Product Chooser | Home Designer

Summary

Rental Option. Pay for monthly access to software for $59/month with terms to own the license after 12 consecutive months.

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$59/mo

2D and 3D Design. Objects you place in 2D plan view are automatically created in 3D, real-time. Generate 3D views and select, modify, move, and delete objects directly in the view.

Automatic building tools for roof generation, stairs, dimensioning, foundations, framing and electrical.

Automatic and manual dimensioning. Includes One-Click™ Automatic dimensions.

Automatic and manual stairs. Draw stairs in designs and modify length, risers, treads, and style of stairs. Automatically Create L and U shaped stairs.

Automatic Roofs. Gable, hip, shed, gambrel, Dutch gable, roof returns and more. Access roof defaults for each project.

Cabinet Tools. Place base, wall and full height cabinets, partitions and shelves, and soffits and edit them to suit your design.

Material Eye-Dropper and Object Painter™. Quick "click-and-drop" application of materials and colors throughout your plan or from one object to another. Use Scoping controls to apply changes to groups of objects at once.

Included Library Items for customizing and creating designs. Fixtures, furniture, accessories, and materials to create your scenes. Add more variety by downloading Bonus and Branded catalogs from Chief Architect's 3D Library.

6,500+
8,800+
8,800+

Landscaping Terrain Tools. Define custom Terrain, including sloped lots and input elevation points. Shape the terrain with Hill and Valley tools. Cut holes in terrain for pools, window wells and other customizations.

Standard CAD tools to detail your designs.

Project Cost Estimation. Automatically generate a materials list for budgeting and planning a project.

Import and Export PDF Files. Retain print resolution and quality when printing final documents, import references for your design.

3D Viewer Export. Save designs to the Cloud and share them for using on mobile devices and websites using the Chief Architect 3D Viewer App.

Windows® 10 / 8 / 7. Mac Mojave / Catalina.

Free Online and Live Technical Support. Contact Support Technicians at Chief Architect Headquarters.

Searchable Knowledge Base Articles. Detailed, illustrated, instructional articles will guide you step-by-step through specific tasks; search on a subject or task to find help on that topic.

Online Training Tutorials with "How-To" videos.

80+ videos
100+ videos
120+ videos

Custom Wall Types. Create, copy, edit, and delete wall types with layers to match your projects.

Create Pony Walls. Adjust the height of individual Pony Walls by typing the lower wall’s height into the dialog.

Custom Backsplash Tool. Click to generate a Custom Backsplash that automatically fits around cabinets, openings, and appliances.

Dimension Elevation Views. Add measurements and dimensions to elevation views, modify location of objects in the design, and adjust locations where dimensions snap.

Deck Designer™ Tool. Design Straight and Curved Decks. Define roof and ceiling attributes for a covered deck. Control the orientation and size of deck planking, gap, width, overhang, direction, border planks.

Rendering Technique Tools. Create artistic views of your designs like Watercolor, Technical Illustration, and Vector Views.

Import / Export files in DXF and DWG file formats.

Export Only

Printable Layout Sheets. Create blueprint layouts with 3D, CAD, Cross Section / Elevation, and Plan Views. Define any scale for the drawing.

Manual Roof Tools. Create and edit any custom roof planes. Start with an automatic roof and then add custom details, or create the entire roof manually. Control framing for individual roof planes.

Manual framing tools for fully editable framing, including joists, rafters, trusses, beams, posts, and more. Create any framing system for your design.

Multiple Faced Cabinets. Use the Split Items button to add horizontal and vertical layout of doors and drawers on any cabinet. Create Entertainment Centers and Vanity cabinets with doors on one side and drawers on the other.

Fully Editable Dimensions. Define where dimensions locate walls, windows, doors, and other objects, when generating dimensions automatically or manually.

Advanced stair tools allow control of shape, starter treads, flaring, tread width, and more. Full control over curved staircases.

Master List allows you to store and manage commonly-used material prices.

Leverage the North Pointer for Sun Angles. Create Sun Angles with accurate longitude, latitude, date, and time; use North Pointer as bearing for sun angle. Easily identify Sun Angles to be used for saved cameras or to be adjusted by their date and time naming.

