Home design software should meet several criteria if is going to be useful without providing a hair pulling experience. Besides giving the user the ability to draw two dimensional room layouts, it should provide 3D visualization. Architects are trained to visualize inhabitable space from flat two dimensional drawings. Most of the rest of us have a hard time doing that. For us, the software provides that functionality. Quality consumer home design software is descended from professional architectural design software. Architects and other design professionals pay thousands of dollars for these programs that provide CAD with 3D visualization. Some of the manufacturers of these programs offer stripped down versions for consumers. Generally speaking, these consumer versions are every bit as accurate as the professional versions, but lack some or many of the features of their big brothers. They tend to be well documented, because the professionals demand it. It is easy and relatively inexpensive to edit existing documentation versus writing it from scratch. The word professional needs to be put in context here. It is a marketing term, and it often abused. Just because a piece of software is labled professional doesn't make it so. However it does usually make it more expensive. :-) Other manufacturers of consumer home design software offer a product that has no roots in professional architectural softare, and it usually shows. In my opinion, these products tend to be cobbled together 3D visualization programs without any real CAD underlayment. As a result they suffer in both accuracy and ease of use. They also tend to be particularly lacking in documentation. The marketing of both types of consumer home design software is shameless. The manufacturers put out multiple versions of what is essentially the same thing with confusing claims as to what can be done with the product. Each version is hobbled in some way in comparison to those versions that cost more. The consumer doesn't find out exactly how the program was crippled until he or she discovers what it won't do, not what it will do. The best bet is to select a product from one of the companies that make genuine architectural design software. There are at least two of them, perhaps more. Buy the most expensive version you can afford. It will be worth it in the long run. I have listed some of the things I feel are very important for the home user. There are a lot of other features that are nice to have but not essential. 1. It should connect walls automatically. Software that doesn't have this feature tends to be very tedious to use. It will take much longer to produce a drawing, if the user has to postion each and every wall manually. 2. It is essential that it provide accurate dimensions from the correct structural components. It is no good to just say two walls are 12 feet apart. It is necessary to define how the measurements are taken. Are they taken from the outside of the framing, the inside of the framing, the outside of the siding, the interior drywall surface, etc? Good software will let you select and set how dimensions are taken. It will also be obvious to someone viewing the floorplan. 3. It should provide you with the ability to define your own walls. A wall definition describes how many layers the wall has, how thick each individual layer is, and what they are made of. It should handle multiple wall definitions. If you can't properly define wall layers, you will lose accuracy. It is insufficient to simply say a wall is six inches thick or four inches thick, etc. 4. It should handle curved walls. They are not that uncommon. 5. It should build staircases automatically. It should not have fixed staircase dimensions. You should be able to set the rise, run, angle, and width yourself. It should handle multiple landings. It should handle curved staircases. 6. You should be able to position and change existing walls without deleting and redrawing them. You should be able to move walls by specifying their length or relative postion to another wall or any object. If you can't do this, the software will be extremely tedious to use. 7. You should be able to break a wall with a click of the mouse and have separate definitions for differing parts of the wall. This requirement may seem exotic, but its not. For example, this is exactly what is needed to properly draw a wall that starts as an exterior wall, then continues across the back of the garage, where it becomes a fire wall by law. 8. You should be able to join walls of differing thicknesses, end to end, if necessary. 10. There should be a user definable grid that can be turned on or off. There should be a user selectable feature to snap objects to the grid. 11. It should be able to handle all types of foundations. It should not restrict you to predefined slabs, crawl spaces, and basements. You should be able to mix foundation types on the same plan. 12. You should be able to set the floor height of each room independently. There should be a means to have a change in floor height within a room. 13. Floor heights should be set relative to the ground. You should be able to set floor heights to negative values. 14. It should handle multiple unconnected structures in the same plan. 15. You should be able to set the ceiling height of each room individually. It should handle coffered ceilings. It should handles soffits and firdowns. 16. You should be able to select moldings. You should not be confined to a particular style. 17. Roofs are one of the most difficult things to draw. It should automatically generate the roof. All parts of the roof should be manually editable. You should be able to draw a roof manually. It should handle all roof types, not just gable or hip. It should handle mixed roof types, even if they must be manually drawn. 18. There should be specific provisions to draw and edit dormers. 19. It should be capable of handling attic living spaces or story and a half designs. 20. There should be a generous library of windows and doors. These should be of all common types, and they should all be editable for size and position in all directions. It should also be possible to have door frames without doors, and framed openings without casings. 21. The program should be able to display how the sun's rays will strike the house on any given date and time. This is essential to determine how light will affect the interior of the home. To do this, the program must have provisions for inputing the exact latitude and longitude of the home site and the orientation of the structure on the property. This functionality is lacking in many programs. 22. There should be a generous library of kitchen cabinets. These should be editable in industry standard increments in all dimensions. 23. There should be a generous library of furnishings and fixtures. It is essential that furnishings be editable for size, so that you may position furniture symbols in your floor plans that are sized to match your own furniture. 24. There should be multiple 3D views that can be turned and tilted. There should be an overview. There should be a dollhouse view, which allows you to look inside the house without the roof or the floor above in the way. This single feature will provide more insight into how well your design will work than any other. 25. You should be able to take sectional views of the house. 26. The program should support multiple layers. This allows you to control what is printed and what is not. Layers can also be used in difficult editing situations. 27. The program's default setting should be changeable. Virtually every default should be under the user's control. It is essential that the defaults be stored in the drawing's file. 28. There should be complete and thorough documentation. There absolutely should be a tutorial. The lack of a tutorial is a red flag. Any program that meets all of the above will have many more features, including multiple material selections, import capabilities etc. It certainly will not be the least expensive in any given product line up, but it will be a lot more capable and a lot less frustrating than most.

I use paper pencil and crayon. That would take me hours! LOL! Is that really what you do? I thought an architect would at least draw the elevations in CAD. You have given me idea. Maybe I'll draw the elevations in AutoCAD and let my kids color them for me. It will be a great way to involve them in the build and keep them busy for half an hour! You could play around with LP's visualizer. Some of the other siding companies have similar features. Thanks. I'll try the link you provided. Your best resource for this (and other things) is your friendly local architect. You're right. We paid for someone local to design/draw the plans. Unfortunately, we went through the builder, so technically we aren't the architect's client. The builder doesn't seem overly happy to work with me on this! PS: There's absolutely nothing wrong with white b&b and white windows. It's a great opportunity for a stunning front door. I don't completely disagree. I've seen several photos of white on white that I LOVE, but I've seen just as many that are blah! I'm not sure why I love some and not others. If I were certain I'd get the kind I LOVE, I'd do it in a heartbeat! I guess I'll study those photos some more in an attempt to determine what I like/dislike.

Thanks for the response. I checked out Realtime Landscaping and can't figure out their pricing and use. They mention $99 for Plus and $149 for Pro with the "no monthly fees" caveat. Does that imply that the software is web base and there may some other fees for usage... or is it just a $99 or $149 one time charge... or is that per year or what? My goal is to draw (for visualization) our lot, house, outbuilding, existing trees, etc and then draw/create different layouts that minimize grass and emphasize low maintenance plant beds... plus pathways, benches, a patio or deck, planters, bird baths, and a possibly a garden pond for Koi or whatever. We will consult with our local nursery and online for best choice plant material... but already have collected some idea's from surveying other landscaping in the area. Thanks for any other suggestions or comments.

Use a free version of Sketchup.