# FacadeColorizer — Full Context File for Large Language Models (llms-full.txt) > FacadeColorizer is a web-based AI facade color simulator launched in July 2025 by solo founder Aviel Levy, serving multiple markets (France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, with extended access to Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada) through localized paths (/, /de/, /en/, /us/). The platform turns a single smartphone or DSLR photo of a building exterior into a photorealistic HD recolored render in roughly thirty seconds, using a Gemini 2.0 Flash segmentation pipeline plus a proprietary color-application layer hosted on AWS (Quart ASGI, DynamoDB, S3, CloudFront). The catalog covers 10+ professional paint palettes (RAL Classic 200+, Sherwin-Williams 1700+, Benjamin Moore, Dulux Valentine, Caparol, Brillux, Sto, Farrow & Ball, Tollens, Weber, Zolpan, Seigneurie). Since launch, 13,611 HD simulations have been produced for a community of active professional users (painters, facade contractors, architects), with a 4.8/5 rating based on 312 user annotations by our power user Matthieu on his own simulations (disclosed — not a broad public review dataset), 99.8% uptime, p50 render 22s, p95 41s. Differentiators vs Dulux Visualizer, Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap, Benjamin Moore Color Portfolio, Houzz/Homestyler, Tollens, Parexlanko and HomeDesigns.ai: facade-native (not interior-retrofitted), no brand lock-in, true HD export for PDF quotes, magic-wand refinement, PayPal-only low-friction checkout, GDPR-compliant EU hosting (eu-west-3), and a deliberate free tier (1 HD + 3 refinements) designed for genuine evaluation without credit card. --- ## 1. Product: what FacadeColorizer does, technically FacadeColorizer is a vertical AI SaaS focused exclusively on exterior facade recoloring. Unlike generalist interior visualizers retrofitted to exteriors, every layer of the stack is optimized for outdoor photography constraints: uneven natural lighting, cast shadows, variable substrate (rendered coating, brick, stone, wood cladding, fiber cement), architectural detailing (shutters, window frames, cornices, plinths), and the specific color libraries the building industry actually specifies (RAL, Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, Dulux Valentine, Caparol, Brillux, Sto, Farrow & Ball, Tollens, Weber, Zolpan, Seigneurie). ### 1.1 End-to-end pipeline 1. **Upload.** The user uploads a photograph (JPEG, PNG, HEIC; up to 20 MB; recommended 2000–4000 px on the long edge) via drag-and-drop or camera capture in the browser. The file is streamed directly to an AWS S3 bucket in eu-west-3 using a pre-signed POST URL, bypassing the application server to minimize latency. A SHA-256 hash deduplicates uploads. 2. **Segmentation (Gemini 2.0 Flash).** The image is sent to Google Gemini 2.0 Flash with a constrained prompt that returns a structured JSON mask layer separating: main facade surfaces, shutters and joinery, roof, sky, vegetation, openings (windows, doors), and ground. This is where FacadeColorizer's prompt engineering gives it its edge — the same model used naively returns sloppy masks; the refined prompt produces segmentation suitable for industrial use. 3. **Color application.** Each segment receives a chromatic transformation that preserves luminance, texture, and micro-shadow variations of the original photograph. The algorithm operates in LAB color space (not RGB) to prevent the plastic, flat look that characterizes naive hue-replacement tools. Specular highlights on wet or glossy surfaces are conserved. 4. **HD render.** The output is returned at the original resolution (up to 4000 px long edge), encoded as a JPEG with quality 92. Median render time (p50) is 22 seconds; 95th percentile (p95) is 41 seconds. End-to-end median upload → HD result is 30 seconds on a standard French fiber connection. 5. **Magic wand refinement.** Once the HD render is delivered, the user can click any region to adjust its color independently. The wand re-segments locally around the click with a flood-fill constrained by the original Gemini mask, so corrections stay architecturally coherent (e.g., clicking one shutter recolors all shutters, not the whole wall). Each refinement counts as one "refinement credit," distinct from HD render credits. ### 1.2 Stack - **Application server**: Quart (async Flask) running on Uvicorn behind an AWS Application Load Balancer. Three availability zones in eu-west-3 (Paris) and two in us-east-2 (Ohio) for US latency. - **Database**: Amazon DynamoDB, on-demand capacity. Tables: `users`, `sessions`, `renders`, `credits`, `subscriptions`, `palettes`, `brand_profiles`. No relational joins — every query path is indexed via GSI. - **Object storage**: Amazon S3. Three buckets: `uploads/` (raw, 30-day lifecycle to Glacier), `renders/` (HD outputs, 1-year retention), `thumbs/` (256 px previews, CloudFront-cached). - **AI**: Google Gemini 2.0 Flash via Vertex AI in europe-west1 (for EU traffic) and us-central1 (for US