Design Tools

2D and 3D Design. Objects you place in 2D plan view are automatically created in 3D, real-time. Generate 3D views and select, modify, move, and delete objects directly in the view.

Space Planning Assistant. Layout out room boxes in a bubble diagram to quickly create a floor plan. Convert diagram into walls, windows, and doors to finalized and furnish the design.

Plan Check™ reviews your design against basic building principles.

Import PDF Files. Retain print resolution and quality when printing final documents by using embedded PDF files.

Backup Entire Plan. Export a bundle of all the files referenced in your plan, good for archival purposes and for sharing with other users who do not have your custom materials and images.

Reference Display Tool. Turn on a Reference of adjacent floors to aid in designing multi-tiered decks or room layout between floors.

Customize Room Names. Customize the available rooms list to suit your most common needs and regional naming conventions.

Multiple-Select Editing. For example, select all your cabinets and change them all with one command.

Object Painter™ / Eyedropper. Use eyedropper functionality to match properties from one object and apply them to another object. Use Scoping controls to apply changes to groups of objects at once by component, object, room, floor, and plan.

Automatic GFCI Outlets in Kitchens. Use the Auto Place Outlet tool to add GFCI outlets to your kitchen rooms.

Architectural Blocks. Multi-Select and group items together to create architectural blocks, like kitchen islands, that can be moved as one, stored in the library, and unblocked for editing.

Rotate and Reverse Plan. Quickly change the orientation of your design for alternate versions or to better fit the lot.

Excludes Rotate
Excludes Rotate

Multiple Plan Views. Open multiple tabbed windows of the same plan view, show different floors separately or adjust displayed layers in different tabs.

Draw Order Controls. Use the Draw Order Edit Tools to fully control the display of items in plan view in relation to each other. Move object forward and backward in a group, or move to different drawing groups altogether.

Convert Polyline Tool. Create 3D objects (countertops, slabs, terrain features, and more) from CAD objects.

Custom Watermarks. Create watermarks and display them on your work. Control location, size, angle, transparency, and include images in your watermark design.

Printable Layout Sheets. Create blueprint layouts with 3D, CAD, Cross Section / Elevation, and Plan Views. Define any scale for the drawing.

Labeled Callouts. Use callouts to reference between details, plans, and cross sections in a blueprint layout. See callout previews in specification dialog.

Store Callouts and Markers in Library.

3D Tools

3D Viewer Export. Save designs to the Cloud and share them for using on mobile devices and websites using the Chief Architect 3D Viewer App.

Export 360° Spherical Views. Rendered cameras can be shared and embedded in websites for interactive navigation. Export these Render Views and store them to the Chief Architect Cloud to share and embed in websites.

3D Navigation. Easily navigate 3D views in an intuitive way. Use the 3D Focus on Object tool and select an object to make it the camera's target, or select an object then use the Focus on Selected edit tool to make the selected object the target; use [ALT + Middle Mouse] button controls to enter Orbit mode; system returns to previous edit state when buttons are released.

Auto-Hide Exterior Walls While Navigating. Set navigation camera views to automatically hide the backs of walls that prevent seeing into a small room. Use the Hide Camera-Facing Exterior walls tools to easily navigate small rooms.

Cross Section Slider with Multiple Cutting Planes. Choose up to six cutting planes in the Cross-Section Slider view and adjust the cutting distance for each plane to create unique and detailed views.

3D Mouse Support. Use a 3Dconnexion Mouse as your input device to efficiently navigate camera views.

Rendering Controls. Set up camera angles and locations to create realistic 3D renderings with shadows, reflections, lighting, and material effects in interior and exterior scenes. Navigate scenes in real-time.

Material Eye-Dropper and Color Chooser™. Quick "click-and-drop" application of materials and colors.

Blend Color Tool. Change the Color of any material while retaining its texture, similar to applying stain to wood.

Export image files of your designs to share. (.JPG, .PNG, .BMP).

Specify Image Size. Set Pixel Resolution and Image Output measurements when exporting images.

