Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 9.0 [OLD VERSION]

3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars | 57 ratings

Price:

Last update: 02-05-2025


About this item

Chief Architect Home Designer Suite is the all-in-one home design software solution for Home Design, Remodeling, Decks, Landscaping, Kitchens & Baths, Interior Design, and Cost Estimating
Create accurately scaled floor plans - change colors, countertops, cabinets, flooring styles and more for your new kitchen or bath
Thousands of items in the built-in library include furniture, fixtures, lighting, doors, windows, and more
Get detailed information on popular plants, learn which ones are best for your climate using the Hardiness Zone Map
Automatic Cost Estimation and Materials list help assign costs for materials, descriptions, quantities, unit costs, and more

Top reviews from the United States

  • B. Kaiser
    4.0 out of 5 stars *** Steep Learning Curve ***
    Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2010
    Not a bad product at all, but if you're not an Architect, it can be a slow learning process. I am a very experienced CAD operator and have many years of design (mechanical & civil) experience. I was very pleased with the 3D viewing. This version is the 'beginner' version and doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles. It does do a very nice job of laying out a floor plan and inserting doors, windows, fixtures, etc. I have watched the demo videos over and over and try to remember how to use the many features it comes with. I downloaded it (over 1 Gb) and it took forever. Order the CD and be done with it. The editing features are very nice. If you move a wall, door, window ... it updates everything right then. The stairs feature is great if you do 2-story designs. It installs landings automatically if you desire them. I haven't used all of the feature yet as I haven't learned how, but plan on doing so. It isn't that expensive to get this version, and it does a nice job IF... you know what you are doing. :)
  • CAMERON S WRIGHT
    1.0 out of 5 stars More junk
    Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2010
    Once again I spend a lot of money on junk software. Whats up with this hip roof crap? This is just like the Punch! $h!t. I can't seem to make any other knd of roof. What happened to the Serria Design program that was so simple? It worked flawlessly.
  • trimix
    2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing lack of control
    Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2011
    The way that Chief Architect Designer Suite was described, it sounded exactly right for my needs - I need to try various elements in a design, and see which would be the most effective for what I wanted to do. I have used AutoCad in the past, and didn't need to get into the detail that that software requires to prepare a drawing.
    I found the tools in Chief Architect easy to use, but I was quickly frustrated by the lack of control over simple details I wanted to include in my drawing. For example, a couple of posts at the entry supporting a small gable roof could not be rendered - perhaps there is a work around, but I kept wanting to give up and just draw the darned thing on paper. The same for drawing a simple gable roof - I had to set the wall type as a gable wall for a roof profile to work. Then i had a tough time setting the overhangs and pitch of the roof.
    The packaged textures were also a chore to use, if I wanted something specific. Plumbing fixtures were difficult to match, and I could find nothing to use as a hot tub.
    This program was a lot of unnecessary work to get a simple result. For all the tools it makes available, it actually takes more time to manipulate the software to do what you want than AutoCad does.
    To make things worse, when I tried to apply the available upgrade, my firewall reported a series of viruses and potential problems and refused to load it.

    I gave up on the Chief Architect Designer Suite. Graph paper and a scale rule are easier to use. I wouldn't recommend this product.
  • Overall
    3.0 out of 5 stars Suggesting for Victorian \ County style where low customization is required
    Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2011
    Positive:
    Easy to use existing futures, easy to create layout of house.
    Negative:
    Did not achieve my goal of creating realistic exterior previews.

    Details.
    I get this software to see how different types siding look on my house. I did not achieve my goal. Software has limited preset surface types and colors. I was unable to find how to customize it. Next I attempted to model one of the rooms in the house. I succeeded in model creation true I did not find modern 3D models for furniture, windows etc. Majority models are Victorian \ County style.
    I can do charts manually and feel sorry for my time spent using software.
  • Tech user
    5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Product with great resources
    Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2010
    I'm new to architectural software. I was looking for something to visaulize a remodel of a house we're about to buy, to see how our furniture would fit, and to viualize artwork on the walls. The house I modeled is a square-ish structure with a daylight basement, dorma, two slab-based additions (screened-in porch and sun room), and a detached garage.

    I initially tried [...] and paid them $75 to build the basic floorplan for me; however, once I tried to use it, it was a disater. I couldn't even figure out how to move from floor to floor in blueprint mode and the online help wasn't very good. Moreover the plans they supplied were wrong: they showed french doors instead of regular windows in the sun room. I e-mailed them about this and got no reply. ($100 wasted)

    I then did some more research and downloaded a trial of Home Design Suite 9.0. I very quickly had my floorplan laid out and by the end of the day had most of our furniture installed, artwork containing my photography on the walls, and movies on the plasma tv's with scenes from my favorite movies.

    The only negative thing is that I spent a couple of hours on the trial and got a lot of the floorplan completed, but couldn't enter the key I'd just purchased and save my work (the trial version cannot save, print, import, export, etc.). So I basically had to do it all over again.

    The online help is great and there are a ton of online tutorial videos. I found answers to all my questions except 1 (adding driveways, sidewalks and roads) using the available online resources.

    I plan to use it to remodel the kitchen, plan furniture layouts and to draw electrical plans for permits when we finally move.

    There is a large tree in the yard of the house we are buying and I tried to find it in the plant library, but none of the trees in there were anything like it. Unfortunately, I know little about trees so I've no idea what species it is, but none of the pictures were anything close.

    I highly recommend it. For under $100, it's a great deal.

    Mark

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