This "DIY" subscription pricing CUTS ME OUT, after 26 years of shoveling tolerable amounts of money toward CA for a product that I just want to own, not one I need.
I am truly DIY, not a contractor. I have been using this software since 1999 and have paid annual upgrades for many years.
Why would any DIY buy this??
Over time I designed an addition to my house and a couple of renovations. I used it to arrange furniture in my gazabo.
My wife and tried to design our dream home, but after time the kids grew up and moved away. I assumed that when we got serious and wanted to actually create construction drawings, I would either upgrade or find an architect that uses CA. (Now we see several really smart stock plans from builders available and they provide customization services_
Some years I don't even open it, or open up a plan just to get some measurements.
Most of my use is to visualize moving my furniture around, adding shelves, etc.
Recently, I roughly captured my daughter's house to brainstorm renovations with her and help with furniture purchases.
3D Home Architect WAS a DIY product, with a DIY price! My receipt below is April 1999: 3D Home Architect® Deluxe 3.0 Win9x CD $49.95 ($97.62 in today's dollars). With all upgrades over time I have spent about $550... just to have this DIY designer.
I bought many of my annual upgrades are just to make Home Designer Suite perform better, do 3D better, to support Windows 7, 10 and 11, or to avoid the bigger cost to re-purchase if I didn't upgrade. The price was low enough for me to just do it. It was annoying at times, but I just wanted to be able to use it on my new computers and open old files. A quick review shows I have spent almost
Home Designer is not really a DIY product anymore, it has enough to market professional services, yet as I read, it seems that it is just a frustrating version of Chief Architect. Now you are pricing it for small shop professionals.
If I was a small shop pro making money on the 2025 perpetual license, I would just do it, without upgrading ever. It really seems like CA is killing a market segment, instead of creating one that pulls users toward the higher priced versions when they need it.
