Home Designer Suite

I have used various iterations of Home Designer in the past and for the price it gives you quite a bit. It does take a bit of time to master, but after that you can literally design a dream house. Chief Architect has several levels. With this level you can design a house with a lot of detail, furnishings, wall coverings, etc. However, you would then hand that off to an architect to create real plans for permitting and construction. Or, you can buy the Pro version ($500) and put even more time into it and create your own plans that will probably be good enough for permitting. OR, you can go with their highest level (Chief Architect) for something like $3200 and permit / build anything. With the $129 version though, you should be able to design and see your idea. It comes with more than enough features, furnishings, wall coverings, etc. to get very close to a real vision of what you are designing. In the past I have used it to plan my interior designs in my past couple of homes, and this time I am using it to design a whole house from scratch that we will build or have built. As I progress with my design, if I decide that I will build most of it, then I will upgrade to the Pro ($500 but $400 when upgrading) version to get the extra features and details required for accurate construction plans. Even this version though will give you a cost list of all of the materials (2x4s etc) to build your design. You really dont need more than this version when you are in the initial design stage. It is loaded with functionality.

Awesome ! I bought as I read it was addictive so I figured if it was addictive is was really good. I love this thing! It takes time to get used to how to use the tools and later floors with the correct dimension info. I learned a lot of basic construction just by playing with this software. I had an issue with the 3D functions and after a few chats with the tech support I learned my computers video card needed to be upgraded. The tech sent me a link to get the right upgrade for my computer - he went above and beyond software support and it works without any flaws now. Amazed by this software. Take the time to watch the tutorial videos on line and save often as you experiment with the tools.

Great software. I used this program to remodel a family room. Im no engineer but I was able to layout an entire room and navigate through a 3D rendering in just a few hours. The program is relatively straight forward. By referring to the on-line tutorials I was able to add more specific features and personal details that brought the renderings to life. For the money, this psoftware includes a lot of powerful features. But if youre designing the transportation hub for a major city, this is not the program for you.

The program was delivered on time and was easy to install. The program lacks some features but has many other features that my former program did not.

Facile dutilisation, donne de bons résultats.

I, like others, was having difficulty getting this program to work on my HP. However, I moved it to my husbands Toshiba and it worked beautifully! So, I contacted CS and asked what the problem could be. I received an answer within 24 hours that it was probably an out of date video driver. I checked, and sure enough mine was dated 2014. AMD didnt make it easy for me to update, but I finally did, and now it works great! As far as the program goes, it works pretty well for my purposes, although the library could be a little more user friendly. Sometimes hard to find the piece youre looking for. But all in all, Im very pleased!

I purchased this product for a remodeling project that would redo a screened porch on our home. On the MacBook, some of the basic user interface operations such as panning and 3D model reorientation are cumbersome or impossible to perform. The program contains architectural jargon that is not easy to interpret by a non-professional. Schedules and layouts that are in Chief Architect appear to be missing In this version (or I have not found them yet). Some automatic operations which appear to be helpful at first become a problem when specific areas of the design are customized then return to the default values.

Great for any type of home design of any style size or shape, also you can import your own floor colors and styles as well, highly recommended for anyone who has a particular home type in mind, you can even import floorplans as well.

This is a good program for any one that is curious about building they own home. There are many options to choose from when designing any space. Not the most expensive or advanced but a good program to get your feet wet.

This product made my computer shut down, couldnt get it to work. Once I removed the software, computer is fine.