ChiefArchitect

Hi John,

As David stated, there are multiple titles--which is best for you depends on what you want to do.

Do you want the 3D modeling capabilities so you can visualize your design (Essentials, Interiors, Suite, Architectural), or do you also want to create detailed construction documents showing the structural components of the project so you can create a detailed building plan (Professional, Chief Architect X7)?

If you could take a few minutes to call our Sales Department we'd be happy to hear about your project and let you know which product(s) will do what you want. Our toll-free phone number is (800)482-4433.

Thanks,

Mark

This help article works for Architectural and Pro.

http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00683/ 

2015 User Feedback Panelist - Niclas Persson – chief talk handle: ‘Nicinus’

Niclas is based in the San Francisco area and primarily renovates houses on speculation which he has done for the last 10 years.

In 2004, his architectural interest got him into real estate with some friends, on the  relatively high end.  They were never really affected by the housing decline and allowed them to better leverage against the trade.

Before developing and flipping houses, he was in the visual effects and film industry on the business side for 15 years, mostly in executive roles.

His background is a combination of business and architecture (MBA & Masters in Architecture).  He needs about a year of internship, which he says he will eventually do, in order to get his architect license. 

Niclas is a fairly new Chief user (had it for a year now) and uses it in all three phases of schematic, conceptual and construction docs.  He still sketches, but finds that nothing beats seeing ideas in a precise scale and prefers to work in very general terms, regardless if it is an exterior or interior, and get a feel for a design before starting to refine.   Within reason, he’s a believer in using the best tools regardless of price and is very passionate about 3D visualization aiming for a certain look.

Top request: Making the properties dbx (Ctrl-E) modeless

Chief talk: Very frequently when in the design phase, (which he has been for the last 8 months).

Thanks Niclas for being a member of the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

One dimension you can suppress is wall widths 

Hello Bill,

Thank you for the question.  You are correct that we no longer sell the Lite version.  We do not have a product between the Home Designer Pro and Chief Architect Premier other than Chief Architect Interiors.  We do however have a software rental plan that is $199 per month.  You can cancel at any time or if you pay the monthly rental for the full rental term of 15 months you then own the software license.  You will find more information about the rental program by following this link.  http://www.chiefarchitect.com/software-rental/

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Derek

Chief Architect Sales

2015 User Feedback Panelist – Cheryl Crane – chief talk handle: ‘Cheryl_C_Crane’ 

For the last 4 years, Cheryl has been Virtual Staging for Realtors using Chief Architect.  Usually, this means doing an 'as-built' as close to the actual as possible, then furnishing it with symbols, and giving the Realtor ray-tracings that can be placed into the MLS system.  The representations must be based on what is actually there. 

Sometimes, Virtual Staging has included "proposed construction' for vacant sloped building lots using the Chief Architect terrain features. She works with the contour lines from the municipal GIS system and the set back lines, establishs a sun angle and work to represent what may be done with the lot to capture views, etc.

Prior to Virtual Staging, Cheryl did construction drawings for many years using Chief Architect (she started with Chief version 1.0 !).   Cheryl recently started working with a home improvement company that uses a cabinet software program and is learning that software for kitchen & bath cabinetry. 

Is there any area Cheryl has not worked on?  No, probably not.

 As for chief talk, she is a thoughtful contributor.   Welcome Cheryl to the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

2015 User Feedback Panelist – Glenn Woodward – chief talk handle: ‘glennw’

Glenn is a self employed Building Designer in Sydney, Australia.  He specializes in design and documentation of new custom homes, alterations, additions and multi-unit housing ranging in value from A$100,000 to A$2,000,000.

He uses Chief Architect (in metric) exclusively for design and documentation of those projects – including final renderings, shadow diagrams and photomontages.

Glenn has been using Chief for over 15 years beginning with version 5 (97) and has been an active participant on chief talk since its inception, helping many users and prospective users, both on the website and privately.  Glenn has participated in many beta programs for Chief Architect providing great feedback.

 As for chief talk, he has been a valuable contributor.   Welcome Glenn to the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

Design Contest – Tiny House Design!

Enter the Chief Architect Software Design Contest and win an hour of one-on-one online training with a certified Chief Architect Trainer ($125 value), and Chief Gear including a water bottle, mouse pad, 8 GB USB key, and a t-shirt ($59.95 value)! 
 

What is this contest?
We’re finding inspiring design ideas! We want your creative submission for any Tiny Living Space Design such as a tiny apartment, house or accessory dwelling unit (~700 sq ft). Use any Chief Architect software product to create your own design or submit a photo of a project you have completed. Have fun with it!

