ᐅ What are your thoughts on home design software?

Created on: 4 Feb 2015 13:42
9
99vips
Hello dear forum members,

In the distant future, I am planning to build a single-family house and am already gathering information about the many aspects that need to be considered when building a house. I would like to draw some designs of my house myself, and I wanted to ask you what you think about commercial home design software, such as those from Concadus GmbH or Cadvilla?

Is it worth buying such software for around 70 euros (about $75) as a private builder to start planning and visualizing your own house, or is it a waste of money?

Of course, I understand that I can’t replace an architect with software, but you can still do the initial planning yourself, right?
M
milkie
4 Feb 2015 23:57
Pencil and paper (graph paper)
T
thisOtterBe
5 Feb 2015 05:33
For floor plan design, we use de.floorplaner.com. The tool can be learned relatively quickly through video tutorials. It features a 3D view and offers several thousand furnishing items. In my opinion, the cost-benefit ratio is quite good even for beginners.

For facade and site design, we use SketchUp, but the learning curve is not suitable for novices. For technically experienced users, the initial learning effort is at least 4 hours (tutorial series). I assume that for more professional 3D CAD software, this time investment is significantly higher, and for beginners, it likely needs to be multiplied by a single-digit factor. Personally, I would only spend €70 after being convinced that the software meets my needs, so I recommend experimenting with the free trial version for at least a few days.
sirhc8 Jul 2015 12:37
Hello,

I’m revisiting this topic because I’m looking for a suitable tool for home design. My main focus is on floor plans, but furnishing and 3D views would also be helpful.

I have already done a lot of drawing, but now I want to be able to reuse floor plans and save slightly modified versions as new drafts without having to start from scratch every time.

What do you think of "meinHausplaner"? It costs 30 EUR, and a colleague who built a house last year recommended it to me. He said it takes 2 to 3 hours to get used to it, but after that it’s very helpful. Getting used to it is fine, but I’m not looking for a professional-level tool.

What do you use here?

Thanks and regards
Y
ypg
8 Jul 2015 17:30
For PC, the VA Home Designer is the best and comparable to the earlier Arcon. Unfortunately, it is not available for Mac.
sirhc8 Jul 2015 18:52
Aren't these CAD applications professional-level tools?
9
99vips
9 Jul 2015 13:06
I have now decided to go with the 3D Architect Master by Concadus. I got along very well with the software, although it does require several hours of familiarization. In my opinion, the biggest advantage is the DXF export of the projects. This allowed me to send my self-created floor plans to our architect, who was then able to further work on them.