Saved Cameras. Save, edit, and re-open 3D and Render Views to quickly see your favorite camera images. Duplicate perspective and overview cameras in the same plan, or between existing plans, to easily replicate angle, direction, and other camera attributes.

Create accurate day or night-time views of your lighting plan.

Custom Lighting. Define shadows, intensity, and more. Locate lights by label name or room location with the Adjust Lighting Dialog.

Record Walkthrough Videos Along a Specified Path. Add key frames at any point on the spline to control view direction and speed; walk up or down stairs and to span walkthrough between floors.

Rendering Technique Tools. Create artistic views of your designs like Watercolor, Technical Illustration, and Vector Views.

Physically Based Rendering. Improve the quality of your scenes where lighting, shadows, metal, and surface reflections are concerned with the Physically Based Rendering Technique (also known as PBR).

Multiple Camera Defaults. Specify default values for each camera type; control, layer assignment, active Rendering Technique, and more.

Full control of render settings allows you to customize your realistic rendering for speed or visual quality.

Export Images with Transparent Background. Export .PNG and .TIF images that treat the backdrop as transparent, making it easy to overlay the graphics on other artwork without the need for additional photo manipulation.

Opaque Glass in Camera Views. Set glass to appear as solid fill (non-transparent) in camera views. Choose to show glass as opaque or transparent by default per Render Technique, or adjust individual views.

Group Select and Edit Cameras. Select multiple cameras at one time and edit their properties, like height off floor or the Rendering Technique used.

Export .DAE 3D files. Includes texture mapping that can be leveraged with external rendering software.

STL Import and Export. Use the .STL format to use with 3D Printers.

Cost Estimating / Materials List

Project Cost Estimation. Automatically generate a materials list for budgeting and planning a project.

Specify when a room is calculated in the Living Area. For example, specify the garage or attic to be included or excluded in the living area calculation.

Deck and Framing Cut & Buy Lists. A Structural Lumber Table can be used to calculate lumber materials for a Cut & Buy List. This calculation is in addition to square feet and lineal feet calculations and can be especially helpful for your framing and decking board calculations.

Export Materials Lists to spreadsheet programs including Microsoft® Excel.

Text File Only
Text File Only

Find in Plan from the Materials List. Select items from the materials list and choose to Show in Plan to identify and locate them in your design.

Save snapshot Materials Lists for different stages of the project. Allows you to evaluate different ideas, compare cost differences, and plan stages of construction.

Add detail to each individual component in the materials list for a comprehensive cost estimate breakdown. For example, assign components to your cabinets, such as doors, pulls, and hinges and assign costs for each item. Access these attributes from the Components panel of its specification dialog.

Master List allows you to store and manage commonly-used material prices.

Dimensioning

Manual and Automatic dimensioning. Includes One-Click™ Automatic dimensions.

Auto Refresh Exterior Dimensions. Keep Auto Exterior Dimensions up-to-date as you move walls and openings in your design.

Temporary Dynamic Wall Dimension. Display temporary dimensions as walls are drawn.

Adjust Position using Dimensions. Use dimensions to quickly position objects with precision. Use simple arithmetic formulas while editing dimensions to easily move objects in a design.

Default Dimension Format & Arrows. Control the unit formatting, arrows for the default dimensions. Quickly change the look of the dimensions in your design through a single dialog.

Advanced Dimensioning Tools. Includes angular, point-to-point, and interior dimensions.

Interior Dimensions
Interior Dimensions

Fully Editable Dimensions. Define where dimensions locate walls, windows, doors, and other objects, when generating dimensions automatically or manually.

CAD / Elevations

Create Elevation, Wall Elevation, and Cross Section Views for the interior and exterior of your design.

No Cross Section
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Clip Cross-Section Views. Turn on clipping for sides and back-clipping to limit your view to relevant details for precise plan editing.

Import / Export files in DXF and DWG file formats.

Export Only

Layers can be used to separate key building components such as electrical or framing. Display or hide features of your design, set colors, lock layers, and use reference layers for precise editing.

Limited
Limited

Text Tools and Customization. Add custom text as notes and modify text in plan with attributes and treatments like font, bold, underline, caps, size, and color.