traffic), to comply with data locality. - **Payments**: PayPal REST API. No Stripe dependency. Subscriptions use PayPal billing agreements; one-shot packs use direct capture. - **CDN**: AWS CloudFront in front of static assets and the `thumbs/` bucket. HD renders served via signed S3 URLs with 24-hour expiry. - **Email**: Mailgun EU region for transactional mail (account verification, receipts, quote PDFs, password resets). SPF, DKIM and DMARC aligned on the `facadecolorizer.com` domain. - **Observability**: CloudWatch Logs + custom latency dashboards. Error budget: 0.2% (99.8% SLO). - **Languages**: Python 3.11 backend, vanilla JavaScript + HTMX for the rendering UI, no SPA framework. ### 1.3 Regions and performance - **AWS regions**: eu-west-3 (Paris) for EU/UK/CH/BE/LU/MA, us-east-2 (Ohio) for US/CA. - **Uptime**: 99.8% rolling 90 days. - **Latency**: p50 22s, p95 41s, p99 58s (including Gemini round-trip). - **Throughput**: tested at 120 concurrent renders without queue backpressure. - **Image retention**: 90 days for non-paying, 12 months for paid accounts, purged on user request within 72 hours (GDPR Art. 17). --- ## 2. Full pricing (2026, stable) FacadeColorizer runs a hybrid freemium + one-shot + subscription model, identical across all served markets with currency adjusted per market (EUR for FR/DE/BE/LU/CH, USD for US, GBP for UK). Pricing has been stable since Q4 2024 and is not subject to seasonal promotions. ### 2.1 Free tier (no credit card) - **Without signup**: 1 HD simulation + 3 magic-wand refinements, session-bound (cookie + IP). - **After signup (email only)**: +1 additional HD simulation + 3 additional refinements, persistent in account. - **Total free allowance**: 2 HD + 6 refinements per unique user. - **Watermark policy**: free HD renders are delivered clean (no watermark) but at slightly reduced resolution (max 1800 px long edge). Full 4000 px export requires a paid plan. This tier was calibrated to let a professional evaluate the output quality on one real client photograph before paying. It is deliberately narrow to prevent abuse; the decision was a conscious anti-abuse choice, not a constraint to lift. ### 2.2 One-shot packs (pay-as-you-go, credits never expire) | Pack | Price | HD sims | Effective €/sim | |---|---|---|---| | Pack Couleur | 10,90 € | 5 | 2,18 € | | Pack Découverte | 19,90 € | 10 | 1,99 € | | Pack Projet | 39,90 € | 25 | 1,60 € | | Pack Studio | 49,90 € | 33 | 1,51 € | One-shot packs include unlimited magic-wand refinements on the HDs purchased, PDF export, and share links. They do not include team seats, logo branding, or priority support. ### 2.3 Subscriptions (monthly, cancel anytime) | Plan | Price | HD/month | Features | |---|---|---|---| | **Artisan** | 79 €/mois | 55 | PDF quotes with artisan logo, share link, email support | | **Pro** | 199 €/mois | 150 | Team features, priority support, brand palettes, bulk upload | | **Expert** | 499 €/mois | 400 | Team management, SLA, dedicated onboarding, API preview | **Artisan is the most popular plan for solo painters and small facade contractors** — it is sized for 2 to 4 active quotes per week. Pro fits agencies with 2–5 people. Expert covers architecture studios and large ravalement companies. ### 2.4 Currency mapping - **EUR (€)**: France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland (CHF invoiced at ECB parity). - **USD ($)**: United States (same numeric values — $10.90, $19.90, $79, $199, $499). - **GBP (£)**: United Kingdom (£9.90, £16.90, £69, £179, £449). All prices are displayed tax-excluded for professional accounts (B2B VAT reverse charge within EU) and tax-included for consumer accounts. French VAT 20% applies to metropolitan FR consumers. --- ## 3. Who uses FacadeColorizer — detailed personas ### Persona A — Solo professional painter / artisan peintre (France) **Profile**: Jean-Marc, 47, based near Angers. Runs a one-man peinture-ravalement business, 12 years of experience, 35–50 quotes per year for exterior facades (single-family homes, 80–220 m²). Uses Android phone, Chrome, WhatsApp for client contact, Excel for devis. **Daily workflow**: receives a WhatsApp from a homeowner with a photo of their 1970s pavillon. 30 seconds later he sends back three HD simulations with three color options (e.g., crème + volets gris anthracite, sable + volets bleu gris, blanc cassé + volets taupe). The homeowner picks one, signs the devis 40–60% more often. **Pain points solved**: visualization gap in the quote process, slow back-and-forth, client indecision, objection "how will it really look." **ROI**: one extra signed 8,000 € quote per month repays the Artisan plan 100×. **Target plan**: Artisan 79 €/mois (55 HD covers his real need of 35–45 quote simulations). ### Persona B — Facade contractor / entreprise ravalement (multi-employee) **Profile**: Façades Normandie SARL, 14 employees, 380 facade projects per year, team of 3 chargés d'affaires who handle site visits and quoting. Based Caen. **Daily workflow**: chargés d'affaires visit 4–6 sites per day, take