Better Homes and Gardens Architectural Home Designer

Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent tool to create MOST floor plans and visualize projects
Comment: I'm an amateur architect (never pursued a degree but have been designing and have helped build renovations, additions, custom furniture, etc.), so I was eager to finally get myself a good, cheap CAD design tool. I was very pleased by this program, and it does MOST of what you'll need it to do.

The only frustrating parts were the floor limitation (1 basement and 2 other floors max, it auto-generates a plain open "attic" for you), and the roof concepts (to create 2nd floor dormers, extend a roof from the 1st floor, put your knee-wall in the right position and it will automatically take of its height). You'll also need to be creative with the use of invisible walls to solve a lot of issues.

It is extremely important to play around with simple test models. I had a difficult multi-angle roof additiona that I wanted to do and it always auto-generated the roof in the wrong ways. So I built a dummy version with just that room and a dummy box for the main house, and it became a lot easier to understand what the roof parameters meant.

For visualizing additions, it's great. There are a lot of items in the library, and online you can get a lot more free bonus content (note that the bulk of the bonus content is in the first "Download Now" link -- easy to overlook). And never forget that you can always select geometric shapes from the library and texture them as needed -- great to manually create single steps vs. using the stair tool.

Some things like huge half-round windows are provided too, but they aren't entirely flexible and the library selection is limited to some basic types. You need to upgrade to the Pro version to get full control over fancier windows, but most standard windows are easily generated in this version.

The terrain editor can also be a little frustrating, especially if your yard is sloped and tiered like mine. Play around with Flat Regions and Elevation Lines. (Pro gets you Elevation Splines which auto-curve.) And the way to create stairs will take some experimentation (clicking between 2 sets of stair to generate a landing, definitely see the tutorial about this).

But it's a great tool for visualizing rooms, trying different paint colors, etc. For MOST purposes, this version will be just fine.

For about $300 more, the Pro version gets you a lot more flexibility with editing windows (any configuration possible and editable), better terrain control, and the ability to manually generate and connect roof surfaces, and no limit on how many floors your house can have (great if you have a finished attic).

The tutorials are good, but sometimes they are version-specific and refer to things you can only do in the Pro version! THAT is frustrating and I should really take away a star for it.

Overall, it's a well made product, easy to navigate, and relatively quick to learn. For most home projects and visualizations, it will serve you well.

But if you're an aspiring or amateur architect, you WILL want to upgrade to the Pro version very quickly. So just expect that expense will be coming soon afterwards. (BTW, they do offer occassional special deals for upgrading, so just watch for them.)

Have fun!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Best for the price
Comment: For the price- this is the best program available. I do find it a bit tempermental when adjusting location of windows and doors- especially if you are setting it up in order to do a remodle or redocoration of an existing room/house. Does have a lot more options than others in the price range- but is frustrating if you want to be exact. So- don't plan on making it that way- it does give you the 3D- but the walk thru option isn't as great as the box says. It helped me do what I wanted to do- add an extension onto our house & also consider a remodle of our master bath- but if you are serious about building more than once- it might be better to invest in the next level.
I haven't used the landscape portion yet- plan on that next.

Customer Rating:
Summary: BH&G Architecural Home Design
Comment: I have used the Chief Architect Pro program and this is similar. I was very pleased with the "objects" in my design list and the final print out. I found that the camers did not work the same as the other program, but perhaps I just do not have that down yet. The program gave me everything I had on the Chief Architect, but at a much better price point.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A lot of fun and very helpful
Comment: Although there are some minor glitches or inconveniences this is an addicting program for anyone interested in making changes or buying a new place. It is very easy to plot out a floor plan and view it from any angle (inside or outside) in 3 dimensions. My guess is that the higher version is a lot more flexible but this version was way better than I expected and all that is needed for the amateur.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Powerful, but a bit frustrating
Comment: I bought this product to make a model of our existing home and property so I could plan some projects like a new master bath, garage, and landscaping.

We have a 60 yr old 1.5 story cape cod with dormers off the front and back + a 1 story addition. I viewed the video tutorials and refered to the User's guide as I made the first story and the basement in the software and everything worked pretty well. However, when I tried to make the complicated roof and 2nd story I ran into alot of trouble. The auto roof build feature might work well for a standard roof, but was a real pain for me. I viewed information in the forums and the other web resources and found alot of helpful information on dormers and Cape Cod designs, but nothing about my specific situation.

I have a help ticket in right now with their technical group and hopefully they will find a way to make my roof and 2nd story. I don't really want to spend another $250 for the full version.

Other notes - The 3D views and walkthroughs are very cool, but don't look as good as the pictures on the box. The landscape tools are straightforward, but I am having trouble with some items showing up in certain views.