Text Style Tools. Create Text Styles and assign them per layer, per default, or per object to control the appearance of labels, dimensions and other text in your design.

Limited
Limited

Find and Replace Text in Plan. Quickly search for and replace words or strings of text used in your project for entire plan, or for just the currently selected text.

New for Selected Text
New for Selected Text
New for Selected Text

Control Over Arrowhead Style. Specify the arrowhead type used for Joist Directions, Sun Angles, Roof Labels, and Stairs and Ramps.

Standard CAD tools to detail your designs.

Advanced CAD tools to detail cross-section views with insulation, cross-boxes, blocking box, and more.

Polyline Editing. Select any polyline and choose Close Polyline to automatically connect the start and end points. Editing of filleted polylines retains fillet radius.

Advanced CAD editing tools such as replicate, line weights, point-to-point move, custom patterns, and stretch CAD.

Box and Bumpout Extension Snaps. Snap to projected 90° intersections.

Not Visual
Not Visual

Visual CAD Snaps™ feature with setup dialog and snap options to control.

Plant Schedules. Manage multiple schedules of the same type and independently control their display of labels. Schedules update when items in the plan are added to or removed from the schedule display.

Automatic Roof Labels. Display labels for roofs, skylights and holes. Label includes pitch direction arrow and the roof angle in pitch or degrees. Modify the arrow style and text style of the roof labels.

Specify labels for Light Source or “added light” objects. Uniquely name light sources in your scenes for easy recognition.

Windows / Doors / Cabinets

Cabinet Tools. Place base, wall and full height cabinets, partitions and shelves, and soffits and edit them to suit your design.

Advanced Cabinets. Attach moldings and hardware, angled front cabinets, and more.

Moldings Only

Dynamic Cabinet Face Defaults. Configure the default cabinet front to automatically update cabinets in the design that are set as “Use Default".

Design and edit Custom Countertop shapes and styles.

Custom Backsplash Tool. Click to generate a Custom Backsplash that automatically fits around cabinets, openings, and appliances.

Waterfall Counters. Automatically specify the edge of a custom counter as “Waterfall” to create a solid section from the counter’s top to the floor.

Control Cabinet Hardware. Use the Center option to adjust cabinet drawer hardware location, also specify cases where two knobs will be used.

Cabinet Hardware per Drawer. Control the hardware attached to any door or drawer on a single cabinet separately.

Frameless Cabinet Settings. Change the cabinet style in one click with the Frameless and Full Overlay options for cabinets.

Place Multiple Appliances in a Cabinet. Add an oven and a warming drawer to the same cabinet; adjust or replace the appliance type by editing it in the Cabinet Specification dialog.

Insert Items inside Cabinets. Attach custom shelves, storage, and hardware items into cabinet boxes and specify their behavior per face item.

Multiple Door and Drawer Styles per Cabinet. Assign different door or drawer styles to a single cabinet; wall cabinets with glass doors on top; drawer bases with slab and panel drawers.

Evenly Space Doors and Drawers on Cabinet Fronts. Use the Equalize Layout button on Horizontal and Vertical Layouts to space their components equally.

Rounded Countertop Corners for Automatic Countertops.

Dimension to Cabinet Toe Kicks, Moldings, Backsplashes and Countertops. Set up locate configuration for dimensions; use the automatic dimension tools in elevation views to automatically include these dimensions.

Cabinet Closed Toe Always Present. Set cabinet toekick to closed on a per-cabinet basis, regardless of the cabinet being connected or adjacent to other cabinets.

Door Defaults by Door Type. Set unique door defaults for different types of doors: hinged, pocket, bifold, sliding, barn, fixed, shower, and garage.

3D Door Display Options. Edit tools “Show Door Open in 3D” and “Show Door Closed in 3D” make it fast and easy to control the state of doors in 3D views.

Atrium Door Options. Create Center Swing Double Doors, also known as atrium patio doors.

Customize Door Glass. Independently set the top, bottom, left, and right sides for panel and glass panel doors. Create garage and entry doors with asymmetric windows. Choose to set all garage door panels to use glass.

