Canada Specific Chief Architect Template Plan & Workflow

[robdyck]

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all having a busy and productive week!

I’m looking to get some friendly feedback from the Canadian users in the community regarding our daily workflows. 

Chief Architect is an incredibly powerful tool right out of the box, but as Canadian designers and builders, we all know it takes a fair amount of setup to fully align it with our local building codes, regional drafting standards, and client presentation expectations.

 

Over the years, I’ve poured a lot of time into optimizing a master template plan designed specifically to streamline a Canadian workflow. The goal wasn't to change how Chief works, but to leverage its core strengths so everything feels intuitive, fast, and completely straightforward from day one.

 

I’ve focused heavily on elevating the default graphic interfaces to deliver a highly polished, presentation-ready look out of the box, including:

• Refined Graphic Standards: Tailored text styles, clear dimension defaults, and organized layer sets that instantly look crisp and professional on local construction sets.

• Enhanced 3D & Rendering Defaults: Dialed-in environmental and camera settings so you can jump straight into high-quality client presentations without extra setup time.

• Streamlined Project Defaults: Cleaned-up defaults for a predictable, efficient out-of-the-box building experience that lets you focus on design rather than tweaking settings.

 

I’m considering packaging and offering this template plan for sale to help other Canadian professionals save dozens of hours of backend configuration and get straight to creating.

Before I finalize everything, I’d love to know your thoughts:

1. Would a localized, pre-configured Canadian template add value to your current business workflow?

2. What regional details do you find yourself spending the most time setting up when starting a new project?

I really value the expertise in this forum and would love to hear if this is something you’d find helpful.

Thanks so much for your time and insights!

[QualicoreHomes]

Hello Robert,

 

Yes, definitely would be interested in this and I think this would add value to my current workflow.  

As for the regional details, I would be interested in a better template for my plot plans and for my elevations better limiting distance calculations concerning the glazing in a wall.  Also, I haven't done much material take-offs for my projects as I have not been asked but I have this on my list to add as a service.  Not sure if you have that in your templates but if you would have that, it would be an easy way for me to expand my services. 

Not sure if those are the kind of thoughts your were asking for as the real experts can probably give you better direction but I just wanted to let you know that I'm interested.  

[robdyck]

25 minutes ago, QualicoreHomes said:

Not sure if those are the kind of thoughts your were asking for as the real experts can probably give you better direction but I just wanted to let you know that I'm interested. 

Thanks for the feedback! Generally speaking, you've mentioned some of the items I would be addressing...although materials lists were low on my priority list at this point. That being said, my template plan would certainly have many built-in material list corrections when compared to Chief's template plans!

 

Window calculation tools would be included and ready for use and the same is true for site plans! 

Edited June 17 by robdyck

[QualicoreHomes]

On 6/17/2026 at 5:41 PM, robdyck said:

 

Window calculation tools would be included and ready for use and the same is true for site plans! 

That's awesome! 

[TCB_BdnMY]

I would absolutely be interested in something like this for sure.

Here in MB its mostly the foundations / connections / efficiency info.

 

I've spent a decent chunk of time on tuning the material lists etc, it would be cool to see how other people are optimizing that for sure. 

Window and site plan tools would also be great. 

 

If you ever need someone to bounce ideas off etc shoot me a message. 

 

[robdyck]

@TCB_BdnMY I have a fairly robust collection of construction assemblies with the RSI and R value calculations and that would be included.

[SHCanada2]

Most of my work is basements, sec suites, and the odd addition.  The basements and sec suites are very straightforward. I find the details and RSI calcs for oddball assemblies on additions take the time, and looking up the actual requirement. i.e. for a detached garage that is heated, what is the wall and ceiling RSI requirements. what if there is a workshop in the garage, is that treated differently. 

 

And then the fire rated assemblies for stuff like soffit with 1'6 of PL walls within x of PL

 

I have a bit of a catalog, but I would not consider it organized enough to quickly find what I need.

 

I have limiting distance calc that works well, just adjust the pline already on the elevation camera, and set the window category to be included on the schedule. the schedule and macro logic does the rest. same with floor area. So I am ok there

 

The other PIA is terrain elevations. I have an object that shows the elevation on the site plan and the section, but everytime the terrain rebuilds I have to open up each marker to get it to refresh. If you have an answer to that I'd be interested

 

I also refuse to manually draw fake grade lines, so I use a terrain object 1" deep by 10ft high that slices the terrain, one for each elevation, but each has its own layer, so its a bit of a PIA as I need to maintain 4 layersets. If you have a better answer for that, I'd be interested.

 

Then there is the whoie detail management. If I change the wall to have 1" foam, and the foundation to have 1" foam, am I manually changing all the details to ensure they match. You'd be surprised at how often I get,, oh go put some purlins on that roof so we can get some airflow or uhh ,make the roof 2x10 so we can get more insulation. Then I have to change the roof structure, and the details. 

 

Ultimately I would think I would want notes put on the cross section with W1.1, and an associated detail called W1.1 and its RSI, same with ceiling and floor. but that doesn't cover the detail where the truss heel is, so not sure what the answer there is