Home Designer Suite

Facile dutilisation, donne de bons résultats.

It is a good program but takes time to learn.

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.

I have been a designer for the better part of 20 years. I am versed in most major CAD based design programs and have had a successful career doing it. In order to simplify the purchase of materials for an addition we are doing, I decided to purchase this software as it is supposed to calculate needed materials. NOTHING is intuitive about this software. EVERYTHING works differently than you would expect. They dont offer any guides on this software, they are all in the Pro version. If I can explain it best, I would put it this way. In an attempt to simplify things for people that dont know what they are doing, they have tried to automate the entire process. In doing so, have taken away the ability to actually tell the software to do what you want. Roofs are a particular nightmare. When I have an existing structure, I dont want the program automatically changing things every time I click something. That building has been there for 200 years. I will try and get my money back, we will see what happens...

hoping i would be able to input the correct number in the size box...

I use this software to draw floorplans for renovation, marketing, and construction. It is the best that I have been able to find. I have bought this for three different computers. Tech support actually answers the phone and is helpful when needed.

I received the product about two weeks ago to begin designing a house. First, I have no design software experience as I only surf the internet and use Microsoft Windows /Excel/PowerPoint from time to time.

Still learning my way through it

As the other reviews say, this software is difficult to learn and use. It is more cumbersome than many other softwares, but that is not the reason for the low score. They do offer many videos and step by step guides on how to use and once you get started learning it, it starts to flow easier. You just need more experience in home building to be able to use this. The reason for the lower review is that everything I read said you can install this software on multiple computers at once, which is true. But what they dont tell you until after you buy it, is that while you can INSTALL it, you can only activate it on one computer at a time. Every time you want to use it on another computer, you have to deactivate the key and activate it on the other computer. If you want to use the software on 2 computers without deactivating, you have to have another key, which will cost you another $100. But no where in their advertising does it say this.

I have followed along with the tutorials and am now trying to build my own plans. What should be simple resizing of exterior walls makes me want to throw my computer out the window. I am doing what I learned in the tutorials, but every adjustment I make affects other walls than the one I am trying to adjust. Hopefully I can return this ridiculous program and find a more user-friendly one. This one is a mess!