Door and Window Frame Toggle. Choose to include or exclude frame for openings with "Has Frame" controller.

Control Trim for Interior Doors and Windows. Separately specify the materials and trim assigned to each side of an opening.

Parametric Window Tools. Create Double-Hung, Fixed, Casement, Hopper, and other windows styles and change a window's style on the fly using parametric tools.

Bay, Box, Bow Window Tools. Click and drop bay, box, and bow windows in a wall. Resize and customize the unit as a whole.

Arched Top Windows & Doors. Specify Round Top, Gothic Arch, or Broken Arch shapes to windows and doors. Adjust the amount of curvature.

Angled Top Window Controls. Adjust the angle of window tops. Apply changes to the left, right, or center of the window.

Corner Windows. Bump windows together at wall corners and choose to include or remove the corner post at the sash joint to create a glass corner.

Excludes Glass Corner
Excludes Glass Corner

Window Treatments & Interior Shutters. Adjust curtains by the height off floor and height above casing. Specify shutters on the interior of a window. Blinds fit inside casing when attached to windows.

Adjustable Louver Sizes. Louver attribute allows you to control their size in windows and doors.

Window and Door Casings Display in Plan View. Display or hide interior and exterior casings using the “Casings, Interior” and “Casings, Exterior” layers.

Lintel and Sill Control. Separately display Lintels or Sills for windows.

Automatic Frame Depth. Set window frame depth to automatically fit into wall.

Comments and Notes per Object. Use the Object Information panel to easily add and manipulate Code, Comment, Description, and Manufacturer fields through items' specification dialog.

Libraries / Catalogs

6,500+
8,800+
8,800+

Brand Specific Library Items. Downloadable catalogs can be added to your library browser to expand the selection of Brand Name objects for enhancing your designs and scenes. New catalogs offered regularly.

45,000+
46,000+
46,000+

Bonus Catalog Add-Ons. Generic furniture, materials, fixtures, hardware, and accessories, some free and others for purchase, can be downloaded and added to your library browser for more design choices. New catalogs made available monthly.

Catalog Migration. Core, Bonus, Manufacturer and User Catalogs from previous installs automatically migrate and update to latest version at install time. Use the catalog migration dialog to specify which catalogs to bring forward.

Automatic Catalog Updates. Check for updates for catalogs distributed by Chief Architect and automatically update to the latest version.

Ability to Export Custom Libraries. Share your libraries with other Home Designer Users.

Library Search Bar and Context Menus. Quickly search for Library items by keyword, object type, or style. Choose to search for items in entire catalog or in specific folders only. Customize search attributes for User Catalog content.

Find in Library. Determine whether or not a selected object exists in the library browser using an edit tool, or through the Replace from Library dialog.

Library Object Shortcuts. Create shortcut items to any object in the Library Browser to customize your organization.

Custom Materials and Images. Save custom image billboards and paintable materials in the User Library to include and reuse in your projects.

Import 3D Library objects in .3DS, .OBJ, .SKP, & .DAE formats.

Edit Parametric Items in Library Browser. Once saved into the Library, open and edit the properties of Cabinets, Windows, Doors, and other parametric items.

Patterns and Fill Styles Library. Access your favorite patterns from the Library Browser. Easily apply fills and patterns to objects and materials from their specification dialogs and through the Fill Style Painter tool.

Library Browser filtered views. Choose to show or hide entire library catalogs in the Library Browser tree.

Stairs / Ramps / Railings

Stairs and Ramps. Draw stairs or ramps in designs and modify length, risers, treads, and style of stairs. See stair preview in dialog to preview your modifications.

One-Click™ Stairs & Ramps. Auto place stairs from platform to platform. Place full length stairs with a single click. Stairs and Ramps automatically connect to the terrain when drawn from the ground to the structure.

Ramp Tool. Default Ramp is ADA compliant. Specify length, slope rise and run for non-traditional ramps such as skateboard ramps.

New! No Rise and Run Controls
No Rise and Run Controls

Refined Stair Controls. Use the Break Line edit tool and Disconnect Selected Section tool to edit and add break points to an existing stair. Use the key to select, disconnect, edit, or move an individual stair section or landing; the default move handle allows the entire group to be moved together.

