Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 9.0 [OLD VERSION]

by Chief Architect

Product Features

• Chief Architect Home Designer Suite is the all-in-one home design software solution for Home Design, Remodeling, Decks, Landscaping, Kitchens & Baths, Interior Design, and Cost Estimating
• Create accurately scaled floor plans - change colors, countertops, cabinets, flooring styles and more for your new kitchen or bath
• Thousands of items in the built-in library include furniture, fixtures, lighting, doors, windows, and more
• Get detailed information on popular plants, learn which ones are best for your climate using the Hardiness Zone Map
• Automatic Cost Estimation and Materials list help assign costs for materials, descriptions, quantities, unit costs, and more

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B002D3A4ZI
• Item model number: S90-DN-0AZ1
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 11, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,413 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #53 in Software > Home & Hobbies > Home Design

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Home Designer Suite 9.0 is the latest release from Chief Architect, the professional software design company and the software of choice by more builders, architects and designers. Home Designer Suite leverages the same professional quality from Chief Architect making it the most powerful and easy to use home design, remodeling and landscaping software.

An advanced yet easy to use set of tools for Home Design, Remodeling, Interior Design, Kitchens, Baths, Decks, Landscaping and Cost Estimation. Click to enlarge.

Glass House View provides a full translucent view of your design. Click to enlarge.

Create plot and perimeter plans; automatically generate a 3D model of your actual terrain. Click to enlarge.

Doll House View, a 3D overview without the roof, is an effective tool for space planning of furniture placement and traffic flow. Click to enlarge.

Powerful deck and patio tools allow you to design and visualize your new deck with 3D models and can help you estimate the costs. Click to enlarge.

Choose from over 1,500 plants with the Plant Chooser. Click to enlarge.

Design or Remodel Your Home Today!
Chief Architect Home Designer Suite provides a fun and an advanced yet easy to use set of tools for Home Design, Remodeling, Interior Design, Kitchens, Baths, Decks, Landscaping and Cost Estimation.

Powerful, Fun and Easy Home Design Software

• Perfect for Home Design, Remodeling and Landscaping
• Choose from over 1,500 Sample Plans
• Choose from built-in home style templates, create your own custom home design or use the House Wizard
• Powerful building tools like automatic roof generation, dormers, stairs, framing and foundations
• Visualize your new Kitchen or Bath

House Wizard and Tutorial Videos Make it Easy!

• The Quick Startup Options Guide will help you begin with "How-To" tutorials based on the type of your project
• Use the House Wizard for quick and easy layout of your rooms
• Select from the pre-designed Home Design, Interior and Landscaping Style Templates complete with colors, cabinets, decks and more
• The online help system provides detail information on all types of building projects
• Includes over 30 easy "step-by-step" tutorial training videos that will quickly get you started on your next home design project

Kitchens, Baths and Custom Cabinets

• Design the Kitchen of your dreams--move walls, create new cabinets, add appliances--Design your perfect workspace!
• Plan the new layout of your bathroom with custom cabinets, sinks, showers and garden tubs. It's easy to visualize your ideas in 3D.
• Create custom cabinets in minutes by choosing your own colors, countertops, door styles and more
• Design your new kitchen or bath using the Cabinet Designer Tools
• Use the Cabinet Designer tools to create unlimited cabinet styles. Choose your own colors, countertops and door styles.

Interiors and Exteriors

• Design and decorating style ideas with inspirational photos by rooms
• Material Painter lets you apply colors and materials quickly and easily
• Choose from thousands of colors and textures or create your own materials using a digital photograph
• Design for your lifestyle and personality--change colors, add lighting and choose furniture to accent your new room
• Choose from a variety of interior items--including chairs, tables, sofas, fabrics, accessories and more. Resize, change colors and materials to meet your exact needs.
• Smart Design Objects, Drag-and-drop from thousands of design objects in the built-in Library organized by category

Decks and Landscaping

• Powerful deck and patio tools allow you to design and visualize your new deck with 3D models and can help you estimate the costs
• Design single or multi-level decks complete with automatic deck framing
• Quickly lay out your deck with stairs and arrange furniture
• Deck foundations automatically generate to match sloped lots
• Plant Encyclopedia to learn more about the plants in your designs
• Choose from over 1,500 plants with the Plant Chooser
• Pathways--Use the Stepping Stone tool to design curb-appealing landscaping using stone, pavers or sidewalks--line with trees, shrubs, flowers and more

Chief Architect Product Comparison Which Chief Architect product best suits your needs? Review this product comparison matrix (PDF file).

3D Models and Virtual Tours

• Design in 2D and 3D. 3D Views are automatic with a point-and-click of the camera tool.
• Glass House View provides a full translucent view of your design
• Doll House View, a 3D overview without the roof, is an effective tool for space planning of furniture placement and traffic flow
• Create a Virtual Tour--draw your record line to Automatically Generate; or record your camera movements
• Visualize your home with day and night views
• Assemble a scale model of your design with Model Maker
• Generate shadows from the sun for realistic 3D views
• Point-and-click to remove wall surfaces, or use 3D Cross-Section Elevation Slider to quickly create a 3D slice of your desired view

Site Planning & Estimating

• Use Automatic Build Terrain and Terrain Perimeter tools to create flat, irregular shaped or sloped lots--use a GPS to import or enter elevation data
• Create plot and perimeter plans; automatically generate a 3D model of your actual terrain
• Make your backyard design come alive using several easy-to-use terrain and landscaping tools. Add a pool or pond and visualize in 3D.
• Fences and Driveways--With the Fencing tools you can choose a variety of fencing styles and custom gates. You will also find driveway, sidewalk and curbing tools
• Hill and Valley tools make it easy to add gardens, beds and slopes that automatically appear in 3D views. Choose from landscaping style templates or create your own.
• Cost Estimating--Don't be surprised by the cost of your project. Automatically generate a complete spreadsheet for your project costs, broken down by category. Calculate the amount of lumber for your deck or concrete required for that new patio.