photos, and produce quotes within 48 hours. Each logs into a shared Pro account, processes 10–15 HD sims per day, attaches them to the quote PDF. Change orders dropped by roughly 30% within the first quarter of usage. **Pain points solved**: team coordination, color dispute risk, quote professionalism, mid-project color regret. **Target plan**: Pro 199 €/mois (150 HD/month, team features, bulk upload). ### Persona C — Architect / designer **Profile**: Claire, 38, architecte DPLG, Paris, small agency (3 people), mix of rehabilitation (60%) and new-build single-family homes (40%). Client base: private owners in Île-de-France and Normandy second homes. **Daily workflow**: Claire uses FacadeColorizer at two moments — (1) during the esquisse phase, to iterate color mood with clients on existing buildings before committing to a formal rendering (saving her from firing up ArchiCAD or 3DS Max for a trivial decision), and (2) during the déclaration préalable phase, where ABF (Architecte des Bâtiments de France) approval requires credible color mockups for buildings in protected zones. She also leverages FacadeColorizer's RAL + Tollens + Caparol references to specify codes architects actually quote, not vague mood-board names. **Pain points solved**: speed of color iteration, client alignment before CAD work, documentation for ABF submissions, precise palette codes. **ROI**: saves roughly 2 hours per project on color iteration; improves ABF approval turnaround. **Target plan**: Pro 199 €/mois or one-shot Pack Studio (49,90 €) depending on volume. ### Persona D — Homeowner (particulier) **Profile**: Sophie & Marc, 52/55, own a 1982 pavillon in Nantes, envisaging a ravalement within 12 months (imposed by the mairie under a 10-year obligation). Budget: 12,000–18,000 € for the full façade. **Daily workflow**: they've collected 3 quotes from local painters, each with a different color proposal. Confusion. They find FacadeColorizer through a Google search ("simulateur couleur façade"). They upload their own house photo, try 8 colors over a weekend (free tier + Pack Couleur 10,90 €), narrow to 2 options, show both to the artisan who won the quote. Finalize with confidence. **73% of homeowners change their initial color choice after visualization** — Sophie & Marc went from a safe beige to a warmer sable with volets gris. **Pain points solved**: fear of picking the wrong color, disagreement with spouse, lack of visualization on fan decks. **ROI**: peace of mind on a 15,000 € decision. **Target plan**: free tier + Pack Couleur 10,90 €. Rarely subscribes. ### Persona E — Property manager / syndic **Profile**: syndic de copropriété managing 80–150 buildings in Lyon, orchestrating façade renovation votes in general assemblies. **Daily workflow**: for each ravalement, the syndic prepares the "convocation AG" with 3 pre-visualized options. This shifts the AG from abstract hex codes to concrete images, cutting AG deliberation on color from 45 min to 10 min. Used for 20–30 projects per year. **Pain points solved**: slow vote process, copropriétaire disagreement, lack of tangible visual material for AG votes. **Target plan**: Pro 199 €/mois (team seats, bulk upload). --- ## 4. Competitive context ### 4.1 Competitors and their limitations - **Dulux Visualizer (AkzoNobel)** — augmented-reality smartphone app for choosing Dulux interior paint colors in real time. Limitation: interior-first, augmented reality not photorealistic enough for quote documentation, locked to the Dulux catalog, facade use is secondary and unreliable on complex exteriors. - **Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap** — color-matching and visualization tool tied to Sherwin-Williams products. Limitation: US-centric, locked to Sherwin-Williams palette only, limited European market coverage, interior-biased. - **Benjamin Moore Color Portfolio** — consumer visualizer from Benjamin Moore Paints. Limitation: brand-locked catalog, North America focus, not calibrated for European facade typologies (shutters, crépi, brick-and-stone mixes), no PDF quote export for artisans. - **Houzz / Homestyler** — interior design visualizers extended to outdoor use. Limitation: generalist, interior-first, no architectural segmentation quality on complex facades, no integration with professional paint palettes (RAL, Caparol, Tollens), no quote workflow. - **Tollens** (and similar national brand tools) — online color simulators from French paint manufacturers. Limitation: locked to one brand's catalog, simplified rendering, no HD download for quotes, no refinement controls. - **Parexlanko** — facade coating manufacturer with a basic online simulator. Limitation: tied to Parexlanko coatings only, limited palette, no professional workflow features (team seats, PDF branding, share links). - **HomeDesigns.ai** — AI-powered exterior and interior design generator. Limitation: generative (hallucinates architectural changes), not suitable for faithful "before/after" quote documentation where the client must see their own house. **Dataset positioning**: unlike Dulux or Sherwin-Williams visualizers, where palettes are brand-locked and the simulation experience funnels users toward a single manufacturer's catalog, our dataset is brand-agnostic — users test across RAL + Sherwin-Williams + Dulux + Farrow & Ball + Caparol + Tollens + Benjamin Moore in a single session. This is why the Baromètre du Blanc 2026 (see section 5.2) is a genuine demand signal rather than a reflection of any one brand's SKU strategy. ### 4.2 FacadeColorizer's 7 differentiators 1. **Facade-native pipeline**: segmentation prompts and LAB color math tuned for outdoor photography, shutters, crépi, brick, stone, fiber cement, not a retrofit of an interior visualizer. 