Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 9.0 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm new to architectural software. I was looking for something to visaulize a remodel of a house we're about to buy, to see how our furniture would fit, and to viualize artwork on the walls. The house I modeled is a square-ish structure with a daylight basement, dorma, two slab-based additions (screened-in porch and sun room), and a detached garage.
I initially tried [...] and paid them $75 to build the basic floorplan for me; however, once I tried to use it, it was a disater. I couldn't even figure out how to move from floor to floor in blueprint mode and the online help wasn't very good. Moreover the plans they supplied were wrong: they showed french doors instead of regular windows in the sun room. I e-mailed them about this and got no reply. ($100 wasted)
I then did some more research and downloaded a trial of Home Design Suite 9.0. I very quickly had my floorplan laid out and by the end of the day had most of our furniture installed, artwork containing my photography on the walls, and movies on the plasma tv's with scenes from my favorite movies.
The only negative thing is that I spent a couple of hours on the trial and got a lot of the floorplan completed, but couldn't enter the key I'd just purchased and save my work (the trial version cannot save, print, import, export, etc.). So I basically had to do it all over again.
The online help is great and there are a ton of online tutorial videos. I found answers to all my questions except 1 (adding driveways, sidewalks and roads) using the available online resources.
I plan to use it to remodel the kitchen, plan furniture layouts and to draw electrical plans for permits when we finally move.
There is a large tree in the yard of the house we are buying and I tried to find it in the plant library, but none of the trees in there were anything like it. Unfortunately, I know little about trees so I've no idea what species it is, but none of the pictures were anything close.
I highly recommend it. For under $100, it's a great deal.
Mark


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Home Designer Suite 9.0 is the latest release from Chief Architect, the professional software design company and the software of choice by more builders, architects and designers. Home Designer Suite leverages the same professional quality from Chief Architect making it the most powerful and easy to use home design, remodeling and landscaping software.

Design or Remodel Your Home Today! Chief Architect Home Designer Suite provides a fun and an advanced yet easy to use set of tools for Home Design, Remodeling, Interior Design, Kitchens, Baths, Decks, Landscaping and Cost Estimation.
Powerful, Fun and Easy Home Design Software
Perfect for Home Design, Remodeling and Landscaping
Choose from over 1,500 Sample Plans
Choose from built-in home style templates, create your own custom home design or use the House Wizard
Powerful building tools like automatic roof generation, dormers, stairs, framing and foundations
Visualize your new Kitchen or Bath

House Wizard and Tutorial Videos Make it Easy!
The Quick Startup Options Guide will help you begin with "How-To" tutorials based on the type of your project
Use the House Wizard for quick and easy layout of your rooms
Select from the pre-designed Home Design, Interior and Landscaping Style Templates complete with colors, cabinets, decks and more
The online help system provides detail information on all types of building projects
Includes over 30 easy "step-by-step" tutorial training videos that will quickly get you started on your next home design project

Kitchens, Baths and Custom Cabinets
Design the Kitchen of your dreams--move walls, create new cabinets, add appliances--Design your perfect workspace!
Plan the new layout of your bathroom with custom cabinets, sinks, showers and garden tubs. It's easy to visualize your ideas in 3D.
Create custom cabinets in minutes by choosing your own colors, countertops, door styles and more
Design your new kitchen or bath using the Cabinet Designer Tools
Use the Cabinet Designer tools to create unlimited cabinet styles. Choose your own colors, countertops and door styles.

Interiors and Exteriors
Design and decorating style ideas with inspirational photos by rooms
Material Painter lets you apply colors and materials quickly and easily
Choose from thousands of colors and textures or create your own materials using a digital photograph
Design for your lifestyle and personality--change colors, add lighting and choose furniture to accent your new room
Choose from a variety of interior items--including chairs, tables, sofas, fabrics, accessories and more. Resize, change colors and materials to meet your exact needs.
Smart Design Objects, Drag-and-drop from thousands of design objects in the built-in Library organized by category

Decks and Landscaping
Powerful deck and patio tools allow you to design and visualize your new deck with 3D models and can help you estimate the costs
Design single or multi-level decks complete with automatic deck framing
Quickly lay out your deck with stairs and arrange furniture
Deck foundations automatically generate to match sloped lots
Plant Encyclopedia to learn more about the plants in your designs
Choose from over 1,500 plants with the Plant Chooser
Pathways--Use the Stepping Stone tool to design curb-appealing landscaping using stone, pavers or sidewalks--line with trees, shrubs, flowers and more

3D Models and Virtual Tours
Design in 2D and 3D. 3D Views are automatic with a point-and-click of the camera tool.
Glass House View provides a full translucent view of your design
Doll House View, a 3D overview without the roof, is an effective tool for space planning of furniture placement and traffic flow
Create a Virtual Tour--draw your record line to Automatically Generate; or record your camera movements
Visualize your home with day and night views
Assemble a scale model of your design with Model Maker
Generate shadows from the sun for realistic 3D views
Point-and-click to remove wall surfaces, or use 3D Cross-Section Elevation Slider to quickly create a 3D slice of your desired view

Site Planning & Estimating
Use Automatic Build Terrain and Terrain Perimeter tools to create flat, irregular shaped or sloped lots--use a GPS to import or enter elevation data
Create plot and perimeter plans; automatically generate a 3D model of your actual terrain
Make your backyard design come alive using several easy-to-use terrain and landscaping tools. Add a pool or pond and visualize in 3D.
Fences and Driveways--With the Fencing tools you can choose a variety of fencing styles and custom gates. You will also find driveway, sidewalk and curbing tools
Hill and Valley tools make it easy to add gardens, beds and slopes that automatically appear in 3D views. Choose from landscaping style templates or create your own.
Cost Estimating--Don't be surprised by the cost of your project. Automatically generate a complete spreadsheet for your project costs, broken down by category. Calculate the amount of lumber for your deck or concrete required for that new patio.

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