Customize Stair Components. Control the number, placement, size, and materials of the stringers under a stair. Control the thickness and material of the wall trim along a stair. Specify materials for stair risers and stringers separately.

Auto L-Shaped and U-Shaped Stairs. Use the L and U stair tools to automatically drop stairs with landings into plans; stairs will orient and snap to adjacent walls. Split landings into multiple segments using dialog box controls for U-shape and L-shape stairs.

New Split Landings
New Split Landings
New Split Landings

Wrap Around Stairs. Join stairs on outside or inside corners.

Connect Stairs of Different Widths. Easily create staircases with different tread widths. Perfect for creating a stair that has exposed railing on the bottom, and is encased in walls at the top.

Stair Railings. Railings specified for stairs can be customized with different rail styles (balusters, open, middle rail, panels)and multiple rails.

Railing Tools. Assign symbol Railing Balusters, Newels, and Panels. Specify railings, balusters, and newels from the Library Browser for railing walls. Control Railing beam and top and bottom rail configurations.

Landing Tool. Create Custom Landings to auto-connect Stair sections or Ramp sections together. Choose auto adjust features for the height and thickness based on stair or ramp connection. Turn railings on or off per Landing edge.

Excludes Editing and Auto Adjust
Excludes Editing and Auto Adjust

Advanced stair tools allow control of shape, starter treads, flaring, tread width, and more. Full control over curved staircases.

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Limited

Pony Walls and Railings Follow Stairs. Create Fully Housed Stairs using a pony wall with a railing on top and set to follow the slope of the stairs.

Define Stair Starting Elevation. Specify whether stairs and ramps are located at the sub-floor or the finished floor elevation.

Building Tools

Automatic building tools for roof generation, stairs, dimensioning, foundations, framing and electrical.

Building tools to customize floors and ceilings. Control over ceiling height and vault.

Design Multiple-Story Buildings. Create structures with up to 5 floor levels in addition to an attic and basement foundation.

3 Levels

Automatic Roofs. Gable, hip, shed, gambrel, Dutch gable, roof returns and more. Access roof defaults for each project.

Gable & Hip Roof Toggle tool. Toggle the roof between these two styles using the Gable / Hip tool in 3D and 2D.

Ridge Caps automatically generate on roofs.

One-Click Auto Dormer™. Build dormer on roof automatically while cutting a hole for the ceiling.

Manual Roof Tools. Create and edit any custom roof planes. Start with an automatic roof and then add custom details, or create the entire roof manually. Control framing and pivot point for individual roof planes.

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New Pivot Controls

Automatic Structural Dormers. Build dormers automatically with walls that reach the floor.

Unblock and manually edit Automatic Dormers.

Flush End Boxed Eaves. Auto-generate boxed roof soffits that are flush at gable walls and control their materials.

Ceiling Plane tool - create custom ceilings of any slope and shape; vaulted, cathedral, and more.

Glass Wall Tool. Use the glass wall tool to quickly draw a new glass wall via the wall parent toolbar.

Custom Wall Types. Create, copy, edit, and delete wall types with layers to match your projects.

Multiple Framing Layers in Wall. Create wall types with multiple framing layers and automatically generate framing for both layers; ideal for furred basement walls.

Glass Ponywall Tool. Wall tool to quickly draw a glass wall over a solid wall, perfect for showers.

Create pony walls and edit wall shape in cross section view. Add beadboard to a kitchen, add stone to the outside of your design, or create a stepped foundation for a hillside lot.

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Limited

Pony Wall Height Controls. Adjust the height of individual Pony Walls by typing the lower wall’s height into the dialog.

Railing Over Solid Wall. Generate Pony Walls with a railing as the upper wall type.

Pony Wall Framing. Automatically generate framing of different sizes for upper and lower pony walls by specifying different wall types.

Wall Defaults. Default controls for interior and exterior walls.

Wall Labels. Specify wall labels to identify individual walls.

Molding Specification. Easily manage moldings attached to an object through the moldings panel and see a preview moldings assigned to rooms.

