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Eric:
If I’ve understood you clearly, you may be asking for problems to use a CAD program to create a single project. The fact that buildings have been designed and built from drawings for the last few centuries speaks volumes for that approach. If your purpose has greater extents (perhaps you plan to “branch out”) then it could be more desirable to use a computer, but for one house, it’s probably overkill.
That said, some of the $20+ programs that you can pick up in places like Office Depot will probably allow you to do some of the things that you want. On the other hand, “…heat load calcs, electrical schematics…. ” will require a program that has a learning curve associated with it that may be steeper than you are willing to accept.
Do you have any experience in residential construction? If not, you may be well-advised to go looking for a builder or designer/architect who will work with you.
Good luck! HTH
Replies
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Eric:
If I've understood you clearly, you may be asking for problems to use a CAD program to create a single project. The fact that buildings have been designed and built from drawings for the last few centuries speaks volumes for that approach. If your purpose has greater extents (perhaps you plan to "branch out") then it could be more desirable to use a computer, but for one house, it's probably overkill.
That said, some of the $20+ programs that you can pick up in places like Office Depot will probably allow you to do some of the things that you want. On the other hand, "...heat load calcs, electrical schematics.... " will require a program that has a learning curve associated with it that may be steeper than you are willing to accept.
Do you have any experience in residential construction? If not, you may be well-advised to go looking for a builder or designer/architect who will work with you.
Good luck! HTH
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Eric
Sounds like you want to be your own General Contractor. Unless you have experience in this field, my only comment is DON'T !!! I've had too many homeowners come into my office with a set of plans that they drew up on a computer with a CAD program that would have been a nightmare to build. They thought that they could save a few bucks by doing the plans themselves.
If you want to have a quality home built are a reasonable price, I recommend that you get an architect involved now and pay him to do a set of blueprints according to your specifications or find a good home builder that design experience.
You are looking at nothing but stress, delays, scheduling, etc. if all you are trying to do is save some money.
Vince
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Eric --
If you run linux try xfig for 2D drawing.
It comes with most distributions of linux
and isn't hard to learn. Also look for
tgif in the linux world.
More powerful but probably a little harder
to learn is qcad for linux (email me if you
can't find it). Qcad is probably more
like AutoCAD than any of the others.
I've used xfig for several projects and
am looking at using qcad for my next.
Xfig, tgif and qcad are all useful and all
freeware. I don't know if any of them run
on winXX.
-- alonzo
[email protected]
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I work with architects, sub contractors, and construction managers in my daily work. I don't have much residential construction experience, but have many dollars of TI (tennant improvement) experience and design build projects. I am looking for something in a computer program to give me a foot print for the bid packages; foundation bids, framing bids, and maybe the site work. I was going to rely on the subs to pull permits for their areas, based on their drawings; this being the design portion of the design build. This is a common way I do buisness professionally, and many of the contractors I work with are used to working in this manner. I would be using the contractors with whom I work, but I would have a hard time with the conflict of interest issue.
*Try 3dHome Architect, about $17 with rebates , and if you like it , its the little brother to Chief Architect.I've heard a lot of people on these sites say that its the easiest to use and it gives them what they need.We use Chief Architect, have for about the last year. Before that we've always been on the boards, except for about a year in the mid-eighties, when we tried Autocad.
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Regardless of the level of documentation (hand drawn or CAD) nothing can supplement for experience. I am amazed at what lengths the public at large will go to avoid the one link of the design process that probably makes the long run in the building process easier.
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I am going to build a house, am computer literate and would like opinions on
CAD type programs for folks who are not professionals. I need to create a 2D
rendering of the house I am going to build for bid packages and permit work.
I will also use it for heat load calcs, electrical schematics.... I don't
think I will need this program to do truss / framing / roofing details, see
below
Related issue: I am intending to have the framing done to a set of
construction specifications (wall cross section detail...)but do the bid and
construction as 'design build' on the part of the contractor. Any comments
on this?
Eric Snow
PMH Physical Plant
[email protected]
*eric,
Joseph FuscoView Image"The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." -- Plato