House Design Software

[Grunt]

I'm looking for some software that will help me make 2D plans for the house I'm building that would be suitable for submission to council.

Anyone know of such a beast?

Thanks
Chris

[ausdesign]

There's a whole range of software in the market place Chris with a variety of prices and learning curves required to drive them.
I've personally only used Autodesk products over the years with AutoCad LT being the baby of the range. If you haven't used Cad before you should be reasonably competent after 2 - 3 weeks with the basic 2d packages.
Which ever way you go the programmes only draw lines or streamline the drawing process. You still have to have a thorough knowledge of architectural drafting, regulations etc to produce drawings to a level for submission to council.
If your just looking for a programme to produce a scaled layout of your ideas to pass on to someone to finalise the drawings for you then any of the under $200 software programmes will fit the bill.

[Spelunx]

I have just submitted plans to our shire for a 45 sq m deck off the second story of a our house, and what a trial that was!

I was going to employ a drafstman to do it, but the job is too small, so the price was $1500 +, as nobody wanted to do the job.

I experimented with a couple of supposedly easy to use 3d design tools, such as BH & G Home Designer Suite amongst them. The learning curve was just too long for such a simple task.

Anyway, I decided to go it alone, and draw it by hand. I bought a scale ruler, which is worth it's weight in gold, BTW, and a A3 pad of grid paper.

As stated previously, the biggest stress was not the drawing, but the structural integrity of the deck. I was dreaming about span table at night!

Personally, I think the $200-300 would be better spent elsewhere, software of that calibre might not be able to do the job you want, draftsmen use software that is worth $1500 +, and is extremely powerful and takes a long time to learn how to use, that's why you pay them so much to design the house. If it is just to get your design ideas across to the draftsman, then I reckon you can't beat the pad and pencil, there is no learning curve, and all your effort can go into the ideas, not learning how to use a piece of software.

[ozwinner]

Most councils will accept a hand drawn plan as long as it has all the relevant information on it. :2tsup:

When we did the extension on the house we are living in at the moment I drew what we wanted and took it to a supposed draughtsman, I had all the details that were needed all he had to do was pretty it up, simple.

Wrong......:~
I had to go over the "professional" plans myself and add all the stuff he didnt put on there, the bloke from the council saw it and when I explained he told me I should have saved my money and submitted the first ones I had drawn up as they are acceptable. :doh:

Draw up a rough plan and see what Sir Stinkalot can do for you. :2tsup:



Al :q

[martrix]

What about SketchUp? Its free and you can print to scale drawings in plan, elevation etc, and Isometric. Heaps of good video tutorials on the net too. I ain't reaching for a pencil and paper again.

[Grunt]

Thanks for the input. I downloaded a program called Chief Architect. It looks fantastic however, it will take months to get my head around half the things it does.

I'll PM Stinky and see what he can do for me.

[martrix]

Thanks for the input. I downloaded a program called Chief Architect. It looks fantastic however, it will take months to get my head around half the things it does.

Ive never used design software before, and I got the basics down for SketchUp in about 4 hours.:shrug: = $0

[silentC]

I use Chief Architect.

There are two problems with it - it has a huge learning curve and it's very US oriented.

However it is fantastic for drawing up a floor plan and then doing 3D walkthroughs so you can see what it will look like.

Measure up all your furniture and drop it in so you can make sure that things will fit and that it's practical.

It's even worth doing it if you're going to get someone else to do the drawings (which is what I did) because it will save you money if you already know what you want.

[Grunt]

How much did you pay for it? There is a number of versions out there.

[silentC]

I forget. I got it about 5 or 6 years ago. Not cheap...

[journeyman Mick]

Grunt,
do you want to learn how to drive a CAD program or do you just want to draw up your plans? If the formwer then I can't advise you, but for the latter, buy, borrow or make yourself a T square and buy some set squares, mechanical pencils and a scale rule and go for it. CAD is only a tool for producing drawings, but you don't yet know how to use it. In less time than it will take you to learn you can use tools that you already know how to use to produce your drawings. I've hand drawn a few plans and succesfully submitted them to council. They don't need to be pretty, just need to have all the relevant information. People have been hand drawing plans for a few hundred (or more) years quite succesfully.