How do I enter?
Send in your rendering or photo to submissions@chiefarchitect.com. Only one image per person. Please include your name, company information, the software you used and a brief description about the design.

How do I win?
Entries will be posted in a photo album on Chief Architect’s Facebook page. Fans of Chief Architect will be asked to “Like” their favorite entry. The entry with the most “Likes” will be declared the winner. 

facebook.com/ChiefArchitect

What will I win?
You will win an hour of one-on-one online training with a certified Chief Architect Trainer ($125 value), and Chief Gear including a water bottle, mouse pad, 8 GB USB key, and a t-shirt ($59.95 value). Your design may also be featured in our newsletter and other social media outlets.

Are there any other guidelines?
One submission/image per person
Submissions must be entered by the deadline – April 20, 2015
Your free hour of training must be redeemed within 60 days.

Questions?
Send inquiries to submissions@chiefarchitect.com

Follow these steps:

1. right click, hold and drag; release

2. move the mouse in the opposite direction (no mouse button held); at the end left click

Hi Alan!

Have you checked out our 'Grouped Rooms' catalogs in the 3D Library. You can download them by logging into your SSA account. You can see what we offer here: http://3dlibrary.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?r=site/library&reset=true

Thanks!

2015 User Feedback Panelist – Wendy Welton – chief talk handle: ‘WendyatArtform’

Wendy is an architect with her own firm, Art Form Architecture, in North Hampton, NH.  She is registered to practice in New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.  Prior to starting her own firm, she designed commercial in NYC for retail space where she was a CAD manager and an Autocad guru.  In 2000, she moved to New Hampshire and worked briefly for a high end residential firm and then opened her own firm.

She started using Chief Architect around version 10 making House Calls for clients; by measuring and modeling on site, on the spot, in front of the client – complete design in 4 hours.  It took off like a rocket.  Then 2008/2009 happened. 

She started Art Form Home Plans, a website of pre-designed plans, and she grew her catalog of designs.  With a lot of hard work it caught the attention of a broad swath of builders and Art Form Home Plans took over – she did over 350 homes out of her firm in 2014 (maybe why she has been absent on chief talk??).

Wendy uses Chief – soup to nuts:  design, including lots of design in front of clients, (with associated render and raytrace views) historic preservation design elements, framing and finished Construction Drawings. 

 As for chief talk, let’s just say she’s not shy.   Welcome Wendy to the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

2015 User Feedback Panelist – Mark McAniff– chief talk handle: ‘MarkMc’

 Mark has been a kitchen & bath designer since 2000 and is the owner of  Mark James & Co. Prior to owning his own business,  he was a designer at a larger firm with 6 other designers - he was known there as the tech guy.  He currently handles 5 lines of cabinets, from semi custom to full custom.  He began using Chief Architect in 2010 and he also uses other software programs.

Just over half his business is remodeling work with the balance being new construction.  For most new construction, he will draw the entire building, but does not worry about the roof.   For remodeling projects, he draws most of a building or at least all the adjoining rooms.  Mark’s focus is on kitchen and bath design and he’s very knowledgeable of Chief's tools, and the tools he would like to have.  For most of his projects he uses renderings and elevations and sometimes raytraces his renderings.

One of his top feature requests: Cabinet side panel integration.  And, when the side panels are external, show then in the plan and enforce bumping to cabinets and casing.

As for chief talk, he’s on frequently.  Welcome Mark to the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

We are off to the northeast this week to meet with three more of our 2015 User Feedback Panelists.  The snow is a brutal surprise after being in Southern California last week. This Beautiful photo was taken at Hyde Park, NY from the house of FDR.

2015 User Feedback Panelist – Larry Hawes– chief talk handle: ‘HumbleChief’

Larry is a designer that uses Chief Architect daily in his residential remodeling design firm in San Diego. He began using Chief Architect as a builder around 2001 when the market was booming and other designers/architects would not even look at the small jobs. Larry began to design using Chief Architect version 7 to land business for his remodeling company (which he no longer operates).

Today HumbleChief designs residential remodels with a few custom homes thrown into the mix. He works for both builders and private clients.  Recently he added kitchen design as a specific service.  Larry says business is booming and considers Chief Architect among the many reasons for his business' success.

One of his top feature requests: a preview option inside some dialogs to preview changes before closing the dialog.  Example, preview a change to roof pitch w/o closing the dialog.