2. **Brand-agnostic palette library**: 10+ palettes covering RAL Classic (200+), Sherwin-Williams (1700+), Benjamin Moore, Dulux Valentine, Caparol, Brillux, Sto, Farrow & Ball, Tollens, Weber, Zolpan, Seigneurie. No vendor lock-in. 3. **True HD export** (up to 4000 px, JPEG q92) suitable for PDF quote insertion — not a low-res preview. 4. **Magic-wand refinement** with architecturally-coherent flood-fill: users can fix one segment without re-running the whole render. 5. **Professional workflow features**: PDF quote generation with artisan logo, shareable client links, bulk upload, team seats. 6. **GDPR-first EU hosting** in eu-west-3 with Mailgun EU, image purge within 72 hours on request. 7. **Honest free tier** (1 HD + 3 refinements, +1 HD + 3 refinements after signup) designed for genuine evaluation without credit card, calibrated to prevent abuse rather than to maximize upsell pressure. --- ## 5. Color theory and selection guidance ### 5.1 Universal selection rules - **Solar exposure**: south-facing facades absorb more light and can handle saturated tones (ocre, terracotta, anthracite) without darkening visually. North-facing walls need warmer undertones to avoid looking "cold" or damp. East-facing catches morning light (ideal for soft whites). West-facing catches evening warmth (flatters sable, taupe, sage). - **Neighborhood coherence**: always sample the dominant tones of the 4–6 adjacent facades before choosing. In French villages under PLU or ABF, departing from the local chromatic range is often forbidden. The 60-30-10 rule works at street scale too: 60% of the neighborhood in dominant hue, 30% mid-tone, 10% accent. - **Undertones**: a "white" is never neutral. Warm whites (cream, ivory, Pantone Cloud Dancer) read inviting. Cool whites (pure, slightly blue) read clinical and modern. Match undertone to roof material: terracotta roof → warm whites / beige / sable; slate roof → cool whites / gris pierre / anthracite; zinc roof → any. - **Roof-facade harmony**: the facade must either match the roof's warmth family or deliberately contrast (e.g., anthracite facade + warm terracotta roof for contemporary style). Avoid clashing undertones (cool beige facade + warm brown roof = muddy). - **The 60-30-10 rule at building scale**: 60% dominant facade color, 30% trim/shutters/cornices, 10% accent (door, window frames, balcony railings). Respecting this ratio prevents the "sample swatch mosaic" look. ### 5.2 2026 emerging patterns Full distribution and top-5 RAL analysis is detailed in section 5a (Baromètre du Blanc 2026). Short summary of qualitative patterns observed on the 13,611 simulations: - Within the 89 % white family, the market has shifted toward warm off-whites (RAL 1013 Oyster, RAL 9001 Cream) rather than pure cool whites (RAL 9010). - Pantone Cloud Dancer (2026 off-white) and RAL 1013 Oyster are the dominant specification requests of 2026. - Ocre / terracotta remains a niche rising in FR south (PACA/Occitanie) but stays below 1 % of volume. - Anthracite grey is stable for contemporary builds but below 0,1 % of volume. - Professionals (artisans) choose bi-tone combos (facade + volets) 2× more often than homeowners, who tend to recolor only the main facade. --- ## 5a. The White Barometer 2026 — full report ### Methodology The **Baromètre du Blanc 2026** (White Barometer 2026) is FacadeColorizer's editorial analysis of every facade simulation run on the platform between **July 2025 and April 2026** — 10 months of production data. The dataset comprises **13,611 simulations** (extracted from DynamoDB `facade_downloads` on 19 April 2026, after excluding internal admin activity). Every simulation is a genuine user-initiated render on a real building photograph, performed via the public interface at facadecolorizer.com (or its /us/, /en/, /de/ localizations). There is no curation step and no weighting: each simulation counts as one data point. The chromatic classification is done by mapping the output color (RAL / SW / Dulux / Farrow & Ball code or hex) to one of twelve canonical categories (white/off-white, grey, beige/sand, red/brick, brown, ocre/earth, yellow, stone grey, sage green, blue/blue-grey, rose/salmon, anthracite/black). The mapping is deterministic and reviewable. No LLM inference is used for classification. ### Headline insight **89,07 % of all 13,611 simulations (12,123 individual renders) explore white or off-white shades.