Rookie65

Very cool. Thank you Eric.

Ok. Never have seen them show up in any of the additional mfr catalogs that can be downloaded from the library. Actually, have not seen any of the major window companies be available for home designer. Good luck.

They probably just exist for the actual Chief Architect program and not for the Home Designer series from Chief Architect. Though you can size the HD Pro windows to the sizes needed, change the label to the corresponding number if desired.

If it's an upgrade, it should only be $99 with your existing product key. So far I like it. Haven't spent much time with the PBR, yet it seems like it's been an area of concern for many with trying to get the settings right, etc. There are some things that seemed to have been changed as to how to complete them now, though once you figure it out, it works fine. Still need to learn the new tricks and will do them as the particular need arises on a project. That's my 2 cents and I am sure others will expound on it greatly.

Put in your grade so you have a reference point. It is done by setting a distance below floor 1. In your case, would probably be whatever the basement level is, then 4" lower possibly to allow for the step down often needed. Then since the garage is its own room, you can drop the level of that to grade. Or if you don't want to have the garage defaults take over, leave the room defined as a "basement" and change the display to show "garage". Then when you open that one room you can drop the floor lower to meet grade.

Probably time to dig into the reference manual found in the "help" tab. When you open the room, concentrate on the floor you are working on. You can change each floor and those dimensions shown are cumulative. Think of it this way . . . the main house floor (level 1) should be at 0 inches. Then your basement floor (level 0) will be whatever height you need (say 8') PLUS the depth of the framing (say 10", which is 2x10 joists plus 3/4" subfloor. Though in Suite you may be stuck with one floor thickness/type only. So you use that. That will set the height of floor 0 below and it should be a negative number.

Rob, In a split level, the lower level IS the basement. As I mentioned, go to your settings and make the foundation "stem wall" the height of what you need the lower level to be PLUS how far below the grade your foundation is (typically 4' here in New England). Then go to the basement level (level 0) and check the defaults. There, you can see the full height of the foundation and then change the finished floor to ceiling height. That will give you the lower level floor you want. Then the stairs can connect level 0 to level 1. Then you can look at the stairs display, see the level that each stair section goes to. Then you drop your front door from floor 1 DOWN to where the landing is. Theoretically it's halfway between the 2 floors. Don't give up. Just do one thing at a time. .

When doing a raised ranch, the lower level will be floor 0 and the main floor level 1. You run the stairs from floor 0 to floor 1 and they should be able to be split. I don't know what suite has, yet pro has U shaped stairs, which make it very quick. If your foundation goes below the floor of the basement, you can adjust the overall stem wall (hopefully in suite?) and then adjust the floor to ceiling to the desired height. Hope this helps?

Possibly the roof on the right is overlapping the siding and cutting it back to the sheathing. Manually adjust the roof so it's just touching the siding.Or change the wall type of that wall if they are not to line up at the ridge.

For what it's worth, you could probably draw a split level yourself that you want to use as a base in the time it will take to find out if there are samples available. If you just want to try out additions, keep the main house you draw as a plan with no additions. Then draw addition versions from there and save each one separately. Plus it's a good way to learn about some of the new features. Don't even need full rooms inside. Draw a box, split the heights with a stairway, put in some exterior doors, windows, maybe a deck and off you go!

Hi Mike, I keep a master plan saved w/all of the default settings I want. Then when I start a new job, I just "save as" the name of the new project I am doing. That way the master doesn't change and the new plan has any new/changed settings specific for that job. It helps an awful lot.

The reference manual is probably the best place to start. Open the program, top of the screen is "help" and it's there.

I have my own design business drawing houses, additions, decks, etc. and I find Pro works just fine for me. Started with it in 2013 and have done over 300 projects with it.. The help here is fantastic and I have learned a lot of nice tricks and workarounds from this forum.

I guess Premier does that. I have gotten used to it and don't mind it. When I am doing a project, I just save it as a page number and what's on it. Gets very fast after a while.

Save the 1st as a PDF or however you need it saved. Then go to the layout, delete the image, then send the second image to layout. Change any page numbers, title, or other info you want changed. Save the same way with a different title from the 1st so you can keep track of them.

Read up on "Pony Walls" for your wainscot height. Then maybe a soffit to simulate the z trim.

Open up the stairs dialog box, and on "style", see if extended stringers is checked? That may be the culprit unless you can post the plan for others to see.

I use sloped soffits to make the bracing I need. Then position them in an elevation view. Once the 1st one is done, then I go to plan view and copy and paste them to the required locations.

Another option is to open up (click on) the particular roof in question and set the ridge to below the windows. It will ask you to confirm that you want to turn auto-rebuild roofs off, so if everything else is set, it's ok. Then you can experiment with either the ridge height or the pitch you want it to be, Just keep baseline height checked so that doesn't change on you.

Gotcha. Thank you for the clarification. I use it successfully to design additions, homes, decks, garages, etc. It's a life saver. Your advice is always helpful.

Chiefpdb, then good luck on your research and writing. I'm sure you'll be enlightened at the end. DJP, not everyone that uses the Home Designer software is an amateur or hobbyist. Though I do think that any version other than Pro will limit the details that one often needs to generate a set of buildable plans.

Frankly I think you could do better things with your time, especially if you have a "busy" routine. To me it would become very frustrating turning the clock back from what I have to something that isn't even close. Especially knowing what you do now about Pro. When I started my business up again in 2013, I bought Architectural. After about a week I realized it wouldn't do what I needed with its limitations, so I upgraded to Pro and haven't looked back.

Fredo649, Now that you have listed that info, please update your signature so it's always there so people can help you a lot easier. In the truss details, you can create an energy heel as an option. Read the reference manual for those to understand the settings and then you are on your way!

It'll depend on which program and version you're using.

Hi Mike, Do you give your plans to builders to estimate off of when you have them printed at "scale to fit?" If so, you would be doing yourself and them a huge favor to use the HD Pro provided 18" x 24" layout sheet and send it to that sheet at the scale that will fit and have it printed at scale on 18" x 24" paper. Trying to estimate from a plan with no scale will be of little if no help to them. The sheets will resize in both directions to fit the sheet and I think any consistency will disappear. Just my 2 cents.