CAD/Drafting/Design Professionals
Brea Albritton
8 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (7)
Related Discussions
Wanting to put a design on paper and make it look professional
Comments (3)A good thing to do is to get in the habit of drawing the same plant symbols for the same plant every time (and at the same size). This helps you feel the scale of the drawing and makes the design much more familiar to you over time. You will know when you are crowding your inkberries or when you are getting spotty just by looking at the plan without measuring (this is more true when using cad). Graph paper and the other techniques lnscapr mentioned are great. They speed you up and keep you neat at the same time. The biggest improvement usually comes when you start using thicker pens (heavier line weight) for things like houses, sheds, and pools, somewhat thinner pens for driveways, walkways, porches, decks, etc,.., a little thinner for bed lines, some plant symbols, text, ..., and very fine pens for other plant symbols and fine textured hatching (adding patterns to areas for such things as ground covers, annuals, decking, bricks,...). Stipples (or dots) added around the edges of things adds a lot of life to a plan. A huge thing is light, shade, and shadow. This really pops a drawing and is very easy. If you use color, make your plants two tone (at least) by filling the symbol with a lighter color and adding a darker one in the lower right third of it (you don't want to shade the upper side of a symbol on a plan regardless of where north is because it looks weird on the plan). Outside of the symbol, add a black shadow around that lower right part of it. Also add shadow on the right side and bottom side of any building or raised element. It will shock you how much it changes the look....See MoreUsing CAD Files
Comments (8)Be careful on the CAD files. There are high end design software packages that are used by architects and the CAD files might be useable - but that depends on the software and version that your architect or draftsman uses. The on-line CAD files offered with house plans (at that time we were building around 2007) were not compatible with lower end house design software like Punch - but that may have changed in the last few years. Before you spend any big bucks, you can typically order a draft set of plans that are marked not for copy. If that is available, you might want to start with a set of these so that you can review them and play around with possible changes. I bought a draft set of plans and put them into Punch and I was then able to play around with windows & doors. Floor layouts are pretty easy to create in Punch but rooflines take a lot more work. Once you get serious about building - you can then purchase the plans for copy. If you are intending to use an architect, wait until you make a selection and then work out the details. It might save you money to purchase a CAD file but it might also be a waste of money. I made the mistake of purchasing both the Copy plans and the CAD file (before we selected the builder & architect) and the CAD was a complete waste. My architect used his own method for generating plans and another architect I interviewed said that he would rather start from scratch. Our process went something like this (but there are many variants that work): - Find a plan that we like on-line. - Purchase a draft set and then start to play around with the space. Make to-scale cutouts of furniture to make sure what you have (or want) will fit in. Make sure garages and closets are big enough. try to imagine living in the house to see if the space will meet your needs - Find/select a reputable builder. Work with them on the plans you have and work cost. In our case, the builder had a lot of recommendations on how to lower the cost of building our plans. Much of these changes were wall alignments and roof lines. - Get an architect to produce a set of plans necessary to complete financing and get building permits. In our case, the builder had an architect that he offered as a pre-contract service. - Secure financing. Sign the contract which included a final set of plans - Pray that everything works out....See Moreimporting autoCAD
Comments (3)Here is a link for you--I've never tried any autoCAD stuff, but this says it works...and CNET is a great source for all types of software I've used often. Here is a link that might be useful: AutoCAD Free Viewer...See MoreDid you hire a professional kitchen designer?
Comments (18)We've hired two. Each cost $125.00 per hour. In our case essentially both were a waste of money. The first one was well known, had kitchen's featured in magazines, won contests from Subzero and similar companies. She actually had great ideas but was constantly screwing up. She mis-measured on several occassions and I was never confident it was right. She would produce drawings that were impossible to visualize (the peninsula ended up overlapping a window in one drawing). I had requested over and over a prep sink in the island. The drawings came back without it and when I called her on it she said she didn't think it was needed but would request it be added. She had the drawings redone, and subsequently billed me the time to redo them. She called one day in the beginning and told me she stopped at the flooring store to look at floor choices (this was before we even had a design) and I was billed for the time! Keep in mind this was NOT something she asked me about in advance. We ended up parting ways after she became ill and couldn't continue with the project, which kept me from having to fire her. I knew she was capable of some beautiful work and I wanted it to work with her so badly that initially I kept making excuses for her . In the end, I spent about 2k and basically had nothing to show for it (except some ideas) Her plans had the beautiful elements & materials I wanted but not the additional space. The next one was a very nice lady with good ideas but they always exceeded our budget. We spend about 1600.00 with her. She made up a plan that had "some" of the space we wanted but in the end the budget would not allow us to add on the space and keep the materials we wanted. I could accept that, however knowing it in the beginning would have saved us a lot of $$-- Both designers knew out of the gate that our main objective was to add space and that if we were going to invest in construction of an addition, I needed the kitchen to have the elements and materials I really wanted. I truly believe the 2nd designer thought she was working within the budget and didn't purposely decieve us, where I believe the first one was milking us for any time she could but wanted to give us a knock your socks off kitchen in the small space we already had. The nice thing about independent designers was that they aren't married to a specific brand. The first designer worked a lot with a local custom cabinetmaker and for about 12K we were getting painted white cabinetry that looked beautiful! I later went to Home Depot for a "free" design, (which by the way was not free unless we paid for an in home measurement, at least in my area)and the KD there used our construction design to quote cabinets for us and a medium quality was about 25k!) So I think you end up paying for the designer one way or another~ We never ended up doing our kitchen since our wants exceeded our means. We've decided to move all together and while we can't "design" the kitchen we can possibly make some modifications and i am already stressing about the whole process all over again....See MoreBrea Albritton
8 years agoBrea Albritton
8 years agoBrea Albritton
8 years ago
Related Stories
WORKING WITH PROS6 Reasons to Hire a Home Design Professional
Doing a construction project without an architect, a designer or a design-build pro can be a missed opportunity
Full StoryARCHITECTUREThe ABCs of CAD
Computers help architects produce countless renderings and shorten lead times. But still there's one big thing CAD can't do
Full StoryFEEL-GOOD HOMEStop That Draft: 8 Ways to Keep Winter Chills Out
Stay warm without turning up the thermostat by choosing the right curtains, windows and more
Full StoryARCHITECTURE3 Surprising Essential Tools for the Modern Architect
If your architect doesn't work with these, you might want to steer clear. And nope, we're not talking about CAD
Full StoryDESIGN PRACTICEDesign Practice: Start-up Costs for Architects and Designers
How much cash does it take to open a design company? When you use free tools and services, it’s less than you might think
Full StoryDESIGN PRACTICEDesign Practice: How to Pick the Right Drawing Software
Learn about 2D and 3D drawing tools, including pros, cons and pricing — and what to do if you’re on the fence
Full StoryARCHITECTUREDesign Practice: Getting Paid
Pro to pro: Learn how to manage contracts and set up the right fee structure for your work
Full StoryWORKING WITH AN INTERIOR DESIGNER5 Qualities of a Happy Designer-Client Relationship
Cultivate trust, flexibility and more during a design project, and it could be the beginning of a beautiful alliance
Full StoryWORKING WITH AN ARCHITECTWho Needs 3D Design? 5 Reasons You Do
Whether you're remodeling or building new, 3D renderings can help you save money and get exactly what you want on your home project
Full Story
Mark Bischak, Architect