Comparisons
Static vs Dynamic QR Codes
What the redirect actually buys you, measured on real encoded codes, and which payloads are worse off for it.
16 min readQR Code for Real Estate
Codes for for-sale boards, window cards and brochures, sized for the distance somebody is actually standing at when they point a phone at them.
Board codes fail more often than any other kind, and it is nearly always the same cause. It is not the code. It is the size.
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✓ Scan-tested: this code reads back correctly.
Contrast 21:1, Strong
Version 2 · 33 modules · print at least 13.2 mm wide
A Board Is Read From the Pavement, Not From a Desk
The board artwork is approved on a screen, roughly 400mm from somebody's eyes, where a 60mm code looks generous. It is then mounted on a post and read by a person standing across a road. Readable range scales with the width of the symbol, so moving from half a metre to eight metres is not a small adjustment.
| Read from | Distance | Print the code | Module pitch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Window card, nose to the glassAn agency window at night. The one case that behaves like paper. | 0.5 m | 50 mm wide | 1.11 mm |
| For sale board at the gateStanding on the pavement, close enough to read the agent name. | 2 m | 200 mm wide | 4.44 mm |
| Board from the far pavementWhere most people actually stop, and where most boards fail. | 8 m | 800 mm wide | 17.78 mm |
| From a slow-moving carRealistically a phone-camera photograph, not a live scan. | 15 m | 1500 mm wide | 33.33 mm |
Two things fall out of this. A board code that anybody will actually use has to be a substantial element of the design rather than a corner detail, and the same file cannot serve the board and the window card. Size them separately.
Point It at the Property, Through an Address You Own
Somebody standing outside a house wants that house, so a code that lands on the agency homepage wastes the scan. But a listing URL is long, and every character is more modules in the same physical square, which is the opposite of what a board needs.
The answer to both is a short address on your own domain that redirects to the listing. It encodes smaller, so it reads from further away, and you can repoint it when the property sells instead of leaving a board that leads to a dead page. A branded short link covers how to set that up, and the dynamic code tool is the version where the redirect is managed for you.
Surviving Outdoors
- Use High error correction on anything outdoors. Rain marks, dirt and a scuff from a wing mirror all take modules out, and High rebuilds the most.
- Black on white, and no gloss laminate on a south-facing board. Glare kills more board codes than dirt does, and a matt finish costs nothing.
- Keep the quiet zone clear of the frame, the agency logo and the edge of the panel. On a board, that margin is several centimetres.
- Mount it at chest height where you can. A code at the top of a post is read at a steep angle, which shortens the effective range considerably.
- Print the address underneath in text. Somebody in a car will photograph the board rather than scan it, and the text is what they will read later.
- Test it at the real distance, outdoors, in daylight. A scan from your desk proves nothing about a board.
What This Does Not Do
- No scan counts or lead capture. Both need a redirect you control rather than a static code.
- It cannot rescue a code printed too small. Nothing can, and higher error correction makes it worse by adding modules.
- The ten-times rule is a rule of thumb, not a specification. Treat the figures as the size to start testing at, and read minimum QR code size for printing for the arm's-length version of the same arithmetic.
- For a whole portfolio of properties at once, the bulk tool takes a spreadsheet column of listing URLs and returns named files.
- Indoor signage at shorter distances, for a show home or an exhibition stand, is closer to the label sizing than to a board.
- A board outlives most campaigns, so it is worth knowing what makes a printed code stop working before you order fifty of them.
Property QR Code Questions
How big should a QR code be on a for sale board?
Far bigger than people print them. Readable range is roughly ten times the width of the code, so a scan from the far pavement at 8m needs something around 800mm across. The table on this page runs the numbers for a real listing link.
Why do QR codes on estate agent boards never work?
Almost always size. The code is designed on screen, printed at the size it looked right on the layout, and then read from across a road. The second cause is a long listing URL, which adds modules and makes the same physical square harder to read.
What should a property QR code point at?
The listing for that specific property, not the agency homepage. Somebody standing outside a house wants that house. A short address you control that redirects to the listing is smaller to print and can be repointed when the property sells.
Should the code go on the board or on the window card?
Both, sized differently. A window card is read from half a metre and can be small. A board is read from the pavement and cannot. The same file at the same size will work on one and fail on the other.
What happens to the code when the property sells?
A static code keeps pointing at the same address forever, so a sold listing is a dead end. Point it at your own short address and redirect it, then change the redirect to the next property or to your listings page when it sells.
More for getting paid and selling
Payment links and product pages, with the safety checks a printed payment code needs.
- Venmo QR codeA printable Venmo code from your profile link, with the safety checks a payment code needs.
- PayPal QR codeA printable code from your PayPal.Me link, which works in a browser rather than only inside the app.
- Amazon QR codeEncode a product, storefront or wish list, with the tracking junk priced in print millimetres.
Guides worth reading
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Offline QR Code Generators for Every Device
What each platform already ships, the measured cost of each payload type, and how to check an offline claim yourself.
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