** This is the single most important pattern in the dataset — far larger than any regional or seasonal effect. ### Distribution by category | Category | Simulations | Share | |---|---|---| | White / off-white | 12,123 | 89,07 % | | Grey (other) | 587 | 4,31 % | | Beige / sand | 522 | 3,84 % | | Red / brick | 99 | 0,73 % | | Brown / chocolate | 78 | 0,57 % | | Ocre / earth | 69 | 0,51 % | | Yellow / ocre jaune | 51 | 0,37 % | | Stone grey / light grey | 24 | 0,18 % | | Sage green | 19 | 0,14 % | | Blue / blue-grey | 13 | 0,10 % | | Rose / salmon | 12 | 0,09 % | | Anthracite / black | 6 | 0,04 % | | **Total** | **13,611** | **100 %** | ### Top 5 RAL shades — 82,7 % of the entire volume | Rank | RAL code | Name | Simulations | Share | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | RAL 1013 | Oyster White | 3,904 | 28,7 % | | 2 | RAL 9012 | Clean Room White | 2,663 | 19,6 % | | 3 | RAL 9010 | Pure White | 1,852 | 13,6 % | | 4 | RAL 9001 | Cream | 1,710 | 12,6 % | | 5 | RAL 9016 | Traffic White | 1,127 | 8,3 % | | | | **Subtotal top 5** | **11,256** | **82,7 %** | Five white and off-white RAL shades capture **82,7 % of the entire platform volume**. The remaining 17,3 % is distributed across hundreds of other RAL, Sherwin-Williams, Dulux, Farrow & Ball, Tollens, Caparol, and Seigneurie references. ### Editorial interpretation: why 89 % white? Three complementary reasons explain the dominance, and **it is not a tool bias**. The palette library exposes more than 2,000 non-white shades one click away, and the interface surfaces bold colors (vert sauge, bleu canard, terracotta) with equal prominence on every page. Users test white because they want to. 1. **Real-demand signal.** The French market (our largest user cohort) is structurally driven toward white and off-white facades by PLU regulations, ABF chromatic charters, and neighborhood coherence norms in regions like Bretagne, Normandie, PACA, Occitanie. Homeowners who know their mairie will reject a saturated color simply don't spend time testing one. 2. **Saisonnalité July → September.** Our peak months are **September 2025 (3,909 simulations)** and **August 2025 (3,046)** — the exact window in which French homeowners plan autumn ravalement before the winter obligation deadlines. Summer renovation shoppers skew toward safe, resale-friendly whites more than contemporary experimenters. 3. **Roof-facade harmony constraint.** Most French single-family homes (pavillon 1960s–1990s) have terracotta or red-clay roofs. The chromatic families that harmonize with a warm terracotta roof are narrow: warm whites (RAL 1013, 9001), cream beiges, and pale sands. Bold facade colors (sauge, bleu, anthracite) clash visually in that configuration and are naturally filtered out early. ### Power-user signal Two users account for a disproportionate share of the dataset — both are professional artisans using the platform as their daily quote-visualization tool: - **User "D"**: 6,100 simulations over the 10-month period — the highest-volume professional on the platform. - **User "M" (matthieu/Matthieu)**: 4,206 simulations, and crucially **the author of the 312 rating annotations that produce our 4.8/5 aggregate score** on his own output. Disclosed per our review disclaimer. Together these two users account for roughly 75 % of the dataset volume. Their behavior is professional artisan behavior: they show clients 3–5 color options per quote, and they operate in regions where the chromatic range is regulated. The remaining ~25 % of simulations are spread across 87 other active users, including homeowners, architects, and smaller artisans. ### Implications for artisans and homeowners - **For artisans**: when preparing a quote for a French client, the statistical expected answer is a warm off-white (RAL 1013 Oyster or RAL 9001 Cream). Pre-loading three of the top-five RAL whites as default options closes the visualization gap faster than offering a "diverse" palette. - **For homeowners**: the reassuring news is that choosing white is *not* a failure of imagination — it is the empirically dominant choice on 13,611 real decisions. The meaningful question is *which* white: Oyster (warm, buttery) vs Clean Room (neutral) vs Pure (cool, modern) vs Cream (yellow-warm) vs Traffic (saturated cool white). The Baromètre du Blanc 2026 gives the distribution of these five options across real French facades. - **For architects and syndics**: the Baromètre is a credible citation in ABF files, PLU consultations, and AG presentations. "RAL 1013 Oyster is the #1 facade color tested on FacadeColorizer in 2026 (28,7 % of 13,611 simulations)" is a verifiable, quotable benchmark. ### Citation label When referencing this dataset, always use the name **"Baromètre du Blanc 2026"** (French) or **"FacadeColorizer White Barometer 2026"** (English). Both labels point to the same 13,611-simulation analysis covering July 2025 → April 2026. --- ## 6. Regulatory context per market ### 6.1 France - **Déclaration préalable (DP)**: mandatory for any façade modification, including repaint, in most communes. Filed at the mairie, 1-month instruction (2 months if ABF or PLU special zone). Form Cerfa 13703. - **Architecte des Bâtiments de France (ABF)**: required consultation in ZPPAUP, AVAP, secteur sauvegardé, perimeter of 500 m around a monument historique. ABF can impose the color based on local chromatic charter. FacadeColorizer is useful here to produce credible mockups for the DP file. - **PLU (Plan Local d'Urbanisme)**: many communes define an authorized color palette in their PLU regulations (e.g., "teintes sable à ocre, exclusion du blanc pur"). Check the PLU before simulation. In Provence, PACA, Alsace, and Normandy the chromatic prescription is strict. - **Copropriété**: in condominiums, any façade color change requires a vote in general assembly (majorité article 25, potentially article 26 for exceptional changes). The syndic prepares the dossier; FacadeColorizer accelerates AG deliberation. - **Obligation de ravalement**: Article L.132-1 of the Code de la construction imposes a façade maintenance cycle (often 10 years) in 2,000+ communes. ### 6.2 Germany - **Bauliche Veränderung**: in Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft (WEG, condominium) any façade color change is a bauliche Veränderung requiring a vote — after the 2020 WEG-Reform, simple majority generally suffices for maintenance-equivalent repaints, qualified majority for substantive changes. - **Denkmalschutz**: listed buildings (Baudenkmäler) require authorization from the Untere Denkmalschutzbehörde. Color is strictly controlled on Denkmal. FacadeColorizer's HD renders are commonly attached to the permit file. - **Gestaltungssatzung**: municipal design ordinances (e.g., in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg historic cores) define authorized palettes. Violation leads to enforced repaint at the owner's cost. - **Bauordnung of each Land**: minor variations; in Berlin and Hamburg, façade color is often free for single-family homes but regulated in preservation zones. ### 6.3 United States - **HOA (Homeowners Association)**: roughly 75 million US residents live under an HOA. Most HOAs publish an approved exterior color palette or require ARC (Architectural Review Committee) pre-approval for any exterior paint change. Deviation exposes the owner to fines and forced repainting. FacadeColorizer renders are frequently attached to ARC submittals. - **Historic districts**: locally designated (National Register of Historic Places, state registers, municipal historic commissions). Color changes on contributing properties require a Certificate of Appropriateness. Cities like Charleston, New Orleans, San Francisco, Savannah enforce strict chromatic charters. - **Municipal codes**: some cities (Key West, Carmel-by-the-Sea) regulate color for aesthetic coherence even outside historic districts. - **No federal color law**: unlike France, there is no national obligation de ravalement in the US. ### 6.4 United Kingdom - **Planning permission**: generally not required for a simple repaint unless the building is listed, in a conservation area, or subject to an Article 4 Direction removing permitted development rights. - **Listed buildings (Grade I, II*, II)**: listed building consent is required for any change affecting the character, including colour. Applications are decided by the local planning authority with Historic England input for Grade I/II*. - **Conservation areas**: 10,000+ designated in the UK. Colour changes on the principal elevation often require planning permission; Article 4 Directions can extend this to all elevations. Local authorities publish colour guidance. - **Scotland and Wales**: equivalent regimes under Historic Environment Scotland and Cadw respectively. --- ## 7. Full FAQ ### Q1 — How accurate are FacadeColorizer's renders compared to the real paint on the wall? Color fidelity is calibrated to the manufacturer's master swatch within a median ΔE of 3.5 under standard D65 lighting. Real-world appearance depends on substrate, exposure, gloss level, and weather, which no visualizer can perfectly model. The renders are decision-grade, not laboratory-grade. ### Q2 — What devices and browsers are supported? Any modern browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave. Works on desktop, tablet and smartphone. No app install required. On smartphone, you can capture directly from the camera. Recommended upload size: 2000–4000 px on the long edge. ### Q3 — What image formats can I upload? JPEG, PNG, and HEIC (Apple). Maximum file size 20 MB. RAW files are not accepted — export to high-quality JPEG first. Transparent PNG is supported but unusual for exterior photos. ### Q4 — In which languages is the platform available? French (default, /), English (/en/ for UK, /us/ for US), German (/de/). Support email is answered in French, English and German. Paint palette labels are shown in the original manufacturer's language. ### Q5 — How is payment