Product Description

Suite 9.0 is the latest release from Chief Architect, leader in the Professional Home Design Software Industry, now with a new consumer focus just for you! With over 5,000 integrated tools it is perfect for home design, remodeling, interior design, landscaping, decks, cost estimation, and site planning. Design in 2D and 3D or both simultaneously! HOME DESIGN * Virtual Walk-Through: Draw your record line to automatically generate a virtual tour * Choose from over 6,000 library items or download free bonus items * Use Edit Area to select, move, edit, and copy entire regions of your design * Create Rendered Cross-Section Views with photo-realistic textures * Compatible with Chief Architect® (Version X2) REMODELING * Add lighting fixtures to create dramatic views * Choose from over 1,000 cabinets and customize using any style and color * Create accurately scaled floor plans * Change your colors, countertops, and flooring styles with the Material Painter * Ability to Add items to the Library Browser * Create base, wall, full height, curved, corner cabinets, partitions, shelves, and soffits for your kitchen or bath DECKS & LANDSCAPING * Auto-generate decks with the Deck Railing Tool * Choose from over 1,500 popular plants to place and arrange in your landscaping design * Get detailed information from the plant encyclopedia and learn which ones are best for you using the Hardiness Zone Maps * One-Click Hill and Valley tools for realistic landscape modeling * Design free-standing, post-and-beam, tiered, and multi-story decks INTERIOR DESIGN * Place name brand products in your design * Import your own custom colors or materials from a digital photo or website * Quickly visualize colors and textures for walls, floors, and countertops * Thousands of items in the built-in library: furniture, fixtures, lighting, doors, windows, and more * Ability to Export Custom Libraries - Share your libraries with other Home Designer Users

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful program for the money, August 30, 2009

By 

M. Wenzel (Franksville, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 9.0 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

I bought this product this week and overall, I'm very happy with it. I'm an interior designer who already has extended experience with autocad. I've also worked with 20/20 for kitchen design and I'm familiar with Google Sketch-up, but haven't worked with it. I bought it because we're planning to build a house and I thought this would be a fun way to design our new house. I also thought it would be great to use with clients to show them 3D views of the rooms I would be designing for them. If you're familiar with autocad, this program is about the same difficulty to use and the tutorials are helpful, but don't go into too much depth. So far, I've found it easy to get started, but there are a lot of small details that you need to experiment with in order to get what you want. The best thing about this program that I've found, is it's ability to draw a 3D picture directly from a floor plan. (From my experience with Sketch-up, that program requires you to build the walls, doors, etc.) This program allows you to put windows and doors in very easily -- almost like cut & paste. Because I read quite a few reviews of this product and others, I wasn't sure if it would be as good as I would like. It's not professional, of course, but it does enough for my purposes. The only thing that I would like is if it had more furniture styles to choose from, so that if I wanted to use it with clients, I could show them a closer replica of what their room would look like. I have to experiment some more, but for now it only gives me a general idea of what the room would look like. It's a good planning tool. I'm happy with my choice. I think I got a lot of progam for a relatively small cost. One thing I would like to reiterate is that if you're not familiar with any other autocad products, you may have difficulty learning to use it.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here's a link to see this powerful program in action!, January 9, 2010

By 

Mike Stewart - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 9.0 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

[...] Go through some of the many training videos on the Chief Architect web site, [...]. Click on the TRAINING VIDEOS tab. The videos will also help you decide which version of this program you should buy, Suite, Architectural or Pro. The Chief Architect products are less expensive at Amazon compared to buying directly from Chief Architect. I respectfully disagree with some of the other reviewers. I find this program to be very intuitive. It is easy for a beginner (which I am) to learn and use.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Product with great resources, June 13, 2010

By 

Mark_A (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 9.0 [OLD VERSION] [Download] (Software Download)

I'm new to architectural software. I was looking for something to visaulize a remodel of a house we're about to buy, to see how our furniture would fit, and to viualize artwork on the walls. The house I modeled is a square-ish structure with a daylight basement, dorma, two slab-based additions (screened-in porch and sun room), and a detached garage.

I initially tried [...] and paid them $75 to build the basic floorplan for me; however, once I tried to use it, it was a disater. I couldn't even figure out how to move from floor to floor in blueprint mode and the online help wasn't very good. Moreover the plans they supplied were wrong: they showed french doors instead of regular windows in the sun room. I e-mailed them about this and got no reply. ($100 wasted)

I then did some more research and downloaded a trial of Home Design Suite 9.0. I very quickly had my floorplan laid out and by the end of the day had most of our furniture installed, artwork containing my photography on the walls, and movies on the plasma tv's with scenes from my favorite movies.

The only negative thing is that I spent a couple of hours on the trial and got a lot of the floorplan completed, but couldn't enter the key I'd just purchased and save my work (the trial version cannot save, print, import, export, etc.). So I basically had to do it all over again.

The online help is great and there are a ton of online tutorial videos. I found answers to all my questions except 1 (adding driveways, sidewalks and roads) using the available online resources.

I plan to use it to remodel the kitchen, plan furniture layouts and to draw electrical plans for permits when we finally move.

There is a large tree in the yard of the house we are buying and I tried to find it in the plant library, but none of the trees in there were anything like it. Unfortunately, I know little about trees so I've no idea what species it is, but none of the pictures were anything close.

I highly recommend it. For under $100, it's a great deal.

Mark