Architectural illustrators play a supporting and essential role in the process of rendering designs for structures and buildings of all kinds. This skill set allows for architectural firms to maintain healthy relationships between the client and the contractor. This is essential in the long, and sometimes difficult and expensive, process required to carry a design from dream to reality. A accomplished architectural illustrator should also be aware of the wide range of techniques available to the professional.  

The way in which clients hire architectural illustrators may depend on the specific type of structure involved. Industrial and commercial clients, for instance, may deal with illustrators only through large architectural firms. People proactively involved in designing a residential building for themselves, on the other hand, may directly engage illustratrors to craft designs for them. Moreover, regardless of whether the building involved is a house, factory or storefront, people can choose between specialized illustrators or illustrator and architect partnerships.

Illustrators can allow clients to conceive of how different details will be used in a structure. For example, illustrations might render the landscape surrounding the house, industrial workplace or commercial facility. Design drafts could also lay out the details of a building's floor plan and interior. Architectural illustrators effectively create models uniting all of these different elements, most effectively with 3D software. Builders can also take advantage of illustrators by employing them to create images of homes to show to potential buyers. In short, people involved in the home or workplace construction process should never overlook the benefits potentially offered by architectural illustratos.