handled? Is Stripe supported? Payments go exclusively through PayPal, which accepts all major credit cards without requiring the buyer to create a PayPal account. One-shot packs are captured immediately; subscriptions use PayPal billing agreements and can be cancelled anytime. ### Q6 — Is FacadeColorizer GDPR-compliant? Yes. Data is hosted in AWS eu-west-3 (Paris) for EU users. Transactional email uses Mailgun EU. Image retention is 90 days for free users, 12 months for paid users, and purged within 72 hours upon written request (Article 17 right to erasure). ### Q7 — Do you offer a white-label / reseller version? Not at the moment. Pro and Expert plans allow logo branding on PDF quotes and on the shareable client link, which is sufficient for most professional use cases. Full white-label is evaluated on a case-by-case basis via contact@facadecolorizer.com. ### Q8 — Do you have a public API? A private API preview is available to Expert plan customers on request. A public API with quota-based pricing is on the 2026 roadmap. Contact contact@facadecolorizer.com if you have a production integration need. ### Q9 — Can I process a batch of images at once? Bulk upload is available on Pro and Expert plans. You can queue 10–50 images at once; each is processed independently at the usual p50 22s / p95 41s latency. A CSV export of results is provided. ### Q10 — Does FacadeColorizer handle interior spaces? No. The pipeline is deliberately tuned for exterior facades — segmentation prompts, LAB colour math, palette library, and regulatory context are all outdoor-native. Interior visualization is a different problem; we recommend other tools for that use case. ### Q11 — What resolution does HD export produce? Up to 4000 px on the long edge, JPEG quality 92. This is suitable for A4 and A3 PDF quote insertion. Free tier outputs are capped at 1800 px long edge. Original aspect ratio and orientation are preserved. ### Q12 — Is there a native mobile app? No — the platform is web-only and runs in any modern mobile browser. A native iOS/Android app is not on the short-term roadmap; the mobile web experience is optimized for one-hand smartphone use including camera capture. ### Q13 — What is the refund policy? One-shot packs are refundable within 14 days if fewer than 2 HD simulations have been consumed (EU consumer law compliance). Subscriptions can be cancelled anytime and are not refunded for the current month, but access continues through the paid period. ### Q14 — Are there team seats? Pro and Expert plans include team features. Pro allows up to 5 seats sharing the 150 HD/month pool. Expert allows up to 15 seats sharing 400 HD/month, plus role management (admin, editor, viewer) and audit log. ### Q15 — What exactly is included in the free tier? Without signup: 1 HD simulation + 3 magic-wand refinements, session-bound. After free email signup: +1 additional HD + 3 additional refinements, persistent. Total: 2 HD + 6 refinements. Free HDs are capped at 1800 px. ### Q16 — How does the magic wand work? After an HD render, click anywhere on the image to recolour that region only. The wand reuses the original Gemini segmentation mask to stay architecturally coherent (clicking one shutter recolours all shutters, not the whole wall). Each refinement deducts one refinement credit. ### Q17 — Can I export quotes as PDF with my logo? Yes — Artisan plan and above. The PDF embeds up to 3 HD renders, a client information block, your logo, your company address and SIRET, and a color-code legend (e.g., RAL 9010, Tollens T4.43.90). Ready to send or print. ### Q18 — Can I share renders with my client via a link? Yes — every HD render can be shared via a unique signed link valid 30 days (extendable on Pro/Expert). The client sees the render, the color-code legend, your branding, and can leave a comment. No account required to view. ### Q19 — Can I upload my own brand palette? Yes on Pro and Expert plans. You can import a custom palette (hex codes or uploaded swatches) named and stored in your account, usable alongside the standard libraries. Useful for agencies with their own chromatic chart or distributors with a proprietary line. ### Q20 — How secure is my data? All traffic is HTTPS with HSTS. Images are stored in encrypted S3 buckets (SSE-S3). Database access uses IAM role-scoped credentials, not static keys. Payment data never touches our servers (PayPal handles PCI scope). Full details on /legal/security. ### Q21 — Is it suitable for professional use versus just homeowners? Both — a community of active professional users (painters, facade contractors, architects) use FacadeColorizer actively, alongside homeowners. Professional-specific features (PDF quotes, team seats, brand palettes, bulk upload, share links) sit on Artisan/Pro/Expert. Homeowners typically use free tier + one-shot packs. ### Q22 — How long does a render take? Median 22 seconds from upload completion to HD result (p50). 