- Chief Architect Architectural Home Designer provides an advanced yet easy to use set of tools for Home Design, Remodeling, Interior Design, Kitchens, Baths, Decks, Landscaping, Site Planning and Cost Estimation
- Artistic 3D rendering techniques for Watercolor, Glass House and Technical Illustration views; 3D Design Tools and Virtual Walk Thru Tools
- Powerful automatic building and design tools like one-click automatic roofs and automatic dormers, material painter, color chooser, deck designer tools and more
- Choose from over 7,000 built-in library items or import your own for unlimited possibilities
- Over 3,200 realistic landscaping plants with plant encyclopedia data
Product Description
Architectural Home Designer 9.0 is all-in-one Home Design software and includes: Home Design, Remodeling, Decks & Landscaping, Interior Design, Site Planning & Estimating. It leverages the same professional quality from Chief Architect making it the most powerful and easy to use home design software. Quickly place and arrange walls, windows, doors, and cabinets. Choose colors, place furniture, create decks and landscaping. Powerful building tools like standard CAD… More >>
Chief Architect Architectural Home Designer 9.0
#1 by R on April 13, 2010 - 3:01 pm
The seller delievered and did what they were supposed to do. Good service. So far, the product is good. I’m still trying to maneuver my way around but there are lots of tutorials to teach you how to use the software, which is a plus
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by T. Brown on April 13, 2010 - 3:33 pm
While the product is comprehensive in its ability to create rooms and decorate them as you please, it is way complicated. The tools and menus are many and multifaceted, which is good and bad. Also, had trouble finding our new Pulte home as a standard layout. I guess it was too “low end”. This product is not for Average Joe beginners.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by J. H. on April 13, 2010 - 5:23 pm
This looks like a great product put lacks the instructual material to get started. To get any information, rather than a printed manual you have to go online and search for the information which is a pain when your are aready on the computer trying to draw something. A printed instruction manual would be very helpful in getting started for first time user!
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by D. Rowland on April 13, 2010 - 7:34 pm
This program shows great promise at first until you dig into it deeper. I bought the software primarily for its landscape capabilities but also because of the home design software. It can easily create single story homes quickly and easily but multilevel homes are much more difficult. If you plan to replicate your existing plan you will be quickly be frustrated because all homes have features which are not automated in the feature set of this version. I have a 20 year old home with lots of roof hips and cathedral ceilings which proved very difficult. I eventually gave up after many, many hours (days) because I moved on to the exterior landscape which is why I bought the software.
I was really disappointed with the landscape capabilities. Again if you’re trying to replicate your existing landscape forget it. It’s just not that flexible. Duplicating my existing landscape took days. I had to find workarounds for everything. For example you would think making a pool would be easy for a landscape program but it’s not because there are no tools for it. There is a ridiculously tedious work around detailed on the Chief Architect website but it’s a total afterthought. I also have a simple wrought iron fence around the pool that was nearly impossible to replicate. The user will also be frustrated with the plant libraries. I live in California where oak and redwood trees are common. The depiction of these species is unrecognizable. The library seems east coast centric.
One of the more frustrating problems was the software’s inability to rotate my plan 90 degrees. When I rotate the plan it rotates the first floor leaving the foundation and second floor in place. You can individually rotate these layers but they never register with each other. When I contacted tech support about this they offered to sell me a $400 upgrade to a pro version. I have experience with a less capable program from a competitor but I’m definitely no pro. If you plan on becoming more than an advanced beginner you will probably need the $500 version. I gave it three stars because I eventually succeeded replicating my existing landscape and creating a newer renovated one.
Rating: 3 / 5
#5 by Anonymous on April 13, 2010 - 8:51 pm
This software is powerful and yet relatively easy to learn.
It is designed for the rugged-individualist armature who wants to take charge of their own design project and see it first in 2-D and then instantly in full-color 3-D with just the click of a mouse.
A perfect way to plan and execute your own projects or to communicate your ideas to building professionals so as to be sure they understand exactly what you want!
The above is the same review I wrote for Home Designer Suite Version 9 and it is all true for this title as well.
What is different from Home Designer Suite is more tools and choices, thus the higher price over Suite.
The careful and demanding buyer should read, understand and compare the seven different titles offered by Chief Architect Inc. via its Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Line because they are all similar in function and use but they are all different in capability and choices.
Choice to me is everything and I’ll bet it is important to you too. They are all great but they are not created equal.
David Jefferson Potter
Austin, Texas
Rating: 5 / 5