Mick

[ausdesign]

I'd suggest going with the hand drawn method but have a friendly chat with the building dep't first to see what documentation they want.
The real benefit with CAD programmes is in the speeding up of repetitive drawing - i've got all window types & sizes in both plan & elevation predrawn & it's just a case of cut & paste. Same with door assemblies, baths, sinks, toilets, room labels, construction notes etc
If we do a new home design the client can come back to us years down the track & we can do redraws for extensions, decks etc quickly & at a cheaper price because we don't have to do a complete redraw.

For 3D work I use Architectural Desktop which can automatically generate elevations, sections etc from the floor plan. Probably the only thing it can't do is whistle dixy & put up with my temper tantrums but it took around 12 months [part time] fiddling to get the most out of it & around $8000 [from memory] - not something you'd waste your time on for a one off job

There's nothing wrong with submitting a hand drawn design but it will still come back to having all the correct details on the drawings to satisfy council.

[silentC]

FWIW I did my set of plans by hand. They were for a renovation. It went through a few iterations before I got the final design right. I think I've still got all the old rejects lying around somewhere. Each one represents hours of drawing. I submitted them to council and had no problems with the approval.

The thing I like about CAD (and in particular architectural packages like Chief Architect) is that you can do 'what ifs' easily. For example, SWMBO comes in and says "I wonder what it would be like if we had the kitchen on the other side and put the kid's rumpus room down the back". With Chief Architect, you just save a copy and then butcher it to your heart's content. You can always go back to the original, or use the new one.

With paper, every time you want to make a change or try something new, you have to start again.

What I did with the house we just built is I spent a few hours in front of the computer (granted I already knew how to use the package) drawing up what we wanted. I started with room 'modules', which are like boxes that you drop on the page roughly where you want them. You move them around and resize until you've got what you want, then click a button and the package turns all the modules into walls and doors. It guesses where you want doors - some were a bit odd, like in one case it put a door in the back of a wardrobe that opened into the bedroom behind. I'm sure the guests would love that.

This does all the tedious drag and draw stuff to get the walls in place. Then you can resize them and drop in windows etc. Muck about with furniture etc.

Then I sat down with SWMBO and we went through the whole thing, using the 3D camera to see what the rooms would look like with furniture etc. She wanted a few things changed, so we'd try different things. We'd sleep on it for a few days and then go back to it. Whole thing took about 4 weeks I think before we had something we were happy with.

Then we printed it out on A4 and took it to a designer. He had a look over it and suggested a few changes, made sure it would comply with the building code etc. Then he drew it up on paper (by hand) and after a couple of iterations, we submitted it.

[martrix]

The real benefit with CAD programmes is in the speeding up of repetitive drawing - i've got all window types & sizes in both plan & elevation predrawn & it's just a case of cut & paste. Same with door assemblies, baths, sinks, toilets, room labels, construction notes etc
If we do a new home design the client can come back to us years down the track & we can do redraws for extensions, decks etc quickly & at a cheaper price because we don't have to do a complete redraw.

For 3D work I use Architectural Desktop which can automatically generate elevations, sections etc from the floor plan. Probably the only thing it can't do is whistle dixy & put up with my temper tantrums but it took around 12 months [part time] fiddling to get the most out of it & around $8000 [from memory] - not something you'd waste your time on for a one off job

I know this is falling on deaf ears, but you can do all of those things with SketchUp 6.0(free version. I think the Pro 6.0 is $600+).

Grunt, at least download it and have a play. Do some research on it, as there is loads of info on it. There is also a guru on SU on the Sawmill creek WWForum if you've got any Q's.
Not going to cost a cent. (Wheres Zenwood when you need him.:rolleyes: )

[ausdesign]

It's not falling on deaf ears matrix.
But if you're in doubt repeat it a couple of more times :2tsup:

[ozwinner]

Were not deaf, we are just ignoring you.:o

Al :U

[Grunt]

Martrix, it's not just you I'm ignoring. I ignore everyone equally.

