ChiefArchitect

We are excited to be announcing the Design of the Year Contest winners for 2020! Chief Architect holds a monthly design contest every year. There are 3 categories: Kitchen/Bath and Interiors, Residential, and Remodel/Additions. Each monthly winner is entered into the Design of the Year Contest, and our Facebook community votes for their favorite. Kitchen/Bath and Interiors Grand Prize Winner – Giuseppe Rispoli of Rispoli Design and Build, LLC Residential Grand Prize Winner – Michael Burt Remodel/Additions Grand Prize Winner – Jorge Arreola of Greymark Construction Co. Thank you so much to everyone who participated this year. We enjoy seeing your work and love seeing what you can do with Chief Architect, and thank you to everyone who voted on our Facebook page. We couldn’t do it without you!

Layout Templates, Construction Documents & What's Coming Next — Free Live Webinar Thursday, January 21, 2021, at 12:00 PM PST In this session, we'll look at how to set up and optimize a layout template for your construction documents. And, the best options when sending a plan, elevation, schedule, or CAD detail to a layout. One of our design professionals will be hosting this session, covering the following outline, and taking your live questions. Layout template — creating and setting up Plot lines vs. live views Sending & scaling views to layout 3D renders on layouts Download these template files: Layout Templates.zip Watch the recap video: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10237

We've shared this blog post in an effort to help identify some of the hardware and features that will make your Chief Architect and graphic intensive software work to its full potential. Check it out: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/blog/computer-for-design-and-gaming/

Sign up to learn Chief Architect with a live trainer and peers in these online classroom sessions. Training Dates: 8:30 AM–12:30 PM Pacific Residential Introductory - Jan. 20, 22, 27, 29 (Wed/Fri) Residential Intermediate - Jan. 20, 22, 27, 29 (Wed/Fri) Kitchens, Baths & Interiors - Feb. 3, 5, 10, 12 (Wed/Fri) Learn more about classroom training.

Space Planning Tools, Room Types Thursday, December 17, 2020, at 12:00 PM PST This session will cover space planning best practices for design layout in Chief Architect. We will explore the power of room types and why they are important. Learn how to edit and use room types to control room labels and structure settings. One of our design professionals will be hosting this session, covering the following outline, and taking your live questions. Using the space planning tools Room defaults and room types Living area calculations Download the project files: Space Planning.zip Watch the recap: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10234/space-planning-tools-room-types-what-s-coming-next.html Check out other trainings we offer: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/events/

Schedules & What's Coming Next — Free Live Webinar Thursday, December 3, 2020, at 12:00 PM PST Join us for an in‑depth look at using schedules in Chief Architect. Learn how to configure schedules for cabinets, doors, and windows. We will cover adding and removing categories, customizing the display and order of columns, and creating multiple schedules for specific categories. See a sneak peek of what's coming next for schedules in X13. One of our design professionals will be hosting this session, covering the following outline, and taking your live questions. Setting up schedule defaults Customizing schedules Configuring schedules to include cross categories Saving schedules in a template plan Register today! Watch the recap: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10232 Download Scott's Template plan to see his process: Scott's Bachelor View Template.zip Check out other trainings we offer: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/events/

Design of the Year Contest! Throughout the year, Chief Architect holds a monthly design contest to showcase our users' work. Designers worldwide, with vastly different backgrounds and design styles, compete head-to-head each month in the following three categories: Kitchen/ Bath & Interiors, Residential, and Remodel / Additions. These inspiring designs have been shared here on Facebook, and we are excited to combine the winning designs into our Design of the Year Contest. Vote for your favorite in each category. The winners will be announced Thursday, January 9th. Kitchen/Bath & Interiors: https://bit.ly/2020KBIDesignFinalists Residential: https://bit.ly/2020ResidentialDesignFinalists Remodel/Additions: https://bit.ly/2020RemodelDesignFinalists Learn more: https://chiefarchitectblog.com/2020-design-of-the-year-contest/

The results are in! Congratulations to our 3 winners in the Kitchen, Bath, and Interiors Design Contest. 1st Place – Michael Burt 2nd Place – Cody Corbin of Drafting & Design Solutions 3rd Place – Norman Frye View all of the great submissions: https://bit.ly/November20Winners We enjoyed viewing everyone’s design and want to thank you all for sharing with us and our community! Varying prize packages will be awarded.

Floor Framing — Live Webinar Thursday, November 5, 2020, at 12:00 PM PST The importance of floor framing is a function of your structural platform settings. A platform's height is not only important for framing members it can also impact your elevations. Learn about the various floor framing techniques and best practices in this session. One of our design professionals will be hosting this session, covering the following outline, and taking your live questions. Platform & floor framing settings Automatic & manual floor framing Joists, trusses & beams Mixed floor framing directions Register Today! Download this companion plan to try for yourself: Floor-Framing-Sample.zip Watch the recap: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10229/floor-framing.html?playlist=171 Check out other trainings we offer: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/events/

The results are in! Congratulations to our 3 winners in the Kitchen, Bath, and Interiors Design Contest. 1st Place – Savanna Beyer of Twenty One Design 2nd Place – Kelly Collett of Marc Christian Fine Cabinetry 3rd Place – Stephanie Mazzetta of Christino Kitchens & Remodeling View all of the great submissions: http://bit.ly/September-October20Winners We enjoyed viewing everyone’s design and want to thank you all for sharing with us and our community! Varying prize packages will be awarded.

