GLOBE-Res

Depending on your needs, Home Designer Pro is more than capable to do what you need to do for residential and lite commercial projects. You can very easily rent to own on a tight budget. As you earn commissions the software pays for itself. There are a lot of tutorial videos built into the software and more on YouTube. AND when ever you have issues, you can always ask a question in the Forums.

If I buy the X9 outright for $2695 today, what happens 12 months from now? Do I have to buy it again or can I use it as is as long as I want? I bought version 8, then upgraded to version 9.0, then version 9.5. I haven't needed to upgrade since. But, my computer suffered a boot up problem because of a bad storm and I was forced to buy a new computer. The new computer won't run the v9.5 Chief. And to make it worse, the new Chief won't load my 9.5 projects. I'm really ticked off. I have a lot of projects that are now of no use. That's so F'k up. I can't even complete 4 projects started in Chief just in the last few months. So, I'm forced to either buy new Chief software or go to another program. That old 9.5 was just fine for me. I didn't need to upgrade. So, If I buy the X9 this year, am I forced to upgrade or will I be able to get as many years as I want out of it?

If I buy the X9 outright for $2695 today, what happens 12 months from now? Do I have to buy it again or can I use it as is as long as I want? I bought version 8, then upgraded to version 9.0, then version 9.5. I haven't needed to upgrade since. But, my computer suffered a boot up problem because of a bad storm and I was forced to buy a new computer. The new computer won't run the v9.5 Chief. And to make it worse, the new Chief won't load my 9.5 projects. I'm really ticked off. I have a lot of projects that are now of no use. That's so F'k up. I can't even complete 4 projects started in Chief just in the last few months. So, I'm forced to either buy new Chief software or go to another program. That old 9.5 was just fine for me. I didn't need to upgrade. So, If I buy the X9 this year, am I forced to upgrade or will I be able to get as many years as I want out of it?

Ok so what if my other computer is a 64 bit computer that was running windows 7, if I'm not mistaken, that computer won't load the program because the program is built on a 32 bit os platform. Is there a way to change the software to run on a 64 bit os?

Hell I have a few hundred plus the projects I was working on just this past week. Ok so what if my other computer is a 64 bit computer that was running windows 7, if I'm not mistaken, that computer won't load the program because the program is built on a 32 bit os platform. Is there a way to change the software to run on a 64 bit os?

Ok, so, I had Chief 9.5. I downloaded the new x9. I can't open my older 9.5 with the new X9, wth?

I have no idea how do do that. Ho do i "dual boot"? Where do I go for drivers? Gosh I'd love to get this all running. I miss my old puter

My computer suffered a rapid power cycling of 4 times and screwed it up, so, I had to go buy a new computer. So, I have version 9.5, that I guess was for a 32 bit computer. I also have a USB hardware lock. I was fine with that version. It worked, it was paid for, it did what I needed, no muss, no fuss. But, it won't acknowledge the usb hardware lock on the new computer, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mickey and all the folks who have weighed in on this topic, Thanks so much! The chart that Mickey provided was exactly what I was hoping I would find. My eventual goal is to get my license. Here in PA as well as other States, the process for eligibility to sit for the A.R.E. exists based on experience, the non-traditional path to licensure. I have been working with an architect who is slowly growing the project types e.g. residential and commercial. The architect has been using Archicad for roughly 10 years and swears by it for residential as well as commercial. when she was working in other firms, those firms adopted Archicad as the sole cad platform. The learning curve is fairly shallow compared to Revit and yet more powerful and flexible than Chief. As I am slowly getting involved with more commercial projects I'm seeing that Archicad is probably the way to go. Thanks again folks.

I need to be able to do this: > Existing Condition Survey > CD's e.g. Plans, Elevations, Sections, Details > Schedules would be great Seriously, aren't houses just smaller versions of Bigger buildings? Is it not possible to create Blocks or Components in Chief? Steel trusses for roof and floors, concrete floors with decking, Walls that are curtain wall and shaped? Has no one taken the leap to push Chief past residential?

I know I need to upgrade. I'm using AutoCAD v2008, Sketch-Up v7 and Chief 9.5. I want/need to be able to do lite commercial up to maybe medium weight commercial. These samples are good examples especially if they can be exported to DWG format.

I guess it depends on the definition of what Lite Commercial is. That 10 story Condo is not lite commercial.

Sketch Up

The Light Commercial projects that are in the gallery are quite nice. I'd like to see what a set of cd's look like that were created with Chief for LT Commercial. I saw the Condo project that was done with 9.5 and that was pretty impressive. I'd like to see that in a CD format.

That's the kicker. I do residential as well as commercial. One friend has Archicad, another has Revit. They all say that theirs is best. No good side by side comparison with people to talk with.