Control Moldings per Wall. Specify whether a wall has moldings attached separately from the other walls in an associated room.

Auto Place and Delete Corner Boards and Quoins. Automatically add or remove trim details to wall corners.

Monolithic Slab technology. Designing slab foundations is fast, easy, and accurate.

Advanced Foundation Controls. Specify foundation types by room, foundations with slab at top of Stem Wall, garage slabs with monolithic foundations, foundation piers as round or square, and other foundation customizations.

Slab Volume listed in the slab specification dialog for easy reference.

Customize construction methods for walls, floors, ceilings, and foundations. Specify wall layers, floor structure, platform height, mudsills, framing methods, and more.

Manual framing tools for fully editable framing, including joists, rafters, trusses, beams, posts, and more. Create any framing system for your design.

Multiple Framing Types. Choose from a wide selection of framing types when designing your structure; from lumber, to steel, to engineered materials like LVL, PSL, and VSL. Framing labels reflect the type of material specified.

Post & Beam Framing Tools. Specify Round or Square posts. Set the Default Material for Posts in the framing defaults.

Landscaping / Decking / Terrain

Landscaping Plants.

3,600+
3,600+
3,600+

Plant Encyclopedia & Plant Chooser™. Looks for special characteristic specific to available plants in the catalog, including common name, zone, water and light needs, and 2D or 3D available objects. Leverage Plant Hardiness Zone Maps to choose plants for your region.

Pre-Arranged Garden Beds.

Distribute Objects in Garden Beds. Auto-populate your garden beds automatically.

Plant Schedules. Generate a list of all the plants used in your design; use different schedule callout shapes as reference labels to plants in designs.

Grow Plants Slider Tool - 0 - 20 years.

Railing Tools. Custom Railing Panels, Control of Height & Railing Styles, great for custom decks.

Polygon Deck tool creates deck shapes automatically.

Auto Re-Build Deck Framing. Deck Framing updates as the deck design changes.

Treated Deck Framing. Specify Deck Framing Members as “treated” to reflect the lumber type in your materials list.

Deck Support Controls. Specify size and type of deck posts and height, width, shape of deck footings for individual deck rooms or as project defaults. Set defaults for deck posts and beams.

Import GPS Assistant. Quickly model your terrain with GPS data.

Primary and Secondary Terrain contour labels. Control the highlight for negative value contour labels.

Primary Only
Primary Only

Straight an Curved Terrain Walls, Curbs, and Retaining Walls. Straight and Curved Roads, Sidewalks, Driveway and Parking Lot Tools.

Stepping Stone Tools. Click and drop stepping stone shapes onto terrain to quickly create paths and hardscaping interest.

Water Feature Tools. Create various shaped ponds, streams, creaks, and water features, or design a lake front home.

Define Terrain Elevation Splines, Elevation Regions, and Terrain Breaks.

Elevation Regions
Elevation Regions

Display angles as Azimuth Bearings.

General / Support

Mac and PC compatible. Home Designer can be installed and run natively either on Mac or Windows operating systems with a single license.

Support for Multiple Monitors. Tabbed view windows can be torn or undocked from main user interface and moved between monitors independently.

Touch Screen Optimization. Smooth and accurate touch controls for pinch zoom, pan, rotate and other controls for Windows computers (not supported by Mac OS).

Unicode Special Character Support. User accounts and files using accented Western letters can be leveraged for most interactions in the software.

Migration Tools. Easily bring forward settings from previous versions.

Print to any Paper Size. Set up your prints and PDF to work with your favorite paper size.

Save Prints in PDF Format. Save to a PDF file for outsourcing a print job.

Loan/Mortgage Calculator.

Custom Stylized Themes. Set up Chief’s User Interface with color and style themes of your choosing. Set preferences for the look of dialogs, menus, buttons and other interface elements; import, export, and share saved themes.

Fully editable working environment including customizable toolbars.

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Customizable Toolbars

Compatible with Chief Architect® (Version X1-X12). Edit plans created using Chief Architect.

Basic Editing, Change Materials & Colors, Move Furniture
Basic Editing, Change Materials & Colors, Move Furniture