Our Next Contest is Residential! Share one of your Residential Designs for a chance to win Chief Gear. Use any Chief Architect software product to create your original design. You have the chance to win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in this contest. Discover how to enter and more through our blog: https://chiefarchitectblog.com/design-contest-residential/ Entry deadline is November 16th

Materials: Patterns, 3D Visualization & What's Coming Next — Live Webinar Thursday, October 15, 2020, at 12:00 PM PDT Great looking 3D renderings and 2D elevations start with your material settings. In this session, we will review how to customize your materials to get the effect you want in perspective and orthographic views. Also, learn about how Chief Architect is improving these tools in an upcoming version. This session will be hosted live by Dustin Cruz, one of our Content Development professionals. We will be encouraging questions about the process from attendees through a live Q & A session. 3D material properties for renderings 2D pattern and fill settings Enhanced material tools that are coming soon Download the project plan to play with your own material editing: Mercury Mosaics Bathroom Example.zip Watch the recap video here

Thank you for the question. Here are some thoughts on the purchase options. 1. Purchase a license outright - This is the best deal and lowest possible price to own the software. 2. Rent to own - If cashflow is the priority, the rent to own option can be a great fit at $199 per month. If you rent consecutively for the full rental term you will own the software. Lean more about the software rental here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/software-rental/ 3. Rent as needed - You mentioned that there would be significant gaps between projects. The software can be rented as needed. This means you can rent as needed to complete a project and cancel the rental at any time. You can then restart the rental in the future when the next project starts. The drawback to this is that you do not accumulate payments toward ownership. Feel free to reach out to our Sales Department if you have any questions by phone 208.292.3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Kitchen Lighting & Electrical Plans — Free Virtual Class Thursday, September 24, 2020, at 12:00 PM PDT This live course focuses on placing electrical components in order to create an Electrical plan with an Electrical Legend, as well as customizing lighting for 3D renderings. One of our kitchen & bath design professionals will be hosting this live session and taking live questions about the process from attendees. Using the Electrical Saved Plan View for defaults and a layer set Placing lighting for 3D rendering Creating an electrical plan Legends for electrical Download the project file: ChiefChallenge.zip Re-watch the video to catch any information you may have missed. See the other scheduled live demonstrations and register now so you don't forget later!

Kitchen Islands & Custom Countertops — Free Virtual Class Thursday, September 17, 2020, at 12:00 PM PDT In this session, we'll explore the process of creating kitchen islands using cabinets and custom countertops, and how to save groups of objects to your library. Presented live by one of our kitchen & bath design professionals, questions are welcome as you follow along this course. Cabinet layout and configuration for islands Custom countertops — shapes, edge profiles, waterfalls Saving kitchen island configurations in your library catalog Island options — how to create options for your clients to choose from Take the information you learn and apply it to your own design Download the Challenge Project file: Kitchen Islands and Custom Countertops.zip Watch the video here See the other scheduled live demonstrations and register now so you don't forget later!

Kitchen Cabinets: How Cabinets Work & Wall Elevation Dimensions — Free Virtual Class Thursday, September 10, 2020, at 12:00 PM PDT Focusing on base, wall, and full‑height cabinets, this course explains how to create and customize cabinets, as well as creating detailed wall elevations. This session will be hosted live by one of our kitchen & bath design professionals, encouraging questions about the process from attendees. How cabinets work in Chief Architect How to customize cabinets and add fixtures/appliances Save custom cabinet configurations in your library catalog Create wall elevations with dimensions per NKBA guidelines Download the project files to follow along: chiefChallenge-Kitchen Cabinets.zip kitchen-Layout.pdf Watch the video here. See the other scheduled live demonstrations and register now so you don't forget later!

Kitchen Remodeling: Creating Dimensioned Floor Plans Free Virtual Class Thursday, September 3, 2020, at 12:00 PM PDT Explore the process of remodeling a kitchen, creating detailed floor plan dimensions, and sending a plan view to a layout page to create construction documents. This course will be presented live by one of our kitchen & bath design professionals and taking live questions about the process from attendees. Review the remodel process for as‑built & remodel plans Showing the as‑built overlay Dimensioning the floor plan per NKBA guidelines Sending the scaled floor plan to Layout Download the project file: Webinar-Kitchen-Remodel.zip Follow along with the recorded video.

Thank you for your interest in Chief Architect! The software rental and regular license purchase share the same software licensing. Chief Architect is a single user license, but we provide you with the ability to run the software on any number of computers. If you have a home computer, laptop, office computer, showroom computer, etc., you can install on all of your computers. You will be limited to launching Chief Architect on one computer at a given time. There is a quick process for switching between your computers. Here is a tech article that shows how this works. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00956/using-chief-architect-on-multiple-computers.html Feel free to contact sales with any questions at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Our Next Contest is Kitchen/Bath, & Interiors! Share one of your Kitchen/Bath & Interior Designs for a chance to win Chief Gear. Use any Chief Architect software product to create your original design. You have the chance to win 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in this contest. Discover how to enter and more through our blog: https://chiefarchitectblog.com/design-contest-kitchen-bath-interiors/ Entry deadline is October 19th

We have winners! Congratulations Rodante H. Bernabe, Sohail Ahmed, and Jorge Arreola! Thank you to all who participated. We love to see the work you do! View all the Remodeling contest submissions.

The Design Contest is under way, you have until August 17 to share your entry! See the details on the blog: https://chiefarchitectblog.com/design-contest-remodel-addition/