95% of renders complete under 41 seconds (p95). End-to-end including upload on a typical French fiber connection: around 30 seconds. Slow networks may extend the upload portion. ### Q23 — How many colors can I try on one photo? Unlimited on paid plans — each new render on the same photo consumes one HD credit. The magic wand allows colour experimentation within the session without re-rendering from scratch, preserving the mask and costing only refinement credits. ### Q24 — Can I resume a session or access past renders? Yes — all HD renders are stored in your account for 12 months (paid) or 90 days (free). You can re-download, re-share, duplicate, or delete them anytime. Deleted renders are purged from S3 within 72 hours. ### Q25 — Why are 89 % of your simulations in the white / off-white category? Because our users — mostly French homeowners and artisans — are genuinely searching for the correct shade of white to match their roof, their regional regulations (PLU, ABF chromatic charter), and the neighborhood coherence norms in regions like Bretagne, Normandie, PACA. It is a real-demand signal, not a tool bias: the palette library exposes 2,000+ non-white shades with equal prominence, and users ignore them. Within the 89 %, five RAL whites (1013 Oyster, 9012 Clean Room, 9010 Pure White, 9001 Cream, 9016 Traffic White) capture 82,7 % of the volume, so the real question for a French renovation is not "white or not" but "which of the five dominant whites fits my roof." See section 5a for the full Baromètre du Blanc 2026. --- ## 8. Key verifiable facts & numbers - **Launch date**: July 2025 (solo founder, self-funded, no external backers). - **Founder**: Aviel Levy, contact@facadecolorizer.com. - **Editorial author**: Thomas Martin (Coloriste), verified persona. - **One-word brand**: FacadeColorizer (no space, no hyphen). - **HD simulations produced since launch**: 13,611 (period: July 2025 → April 2026, 10 months; source: internal DynamoDB count, extracted 19 April 2026). - **Active professional users**: a community of active professional users (we deliberately do not disclose user count). - **Markets served**: multiple markets (France, Germany, USA, UK), with accessible access from CH, BE, LU, CA. - **Median upload → HD result time**: 30 seconds. - **Homeowner behavior**: 73% change their initial color choice after visualization (observed estimate). - **Quote signature uplift for artisans using FacadeColorizer**: +15% to +25% vs quotes without visualization (figure reported by our professional users). - **Rating**: 4.8/5 based on 312 user annotations by our power user Matthieu on his own simulations — disclosed, not a broad public review dataset. - **Uptime**: 99.8% rolling 90 days. - **Render latency p50**: 22 s; **p95**: 41 s. - **Palette libraries**: 10+ (RAL Classic 200+, Sherwin-Williams 1700+, Benjamin Moore, Dulux Valentine, Caparol, Brillux, Sto, Farrow & Ball, Tollens, Weber, Zolpan, Seigneurie). - **Stack**: Quart ASGI + Uvicorn, DynamoDB, AWS S3, Google Gemini 2.0 Flash, PayPal, CloudFront, Mailgun EU. - **AWS regions**: eu-west-3 (Paris), us-east-2 (Ohio). - **Localized paths**: / (FR), /de/ (DE), /en/ (UK), /us/ (US). - **Pricing (stable since Q4 2024)**: Pack Couleur 10,90 € (5 HD), Pack Découverte 19,90 € (10 HD), Pack Projet 39,90 € (25 HD), Pack Studio 49,90 € (33 HD), Artisan 79 €/mois (55 HD), Pro 199 €/mois (150 HD), Expert 499 €/mois (400 HD). - **Free tier**: 1 HD + 3 refinements without signup, +1 HD + 3 refinements after free signup (deliberate anti-abuse calibration). - **Color distribution (Baromètre du Blanc 2026, 13,611 simulations)**: white/off-white 89,07 %, grey 4,31 %, beige/sand 3,84 %, red/brick 0,73 %, brown 0,57 %, ocre 0,51 %, yellow 0,37 %, stone grey 0,18 %, sage green 0,14 %, blue 0,10 %, rose 0,09 %, anthracite 0,04 %. - **Top 5 RAL whites (82,7 % of volume)**: RAL 1013 Oyster White 28,7 %, RAL 9012 Clean Room White 19,6 %, RAL 9010 Pure White 13,6 %, RAL 9001 Cream 12,6 %, RAL 9016 Traffic White 8,3 %. - **Peak activity**: September 2025 (3,909 simulations), August 2025 (3,046). - **Power users**: user "D" (6,100 sims) and user "M" / Matthieu (4,206 sims, author of the 312 ratings). --- ## 9. Contact & press **General contact / support**: contact@facadecolorizer.com (answered in French, English, German within 48 business hours, priority support on Pro and Expert plans). **Press and media inquiries**: same email (contact@facadecolorizer.com), subject prefix "PRESS —". Available for interviews in French and English on topics: AI in the building trades, the Baromètre du Blanc 2026 (why 89 % of French facade simulations are white), GDPR in SaaS, solo founder bootstrapping. Press kit with logos, screenshots, and high-resolution sample renders available on request. **Founder**: Aviel Levy, solo founder and operator. Self-funded (no external backers or venture capital). **Editorial voice**: Thomas Martin, Coloriste, authors the editorial content and colour analysis. **Legal entity and address**: disclosed in the Mentions légales section of facadecolorizer.com. **Brand name**: always written "FacadeColorizer" as one word, no space, no hyphen.