I'll have a play with Sketchup.

[Cliff Rogers]

How hard can it be to draw a dog house? :whatonearth:



:brick:

[silentC]

Quite hard if you're a dog :wink:

[ozwinner]

I think there is talk of a straw bale house, so maybe he should ask the 3 little pigs for help..

Al :U

[Cliff Rogers]

Quite hard if you're a dog :wink:
:sssh: He doesn't know that he is a dog. :shifty1:

[journeyman Mick]

I think there is talk of a straw bale house, so maybe he should ask the 3 little pigs for help..

Al :U

Breaking news:
In a shock move, the Hogg brothers have had their builder's license cancelled. There's been a lot of complaints leveled against them of substandard building practices. Building inspector Wollfe conducted some wind loading tests on their latest block of flats and there was catastrophic failure of major structural elements. The Hoggs have vowed to fight their license cancellation in a court case starting next week but Mr Wollfe, who will be appearing for the Shire of Christiananderson has been quoted as saying that his evidence is overwhelming and that he "would eat them alive" in the court room.

It is understood, from industry insider sources that since the eldest Hogg brother left the business the traditional stone construction for which they were justly famous and won many industry awards for, has been supplanted by timber stud or "stick" construction and in some cases with hay bale construction. It appears that whilst these materials are acceptable further cost cutting measures by the two remaining Hogg brothers rendered the buildings structurally unsound. Apparently these matters came to light after whistleblower Mr "Chick" Little complained to the building services authority after a section of roofing collapsed on him. He's reported as saying that it felt like the sky was falling on him.

In related news Bob the builder has been declared as mentally unfit to hold a builder's license as he believed that he could talk to,and be answered by his concrete mixer, backhoe, crane and cat. His wife, Judy has vowed that she will stand by him.

Mick

[ozwinner]

:2tsup: Good one Mick, I think you may have to branch out into kiddies stories.:o

Al :U:U:U:U:U

[journeyman Mick]

:2tsup: Good one Mick, I think you may have to branch out into kiddies stories.:o

Al :U:U:U:U:U

Watch out Daddles!
Or,on second thoughts, put your babysitter on danger money and engage a children's psychoanalyst, Mick's twisted tales for little kiddies is coming soon, to a bookshop near you.:o

Mick

[Grunt]

I find it's hard to hold tools as I have this opposable thumb issue.

There is a company in Victoria that specialises in Straw Bale houses. They're called Huff & Puff.

[Sir Stinkalot]

Chris .... when you say you are looking at submitting to council are you talking about a building permit or a planning permit?

The answer could have a bearing on if you want to do the drafting yourself. If you require a planning permit there is plenty of stuffing around dealing with ResCode and possibly planning reports depending on any planning overlays on your land.

If you are going for a building permit you still need to comply with ResCode and also the BCA. Are you looking at owner builder or getting some prices?
If its a building permit then perhaps a private building survey would be better than council as they will be more likely to guide you through the process.

As for software ..... I use ArchiCad ...... there are some basic home design packages that can be picked up for $100 or so from Hardly Normal and the likes that should be easy enough to drive.

[Grunt]

I have a planning permit to build a house that came with the block when we bought it. The house was a Harkaway kit home. We need to change the house to one of our design which will be a straw bale house.

I have booked myself on a strawbale course in May for 4 days. They provide a building survey service which I plan to use.

I plan to be the owner builder.

I've been looking at various software packages. I've downloaded demo copies a few of them and having a play to see which one I like best.

Chris

[Sir Stinkalot]

Make sure that you take plenty of happy snaps and post them on the forums. I would be very interested to follow the progress.

[ausdesign]

So Grunt this is for an application to alter the planning permit. ??

[Grunt]

Yes and get a building permit. I need to start building before March next year.

[thebuildingsurv]

Go see a draftsman, tradies will quote you more with average plans, building surveyor will charge more for permit, it will take you longer to get approvals and the dimensions on the plans should be more builda friendly. That not to say all draftys are perfect.

[ausdesign]

:seald: