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Show the homeowner an AI rendering of their own house with different roof colors, materials and pitches
Dan Staupe, owner of Compass Exteriors, a roofing and exterior contractor in the Twin Cities metro area of Minnesota, in Roofing Contractor magazine
He uses AI rendering in client presentations to show a client how different roofs would look on their home: different colors, materials and pitches. The tool isn't named.
ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo (his rendering tool isn't named; image editing has lower limits on the free plan)
Easy · or we do it from $149/mo
Varies
The problem
A roof replacement is a huge expense, and homeowners have to choose colors and materials without seeing them on their own house.
What happened
"I cannot emphasize enough how nice it is to be able to illustrate to a client exactly what something is going to look like," he told the magazine; he says it gives clients an idea of what they're getting because a roof replacement is a huge expense. No close-rate or time figures are given. Self-reported.
Quoted in the source: Dan Staupe, owner, Compass Exteriors. Source: Roofing Contractor: A New Houzz Report Says AI Can Save Contractors $170K (Tanja Kern) (2025-07-22) · Added 2026-10-19.
How to set it up yourself
- What Compass Exteriors does: in the sales presentation it shows the homeowner AI renderings of their own house with different roof colors, materials and pitches. Its tool isn't named; the steps below use ChatGPT's image editing.
- Take a straight-on photo of the front of the house in good light, with the whole roof in the frame. Ask the homeowner first if you can use it.
- Upload it to ChatGPT with the prompt below, one option per request (for example a charcoal architectural shingle, then a standing-seam metal roof), and save each image.
- Show the images as a preview, not a promise: tell the homeowner colors on screen differ from real samples, and hand them a physical sample or the manufacturer's swatch before they sign.
Copy-paste prompt
Here is a photo of {CUSTOMER NAME}'s house. Keep everything exactly the same (walls, windows, trim, landscaping, sky, angle) and change only the roof to {ROOF OPTION, e.g. a charcoal architectural asphalt shingle / a dark bronze standing-seam metal roof}. Keep the roof's shape and pitch as they are. Make it look like a real photograph, not a drawing.The $39 Plumbing & HVAC AI Starter Kit has ready-to-use call scripts, missed-call texts, estimate follow-ups and review templates, built from 18 real, sourced setups. Instant download, 30-day refund.
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Rather not do it yourself?
We'll set this up in your tools, in your voice, tested. $149/mo with setup included (6-month minimum), or $497 pay-once. Satisfaction guarantee: we'll fix it until it works. Pay-once setups: or we refund your setup fee. $149/mo plan: cancel in the first 30 days and we refund your first month. Terms. We reply within 1 business day.
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