MrWizard

Done. Thanks for the tip! BobB

Looking for professional designer familiar with Mason County WA building department. Home Designer Pro v2019 model done. Need estimate of cost for design consultation & complete construction plans suitable for engineering review, county plan check & HOA committee review. Small home, conventional construction, ~1400 sqft. Simple design w/ small loft/balcony; attached garage.

Thanks, Solver & David both, for your comments: I see the Materials list as a useful thing. Also see it's another work assignment to get it accurate. I think it could be helpful for things like volume of concrete, maybe total BF dimensional lumber, etc. As David so nicely put it, the model isn't the entire story for the project. It's a source for other expert disciplines. Thank you all for helping me to better understand the scope and application for Materials List.

Thanks so much for the info on Trusses, David: My question was mostly about the Materials List. I'm guessing that HDPro identifies the materials that go into the roof. By adding trusses, I'm wondering if I'm creating additional items in the materials list that might need to be edited? I agree; seems like a lot of bother to model trusses. I'm thinkin' just create the representation showing dims and give those to the lumberyard... done. BTW, excellent videos you have authored on multiple subjects. Very appreciated! thanks - Bob Begin

HDPro v. 2017 Building a 2-level 1350 sqft house w/ shed roofs lower level & porch, and gable roofs upper level, w/ 2 dormers either side of main upper roof. Pic attached shows result from auto-generated roofs. I would like to better understand the relationship of trusses to auto-build roof. It would appear that IF there are trusses specified in some areas, the 'Build Roof Planes' should not change the roof planes in those areas while generating added roof features. I enjoyed DJPotter video re/ scissor trusses and was successful in creating truss & section views to create the truss depiction. I have learned how to generate the truss diagram(s) for output to a layout. Really only requires building one truss. But for Materials List, I think I may need to draw ALL the trusses so that the Material List generates accurate cost roll-up. I'm intending to build a model good enough to turn over to a professional designer to generate full-size drawing for permit review. Would you recommend I pursue creating all trusses, or simply create the diagrams and leave the model as built w/ auto-generated roofs? I'm concerned that if I build trusses everywhere I may generate more framing requirements, particularly at the intersections of dormer roof planes w/ main upper level roof planes. This may create more work than necessary. Should I consider building one truss to get the specifications, and then modifying the Materials List count? Will this create some materials duplication in the List? Thanks, anybody for comments and suggestions Bob Begin

Hello Eric: Thank you for responses. No, I haven't done any framing. That's basically my juncture. I'm not sure if I should be doing this design by building framing, or pursue the automatic generation. A real 3D model showing how the dormer will look from the inside will be invaluable. It's a very small house, so it's not a huge amount of work, should it require some extra attention. I'm not experienced enough to know what is the best approach for this design. What do you think? Thanks again for your responses.

Thank you so much for your quick and cogent reply, David. I will study the details of your suggestions. It appears from your discussion that the HDPro can easily accomplish this without manual drawing.

Using Home Designer Pro 2016 v. 17.3.2.2x64, Win7 I'm trying to build a daylight dormer on a second level gable roof which projects beyond the second floor exterior wall and penetrates a first floor shed roof to provide daylight, ventilation and expansive interior. I have attached an image of the exterior view, which I built with second floor supporting the dormer walls. Also, a section view for reference: Because the shed roof automatically raises the interior walls of the first floor, the second level has an exceptionally short floor/ceiling dimension. As such, it is desirable for the high end of the shed roof to attach to the inner wall at a point higher than the floor location of of the second level. (or to edit the first floor ceiling height without altering the shed roof pitch). In physical construction I think the way this would be built is to create first floor exterior and interior bearing walls to the required heights, lay rafters to support the shed roof, leaving an opening framed by doubled rafters and header, on which the dormer walls would be supported. There are two elements to my design dilemma; First is how to control the ceiling height for the first floor while providing a taller wall to support the upper end of the shed roofs, and Second, how to go about constructing the dormer spanning 2 levels, supported on doubled rafters? Perhaps the solution is to build the model completely with manual framing? Is it possible to do so? If someone has some pointers about general approach and order of building I would greatly appreciate comments. Bob Begin