As for chief talk, he’s on frequently, and yes, that’s him in his avatar surfing it up.   Welcome Larry to the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

2015 User Feedback Panelist – Scott Hall – chief talk handle: ‘dshall’

Scott began drawing house plans in 1973 and drew by hand until 2008.  He started using Chief Architect in 2005 along with hand drawing  (architectural plans with Chief Architect, structural plans drawn by hand).  He went all Chief Architect in 2008 (when he got rid of his drafting board).    Now he primarily focuses on Custom Homes and Custom Remodels working on 50-100 projects a year. 

Scott does work for one of the biggest design/build remodeling companies in San Diego along with a few other design build firms that are growing.  He also does work for some smaller long time clients as well as private home owners.

His top three feature requests: automatic Elevation update in Layouts.

As for chief talk, he’s on 24 x 8.   Welcome Scott to the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

2015 User Feedback Panelist – Joe Carrick – chief talk handle: ‘Joe_Carrick’

Joe is a licensed Architect in California and has been using Chief Architect since Version 9.5. His Architectural Practice, "Carrick & Associates, AIA", is a second business he works part time specializing in high-end custom homes, vacation homes, and commercial design for industrial layout. Joe wants his Model as perfect as possible and not do much to produce the Construction Documents by careful setup of both Plan and Layout Templates. 

Joe’s day job is President of Youngdale Mfr Corp which makes cabinet hinges and sells a line of kitchen & bath cabinets.  He has been involved with the NKBA for many years, having served on the KBIS Exhibitor Council and as a member of the Board of Directors.

One of his top feature requests: Multi-Line Labels for most objects – like schedules

As for chief talk, he’s on 24 x 7.   Welcome Joe to the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

2015 User Feedback Panelist - Perry Hanstad – chief talk handle: ‘DRAWZILLA’

Perry has been using Chief Architect since 2005, (ver. 10) and does remodeling and custom homes in S. California; he has won "remodel of the year” in Garden Grove, Calf. and did an "Extreme Makeover Home Edition”, season 2, episode 9, the Burns family.  He primarily  works alone and uses a Structural engineer on his designs for various Building Contractors.  He has completed over 4,000 projects mostly in Orange County, Calf. There’s no website for Drawzilla, since he does not need the extra work.  His #1 feature request for the Feedback Panel is a way to quickly convert any text to UPPER CASE.  As for chief talk, he checks it in the morning, evening and during the day as needed.  

Thanks Perry for being a member of the 2015 User Feedback Panel!

We have started off on our first trip to meet four of our 2015 User Feedback members. We’re beginning in Southern California (with a retro VW surf car). Look for an update on each of the panelists as we meet them and learn about their business and their software needs.

The icons for Toolbar buttons and new high definition icons scale to fit screen resolutions and increased DPI (128pixels in X7 vs. 20pixels in X6). So, if you have a larger monitor with high DPI they look sharper. The trend for icons in general is a flat look, which is a change in the look they now have.

We have an article that explains how to move back and forth between machines as well. You can find that here: http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00956/. 

Chief Architect Sales

Unfortunately, versions earlier than X2 are not supported on Windows 7. Versions 9 and 10 were released in 2003 and 2005 respectively, and Windows 7 was not released until 2008, so there was no way to test those versions on that platform before their release. You can find a full list of supported Operating Systems for each version here: http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00027/.

Chief Architect Sales

We do not currently have a referral program set up, although it's certainly an interesting idea that we may take into consideration for the future. We do recognize that we have many users who are amazing advocates of our software, and we greatly appreciate that! Any promotions that we do have are listed on our "Special Offers" page here: http://www.chiefarchitect.com/rebates/. 

Chief Architect Sales

Peter-

Glad to hear you've downloaded X7 and are enjoying it! We always try to improve the speed and efficiency of the software with each release, and the download is certainly a part of that. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns as you get up and running with the new version.

Chief Architect Sales

Hello,

You have posted on our professional forum which applies to our Chief Architect products.  In the future you will find more relevant content by posting and searching our HomeTalk forum.  Here is a link for your reference. https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/

The best way to remove the ceiling is to use the invisible wall tool to define the area that does not have a ceiling. (If the area is already defined by walls you don't need to worry about the invisible walls)  Once the area is defined you can click your "Select Objects" tool and click in the defined area to highlight the area (it should turn grey) and open the "room specification" dialog.  Under the "Structure" panel uncheck "Ceiling Over This Room"

Derek

Chief Architect Software

Are you coming to see us at the Remodeling Show in Baltimore? 

Stop by our booth #3110 and see how Chief Architect can benefit your remodeling business!

Remodeling Show

October 23-24, 2014

Free Tickets: www.chiefarchitect.com/company/tradeshows.html