OK, I know someone has some experience with an inexpensive decent CAD program for resi remodle work.
I am not a contractor, but someday I may be. Whatever I buy will be obsolete by then.
I do plan on doing some rentals and I might turn a couple of houses in the next few years.
I mostly need it for my home and family projects…and to get aquainted with CAD.
Any suggestions?
If you haven’t drawn blood today, you haven’t done anything.
Replies
Sketchup is pretty cool. It is not CAD, and I don't know about its ability to do dimensioned drawings, but it is really cool.
Regularly $500, they are selling it at a special price of $400 for a while.
Regularly $500, they are selling it at a special price of $400 for a while
Where did you find this deal?
R.
Just checked http://www.sketchup.com and could not find any mention of a $100 discount from $495 (full price) to $395 except in conjuntion with their training seminar's which are another $275. I seem to remember seeing some offers for that $100 off but don't remember where or exactly when I saw them. I already own the software so I probably wasn't watching the adds very closely. I really reccomend this software but probably not for a beginner new at house design and cad.
Jim Hannah
Engineer and Estimator for a GC
http://www.cadstd.com/
Free!
I used it for my last house - printing to acrobat distiller for scale drawings. I'd never done any CAD, only cheap homeowner design programs (which this imports) so nothing to compare to, but I was done in a week of evenings.
If you want 2d only, Autocad has a product called AutoSketch, currently version 9, I think. About $120.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I've been using Turbocad for a few years now. It was thirty bucks in a bargain bin at an electronics store. It seemed user friendly to me- the learning curve wasnt too steep. Piffin here seems to have tried out most of the cad programs available. Look back through the archives, lots of cad postings.
Are you ex-navy Bosn. Turn to!
Tom
Yes, Ex navy. I was a spook though.
I mess about with small boats now as a hobby, so I am my own boatswain's mate, er, b'sun.If you haven't drawn blood today, you haven't done anything.
I use ArchiCad 9 for all of my work. Granted at $4250 it isnt cheap but it one of the top BIM ( building information modeling ) on the market.It will let you draw in 2d and then it produces 3d renderings.I love it.