Good and inexpensive are mutually exclusive in this category of software.

I use Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Pro. The good new is that BH&G only markets the software. It is actually a Chief Architect Incorporated product, and is fully supported by them. It is a slightly watered down version of their many thousand dollar professional product.

The bad news is it costs $500, although it is discounted somewhat by Amazon and a couple of others.

They have a bunch of lower grade products for less money, but in my opinion they are pretty much a waste of time.

Take a look at the link below. Expect a steep learning curve. Any questions, please post.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Designer Web Site

What about the old way?
You take the dimensions and draw a plan to scale using a ruler and a square.
From there, the easiest way to work is using a transparent paper and trace over it all the ideas you have. You can do this step freehand, is faster.
When you are satisfied with the design, you can use again the ruler and square for the final plan.
i have seen plans drawn like that in some beautiful houses posted here in the GW.

Good luck!

I used to use graph paper myself. Went thru a lot of the stuff but then, you can buy a whole pad for just a few dollars.

But, if you really want a relatively simple to use CAD program, try Punch 5-in-1. DH gave it to me for Christmas about 6 years ago. I had never used a CAD program before so spent a couple of hours going thru the tutorials and learning how to use it. It does have some limitations but will do everything you indicate you want plus a whole lot more.

You can get a used copy from Amazon for under $20. See the link. BTW, some of the reviewers cite problems with the program that simply are not true. They reflect the viewer's lack of understanding about how to make the program do what they want it to do. Best way around that is to actually take the time to work thru all the tutorials. I warn you tho, it is easy to get hooked on the thing and then you'll be wanting to upgrade to Punch Pro.

Here is a link that might be useful: Punch 5-in-1

I strongly disagree with bevangel. I originally bought the most expensive Punch program out there at the time, Architectural Series 3000. Even though I had quite a bit of experience using CAD programs (AutoSketch, TurboCad), I found Punch software to be next to useless. It was a cobbled up bunch of garbage with a raving sales pitch that did not perform worth a hoot. It was difficult to use as well.

After that, I did some careful checking and bought Home Designer Pro. It is a real architectural design program. Punch is not. Home Designer is easy to use for an architecural CAD program. Which is to say the basic stuff is quickly picked up, while the intricate stuff takes time and skill. With Punch, it was impossible to draw the design that was on the box, which they admitted after being asked about it on one of their forums.

The forums are good way to check out these kind of programs. That's where you find out what the limitations of the programs really are. The sales pitch will never tell you.

froghopper,

OP asked about inexpensive software that would allow him to play around with floorplans. He asked for something that would allow him to do basic stuff that he could learn quickly and that would not be too expensive.

You commented on the Punch 3000 Architectural program and I have to point out that I did not and would NOT have recommended Punch 3000 to someone looking for something inexpensive and easy to learn.

I have even personally recommended against starting out with the Punch top-of-the-line products because they have way too many bells and whistles to be easy to learn. Plus, IMHO their top of the line stuff is too expensive for someone who just wants to play around with floorplans before taking their ideas to an architect.

As a TOTAL NOVICE at CAD programs, I found Punch 5-in-1 to be extremely easy to learn and perfectly suited to doing what I wanted to do at that time... which was to play around with floor plans and look at them in 3D so I could get a better idea of what I wanted.

I have never used AutoSketch or TurboCad or any other CAD program but if they are really easier for a true novice to use than Punch 5-in-1, then they would pretty much have had to be able to read my mind and draw images without me having to figure out how to input anything at all. LOL!

Seriously, 5-in-1 took me less time to learn to use than powerpoint or excel and it was a whole lot more fun.

After learning on Punch 5-in-1 and eventually becoming frustrated at my inability to use it to design COMPLEX elements like dormer windows and a very complex roof line, I upgraded to Punch 3000 Architectural. It probably took me several days to figure out how to use most of its features and some I never did bother with - like the "animator" that lets you make 3D video clips touring your design or "estimator" that is supposed to allow you to estimate the cost of a project.

I also know that if DH had given me Punch 3000 instead of 5-in-1 to begin with, I probably would have given up in frustration. Punch 3000 was much too complex for me to have learned all at once but having mastered 5-in-1, 3000 was no longer overwhelming.

