solver

Here are some quickly done variations. I was working in Chief and it crashed 4 or 5 times while working on your plan -- something it rarely does. I'd not emphasize the garage door. It's big and takes the focus away from the center of the house. Nothing wrong with a nice door, but I'd want it to blend in. I think with some landscaping -- don't buy 1 gallon things -- a small ornamental tree for example to fill in left of the bow window, you will be fine with a simpler design. Note that where I used a lap siding, it's 12" and not one of the more common smaller sizes. Doing something with the landing and steps would also help. Just a simple column would work.

Attach your plan file and I'll see what I can do. What the house needs more than anything is landscaping. A darker color on the siding would help it blend in to the background.

Can you post a screen capture showing a perspective? Have you changed the pitch?

Read about Drawing Groups and Draw Order Edit Tools. Probably need to attach the plan file for best suggestions.

Open the Build Roof dialog and review the settings. See the Roof Styles panel (left side of build roof dialog) for more info. Good hour long getting started webinars on YouTube -- see the links I posted above.

Roof Test A.plan

Try the Custom Backsplash tool. And I know you did not ask, but ... I can see the look you are going for, but what you show is really busy and not coherent. I can be more specific if you are interested.

Something like this? Dollhouse view, 3D>View Direction>Top View This is orthographic, but perspective also works. And Standard, Vector settings also work.

Here is my plan after adding 2 interior walls and adjusting ceiling heights. And the 2 interior walls added. i also used Roof Groups, but probably not needed.

You control wall heights by varying ceiling height and roof specs (pitch, type etc). Roofs build over rooms. I really think this roof will not easily work. The software just isn't set up to build one like this. You can upgrade to Pro. The 2021 version will be out soon. I could put the roof on for you, but only if you can tell me exactly where it goes, its structure, and only if it's not going to change. I don't want to be making adjustments as the plan evolves, and you will not be able to change it.

The roof will probably generate like this with various heights and you will need to create internal walls and vary ceiling heights to get things aligned. The program will want to generate separate roof planes and may not combine them into one, but by varying the ceiling heights you should be able to get close. An upgrade to Pro would make this easy.

Open the Build Roof dialog and look on the left for Roof Styles. Follow the links to the documentation.

Place a doorway as wide as the opening. Draw a half wall off to the side. Set it to No Room Definition. Use the center tool to move it into the opening. You will need to add your own base trim.

Video shows something similar. Make the pass-through head height less than the doorway and grab it with the center move handle to drag it into the doorway, then adjust its head height to match. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1W0LheEroRk

You will need to post the plan file.

Check out the Snipping Tool for making screen captures. It lets you select parts of the screen creating a better view. What you posted is really small To answer your question, everything drawn on a specific level is referenced to the floor of that level. Level 1 floor is 0". The software uses the concept of a room -- once you create a room by connecting walls, you can then control the elevation of that room, raise or lower the ceiling etc. Draw the remaining walls, open the room specification dialog and place a negative value in for Floor. The ceiling height will then need to be changed unless you want it to match the house.

Watch on YouTube: http://youtu.be/NdaoSvoMbvc?hd=1

You can't. You only have the ability to auto build roofs. You would need to upgrade to Pro to get manual roofs.

Be aware the videos show Pro which has many features the other titles do not. You can change the basic structure -- ceilings, floors, walls etc in Pro, but not in Architectural.

No. I'd draw with the default wall types assuming they will be the majority. Then multi select the walls that need to change, open and change to the new wall type. With Chief, you can add wall types to the library and then pick and begin drawing.

Trusses build between ceiling and roof planes. Think about how you truss will look and use the roof to control it. Here I changed this roof plane so the trusses would build the same all across. You do need a 2nd floor. And it's helpful to post images showing the problem ...

Turn off Auto Rebuild Roofs.

This is coming up from a basement. Concrete foundation wall that the 1st floor wall is on top of. The wall in question sits inboard and is there to contain insulation and to provide something to attach a finish surface (drywall) to.

That would work.