For architecture offices, interior designers, and design studios, finding talented freelance rendering artists who they can rely on to meet deadlines can be a daunting challenge. There are thousands of artists out there, and vetting the ones who will fit in best with your culture, workflow, and budgetary constraints, is key to getting the most out of their efforts.

As hard as it is to find them, it might be even harder to retain them. There will be competition from other firms, other projects, and other clients who will see their value and try to pry them from your grasp. They are freelancers, so by nature they will always be looking for the next best thing to propel their career forward.

So, if you don’t want to make a habit out of finding a new freelance artist every time you need rendering help, you should learn how to keep your artists happy, paid, and under your thumb. If you value their contribution, be proactive about keeping them around.

Here are a few ways in which you can ensure your quality 3D rendering freelancers don’t jump ship and sign with someone who treats them better.

Pay Them

It might sound like a foregone conclusion, but you’d be surprised to hear how many freelancers have stories of clients simply not paying their fees. Be sure to be on time with payment, and even be open to offering extra bonuses for tight deadlines met or jobs well done. Little gestures like that contribute to continued loyalty.

Include Them

The best way to empower freelancers to do good work is to employ ownership over the work they will be providing. They aren’t simply there to click the mouse and serve your design efforts, they are a part of a team who is all contributing to the end goal of better designs. Make sure they feel like they are on this team - even if they are working from half a world away.

Inform Them

Communication is the difference between executing a design well or poorly. This goes for all aspects of the process, and can make members of your team feel like they aren’t being left out to dry. Make sure your freelance rendering artists know what’s going on with their project so they aren’t scrambling at the 11th hour just to meet the deadline they promised to hit. A design is fluid, so be sure to keep everyone up to date.

Thank Them

Such a simple thing can mean a huge amount of social equity when it comes to how a freelancer feels valued. Engage with them in a cordial manner, and they are much less likely to jump ship because of the way they are treated. Exercise proper email and telephone call etiquette, and even try to develop personal relationships with freelance artists, if appropriate. It seems trivial, but good manners go a long way.

Understand Them

Put yourself in your freelancers’ shoes for once. If you can start to understand how they work, how they think, and how they like to be treated, you can tailor your handling of them in a very specific way. These little details make all the difference when a valued and talented freelancer has to choose between doing your work or the other guys’.

Challenge Them

The best artists in the world thrive on adversity. This isn’t to say you should be throwing your freelancers work at the last minute because you didn’t budget your time. It means giving them difficult, unique, or otherwise challenging work that will push their abilities to places it hasn’t gone before. These opportunities can be hard to come by, and your freelance artists will be grateful you put them up to the task of getting it done.

Offer Them More

Once you establish an ongoing relationship with your freelance rendering artists, be sure to offer them a token of your gratitude by upping their fees without them asking. This might sound like bad business practice, but people who work behind their own computer all the time respond well to positive reinforcement. Offer them a bit more, and they will be more loyal, work harder, and produce better work for you ever their other clients.

There’s no real secret to keeping the best freelancers around. Treat them well, trust them, pay them, and they will stick around even as other clients try to pry them away.