Home Designer Suite

I dont like giving negative reviews, but I was very disappointed in this product. I am a homeowner doing a remodel that requires submitting drawings to my HOA for review and approval. Im using a bunch of Anderson windows and Chief Architect doesnt tell you that you only have access to the Anderson window library in the premium product about 5 times more expensive. The windows in the library for this product cannot be modified to match the Anderson window profiles and have oversized frames for some types. I contacted their customer service and all they did was quote me list price for their better programs, and a rental for a level that still doesnt have access to the library that I need (Anderson). Bottom line for me: lost time and money with no usable drawings.

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!

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

A lot of reviewers had or have concerns about the steep learning curve of Home Designer software. I didnt. Yes I would have liked to see a more basic training video as the current one starts off fast. However, like all programs of this type you have to work with the various icons to see how they work. Within a couple of hours I had completed the layout of a new addition that I am considering. Was able to work with dimensions, moving walls, labeling, put on various door styles and everything that I needed. The information you need is somewhere and usually easy to understand.

I love it! But, patience is a must! You are not going to hammer out a house plan in a week, unless your a professional. Which I am not.

This was a gift for a valued friend who has used the same application on my home computer. I have used the home designer for several years and found it helpful for communicating with our architect and designer when we added a new room to our house. Its powerful enough for the average home owner. While its easy to learn the basics, it is robust enough to make it difficult to learn everything there is to know about its capabilities. Having the entire application suite delivered on a thumb drive makes it easy to give it as a gift.

When I had Windows 7, I had this and couldnt get enough of it! Fun to use and it can meet the needs of most creative minds!

I have been looking around for months for a decent program for design work for a home remodel. This program does a fairly decent job of that with some small exceptions. One thing some of the other programs I have tried out allow for locking of dimensions so you can set the length of a wall and have it keep that length when you add in other sections to build out a room. This one I have been unable to find any such feature so each time you add in something it would keep altering all the other dimensions around it to different sizes. While I can see it as a good thing to auto adjust for sizes, sometime you want a length to remain the size you set it at while you are still adding in additions. The biggest issue I have found was with the library, there are so very few options in there it makes it almost not worth it. Using the browse feature to find new libraries is super cumbersome, they are all broken out into different packages some free but most have a fee which ranges from low to high. Within those extra libraries though, you only get 5-8 objects where 1 is good and all the rest are just trash objects. These really should be modified to just get all of them for X price, or categories where you get everything for X price instead of Bathroom 1, bathroom 2, bathroom fixtures... etc. Trying to find a particular item in the catalogs is next to impossible and is either not available or buried inside something else. Then when you find the one you need, every time it is only available in the more costly version and not available in this version. Kind of poor setup for consumers since most people dont need the bells and whistles the more costly ones have because we arent architects, and if you get the cheaper version you cannot even buy the additional catalogs.

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.

More furniture and kitchens equipments would be nice