Thus, I was able to use Punch 3000 to design my entire 2 story 3200 sf house... which is definitely not a simple rectangular box! It is a sprawling Victorian home with unexpected nooks and cranies, bay windows, dormer windows, a porch with shed roof that wraps around three sides, a screened side-porch with a deck above it that attaches the house to the garage, two additional upper decks/balconies and a very complex roof.

Using Punch, I was able to show the fireplace, all the kitchen cabinetry and bookcases, interior doors with transoms above them, all the plumbing (including floor drains) and even indicate where ceiling fans, lights, switches and electrical outlets would be.

I confess to ignoring the HV/AC tab entirely - except to keep in mind that duct chases would be necessary - but it is available if someone wants to use it. I also ignored the landscaping feature as we are trying very hard to leave the native vegetation alone as much as possible and will figure out our landscaping once the house if built. Finally, when it came time to deal with final details like gingerbread for the eaves of the house, I gave up although, supposedly, I could have designed the gingerbread using the 3D custom workshop tool. Frankly, that is one tool that I never did completely master - mostly because it scales everything in feet and when you're designing detail stuff, you usually want to do it in inches. I got tired of constantly having to pull up a calculator and convert inches to feet! I did use 3D workshop at one point to create a colonial porch column and a built-in breakfast nook that I used when trying to show DH - who has zero ability to visualize from a floorplan - what the porch and the breakfast nook would like like once built!

When I took my Punch 3000 drawings to an architect to vet, he was amazed at the level of detail I was able to accomplish and ended making only a couple of very minor changes. I have no idea what program he used to create the blueprints but as far as I can see, those have almost no details that were not evident in my original Punch 3000 drawings.

I'm not trying to claim that Punch 3000 is better than any of the professional autocad programs or that any professional would even want to use it. I am saying that Punch 5-in-1 is a great and inexpensive program for a non-professional with zero previous CAD experience to use and that a non-professional who starts with 5-in-1 and eventually finds it too limiting is likely to find the top of the line Punch programs will do everything a non-professional could want.

All in all, I'll stand by my recommendation - and for $10 to $15 for a used program, I think it would be hard for OP to go wrong.

I think you have made at least one of my points, bevangel. You tried a simple software package, and you weren't satisfied with its abilities. That's are common theme for low end packages in a lot of the design software forums. Typical qestions are, "How do I do X?" Unfortunately, the typical answer is, "You can't, unless you uprade to X++, etc."

Generally, the simple packages are crippled versions of the big boys. The crippling often results in software that for all intents and purposes is unuseable. While it may be possible to draw a simple floor plan with it, it probably won't be possible to get accurate framing dimensions from it, or to have aything other than the default ceiling height, Steps may have fixed run and rise, and on and on.

I have seen numerous posts by users trying to draw existing houses with these programs and having extreme difficulty because their homes do not fit the low end programs defaults.

$300 to $500 may sound like a lot for a home user software package, but in the scheme of things it is a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of professional time and materials. I have no doubt that you saved a bundle by taking your architect a workable floor plan.

In my opinion, the best way to evaluate any of these programs is to drop in the makers' forums and read the posts. That will give you a pretty good idea on how well the stuff works, and how much help you can expect from the makers and the other users.

BTW, congrats on getting something useful out of Punch. That's quite an accomplishment, in my opinion.

whoa froghopper... I think you're leaping to some unsupported conclusions about what I said. - Sorry for the pun but I just couldn't help myself. ;-)

In fact, I said I was extremely happy with Punch 5-in-1. It did 100% of what I wanted it to do WHEN I bought it and probably 90% of what I later decided I wanted to be able to do. And it provided me with a very easy introduction to the whole CAD process and hours and hours of fun.

I doubt I would ever have upgraded if I had been designing something similar to probably 70% of the floor-plans I see posted here on GW. I upgraded because the style home I finally decided that I wanted (after playing around with floor plan options on 5-in-1) had a complex roof plan and a few other features that I found that I could not draft with Punch 5-in-1. Actually, even then I could draft them so that the floor-plans made sense and even the elevations looked okay, they just didn't look right in 3D view.

None of Punch 5-in-1's limitations are likely to apply to OP's needs for re-doing his basement. I doubt he is going to be dealing with a complex roof design or want to put in a bay window or dormers, for example. So, unless OP gets hooked on designing floor plans in general, he is unlikely to ever need or want to upgrade.

I also recommended 5-in-1 because, as someone with zero previous CAD experience, I found it extremely easy to learn. And, like I said, you can't beat the price. In OP's shoes, I would not have wanted to spend a couple of thousand for a professional quality CAD program like the "big boys" you mentioned and then weeks getting up the steep learning curve just to "play around with floorplans." I rather suspect that even if OP shells out the money for one of those programs, he'll never learn how to use it.

BTW, Punch 5-in-1 is not limited in either of the ways you mentioned. You can reset the default ceiling height on Punch 5-in-1 and even set certain parts of the ceiling at a different height from the rest. You can change the stairway rise and/or run and/or width and you can put in a curved or U-shaped or L-shaped or any other shape stairway that you want. If you have 2 or more stairways, they can have different rise/run/width/height from each other. You can also change the dimensions of windows and doors. You can also make some walls taller/shorter than others if need be. As I recall, you can even make walls that are trapezoidal or triangular or other odd shapes.

Ultimately, maybe Punch 5-in-1 won't do everything OP wants. Then again, maybe it will. He could find out for himself for less than $20... which sure beats $1000 or more for one of the "big boys."

On Amazon it's five to one against Punch 5 in 1. I have to say that is about typical for user ratings of Punch products in general.

Somebody in Austin seemed to like it. The rest did not. ;-)

I think if you tried a Home Designer product, you would be amazed at how much easier it is to use than any Punch product.

Here is a link that might be useful: What Others Think Of Punch 5 In 1

akp......not sure why you would even need software for the basement. It will mirror the floor above it do to the load bearing walls. IMO.....I would get a carpentors tape(chalk string) and snap out those walls on the floor first. Then you can add non loading walls where ever you might want.....you can snap these walls out on the floor and do a walkthru to see if you like the layout.

Well the chalk line thing would be great, excpet that we've been living here for 6 years, so our basement is full of junk. (I posted here on the BAH forum because I figured you'd all be up on the latest floorplan software and the basement forum is kinda dead.) I'd rather develop a floor plan on paper (or software) before I start moving all the junk around, LOL!

I don't need anything fancy - I'm not doing exteriors, rooflines, or landscaping. I just want something that will let me move walls around to see if I want the closet over here or over there, where we want the big screen, what the best layout is for sofas, where to put the toys and built-in bookshelves. Our basement has lots of weird niches and the utilities and support poles are all spread out all over the place (the original builders must have given absolutely no thought to the fact that someone might want to finish the basement someday). I've been trying to figure out a decent layout in my head for about 4 years now and have gotten nowhere. I'm not good at imagining stuff - I have to see it all laid out for me before I can get a sense of what it would be like. I'm hoping with the software I can make a basic plan of what's there now, and then work up a bunch of different floorplan versions to see which one I like better. Having the ability to "see" it in 3-D would be even better, since like I said, I am imagination-challenged.

As nice as the Home Designer Pro sounds, I checked out the website and I think it's WAY beyond what I need. Not to mention pretty expensive for our DIY basement rec room project. So I ordered a copy of Punch 5 in 1. With shipping, it was less than $10, so if it stinks, I guess I'll be back looking for more recommendations -- or maybe I'll just take marthaelena's advice and get a big thick pad of graph paper. Except that I'm also not that great at drawing....sigh!

Thanks for all the help!

lkplatow,
I think you figured it right.
We are up on the latest floor plan software.
To me it is REVIT.
But you want the software to be easy and cheap and REVIT is complicated and expensive and better than AutoCAD.
I remember I entered to a web page once and they allow you to do what you want and you do not have to get the program, everything is online. The problem is, I do not remember the site, sorry.
I get back at you

Ok
I think I have an answer for you:
Google SketchUp
it is free
It is easy
I just entered their web page and according to their own words it is so easy that you can concentrate in two things: getting the job done and having fun while doing it.

How is that? :)

I asked one of my co-workers who is our software guru
(and everything else, you name it haha) and he recommends it.
He said that it is so neat that you can import drawings from other softwares as autocad.
Let us know how was it.
I am actually thinking that I will download it.
Good luck