I am looking for information regarding architectural or design software. I have a cape style home built in 1987. The second floor is not finished and is rather dark. I would like to have dormers added to the front side of the house, finish the 2nd floor, add onto the garage (currently holds one car) enlarge and enclose the porch (skitters are a problem).
I wan’t a program that I can use to figure out how I want the place to look so when I contract the professionals (architect and contractor) they will have a good idea of what I want.
Has anyone experience with a program that they would recommend or one they would NOT recommend?
Koby
Replies
"I wan't a program that I can use to figure out how I want the place to look so when I contract the professionals (architect and contractor) they will have a good idea of what I want."
Hello Koby, I am an architect and IMHO it would be a waste of your time and money to worry about CAD for what amounts to a one-off. Take a picture, enlarge it, and trace the edge lines onto a overlay sheet; block out a shape or two for the dormers etc.
I use several CAD programs and really for what you want to do, getting the architect off to a head start, further down the road if you will, really won't amount to much, but take up a lot of your time and energy. Again IMO an hour of just speaking and listening with a person can accomplish much more, afterall, if you have some ideas getting the architect to imagine along the same lines and inspired is an easy exercise; they have no shortage of imagination, love to run with ideas, and this is what they are experienced in. Otherwise, you are just using the architect as a draftsperson.
Most architects and contractors I know don't charge for initial consultations. You can always bring pictures and books to help you express. I use this method myself.
If for some reason you just want your own home on CAD to have a digital copy, maybe for quantity take-offs or something, then call a local professional to ask them who they would recommend for a set-up drawing. They probably know someone who would be able to do this, easy enough. No hassle (with CAD) on your end but you would get a scalable drawing.
Still, if you want to go the long route, I would recommend:
1. Vectorworks; 2. ArchiCad; .... 100 (last). Autocad.
Sorry, I haven't used any of the smaller programs like ChiefArchitect, so no first hand experience.
graph paper and an architects rule work pretty good.
measure it .. draw it by hand to scale ...
photocopy that ... and go to town.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA