what is built in each phase and what is planned.
• Plans they can read: a clear 3D floor plan with furniture at true scale next to the 2D plan with dimensions. Our 2D vs 3D floor plans guide compares the two.
• A brochure that works on a phone: most brochures are opened as a PDF on WhatsApp, so the layout has to read on a small screen as well as in print.

What we need from you

To quote an off-plan visual set, we ask for the SketchUp or Revit model (2024 version preferred) or CAD and PDF drawings, the materials and specification list, your brand guidelines, the unit types to cover, and where each visual will be used. It also helps to tell us which licence stage the project is at, so we can plan the internal and public sets. Large files can be shared through a Drive or WeTransfer link.

We produce the 3D stills and floor plans and can design the brochure from the same files, so the plans in print match the renders. Read more on our 3D visualisation, 3D rendering and brochure and catalogue design pages. Every project is quoted on its own scope, and revision rounds are included in every quote.

Send your drawings for a quote

If you are preparing an off-plan launch in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam or anywhere in the Kingdom, send your drawings, get a quote within 48 hours. Use the project form and tell us your unit types, your target launch and your licence stage. If you would rather see real work first, ask for a private portfolio walkthrough in the same form.