Which 2D and 3D house plan drawing software.

[bluejets]

Presently starting on house plans for Thailand build and would like to hear opinion of diy house plan software preferrably one that would normally be used in Thailand.

Might be a tall order though.

Intention is to get to a stage whereby a draughtsman should be able to follow and create an official set of plans.

Spoke with Len Hend and his most recent is 10k baht but then again that is 2 story and engineering footings for earthquake proofing.  mmmm..... bit over what I need.

Seems some plans are drawn using the interior walls as dimensions, any comment there?

Did look at Dreamplan software which seems fairly easy to use although it might be limited in features once one gets more into it.

Currently cheap-as at around AUD$30 online.

Have access to Fusion360 that I currently use for model ic engine design work but not sure how to get onto architectural add-on.

Edited February 15, 2022 by bluejets

[gamb00ler]

I perused many US sites for a floor plan close to what we wanted.  I found one and then put it into Sweet Home 3D manually.  Then we massaged it to be 95% of what we wanted.  Our builder's architect then put it into their ArchiCad software and we continued massaging it until satisfied.

 

I only used the basic functions of Sweet Home so I cannot advise you how complete the software is.

 

It's not a simple process to make a house plan to match your dreams!  Good luck!

 

P.S. A friend recommended Sweet Home and the price (0) was great.

Edited February 15, 2022 by gamb00ler

[sometimewoodworker]

I used SketchUp to build a concept model

the architect built a better model via AutoCAD into SketchUp 

from that we modified some things and got drawings

our builder followed the plans 

 

 

our house is virtually the same as our concept SketchUp plan

 

I am sure that if you can do something similar in fusion 360 you will be able to get an architect who can draw plans for you.

 

I also think that there is no point in trying to produce plans yourself as that part of the building process is not that expensive and requires special training you don’t have.

[sometimewoodworker]

29 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

I perused many US sites for a floor plan close to what we wanted.  I found one and then put it into Sweet Home 3D manually.  Then we massaged it to be 95% of what we wanted.  Our builder's architect then put it into their ArchiCad software and we continued massaging it until satisfied.

 

I only used the basic functions of Sweet Home so I cannot advise you how complete the software is.

 

It's not a simple process to make a house plan to match your dreams!  Good luck!

 

P.S. A friend recommended Sweet Home and the price (0) was great.

The difficulty of planning a house depends on your ability to plan ahead and take everything into account. I would say that we have about 98% of what we wanted. There are some things that didn’t work as well as could be hoped and would have changed, but not many.

[unheard]

"Intention is to get to a stage whereby a draughtsman should be able to follow and create an official set of plans."

 

If that is your main intention then I would agree with gamb00ler - Sweet Home 3D is a free, relatively simple to use application. With lots of tutorials and the active user support forum.

I've used it to create different plans to play with various design ideas.

Once settled I sent snapshots to my architect which had no problem transferring the design into the engineering drawing.

Edited February 16, 2022 by unheard

[david555]

If it is to get building ideas .... this builder has a nice website  with many choices and info , just click on any picture and more pictures about the chosen one appears , floorplans on the planning section in the main menu

Alan the builder - Build a house in Thailand - Gallery

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by david555

[Silencer]

I used a free site "Homebyme" to provide the general ideas for the house I wanted and the designer took it from there to build the house construction drawings, with about 90% of the decisions already made. Some of the software pics...

[GreasyFingers]

Another free one, that can be upgraded for a fee, is RoomSketcher. I have designed a few different houses with it when looking at land and then build. Ended up buying an existing house and designed the additions to it. You will need to have someone else draw the plans to local specifications.

[bluejets]

On 2/15/2022 at 4:58 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

I used SketchUp to build a concept model

Looked at several and this seemed to be well supported with good online tutorials.

"copy" function had me for a while but eventually through watching and trial and error, have it by the balls now.

Thanks Sometimewoodworker.

Currently practicing on a "land rice shack" ( looking around 100k Baht) with a couple of small rooms, semi-outdoor kitchen, shower, all ok for now.

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, bluejets said:

Looked at several and this seemed to be well supported with good online tutorials.

"copy" function had me for a while but eventually through watching and trial and error, have it by the balls now.

Thanks Sometimewoodworker.

Currently practicing on a "land rice shack" ( looking around 100k Baht) with a couple of small rooms, semi-outdoor kitchen, shower, all ok for now.

SketchUp is an immensely capable professional program that even amateurs can use, BUT it takes dedication to get to a level where you can produce models like 

 

these

from an AutoCAD design like this

 

These are the architect designs from my very much more limited concept. BUT the architect was able to view my concept that contained all the important, to me, design elements and draw up the designs above that then allowed me to view his interpretation and make corrections or alterations before construction started.

 

During construction there was only 1 major visual change & that was to the clear story windows 

 

this was because the original design was over complex and just looked wrong. So luckily it was relatively simple to change to this.

[Encid]

On 2/16/2022 at 10:35 AM, unheard said:

 

If that is your main intention then I would agree with gamb00ler - Sweet Home 3D is a free, relatively simple to use application. With lots of tutorials and the active user support forum.

I also agree with you and gamb00ler... Sweet Home 3D is fantastic!

 

[ourmanflint]

I've used Home `Design 3D on my iPad, very capable software and pretty cheap to get the full package, you can export drawings to most other platforms as well 

 

https://en.homedesign3d.net/

[bluejets]

On 2/21/2022 at 1:26 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

SketchUp is an immensely capable professional program that even amateurs can use, BUT it takes dedication to get to a level where you can produce models like 

 

these

Notice you use the centreline of the uprights as main dimensions which would in most instances be the room interior sizes.

Is that the conventional method in Thailand?

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, bluejets said:

Notice you use the centreline of the uprights as main dimensions which would in most instances be the room interior sizes.

Is that the conventional method in Thailand?

I’m sure that your statement would be absolutely clear if I had any idea which dimensions you are talking about. I suspect that you are looking at the AutoCAD drawings. If so then they were drawn up our architect, are the only AutoCAD drawings I’ve seen, so I have to assume that they are the standard method. If they are any different to other plans, I have no reference, so don’t know. 
 

If you would like to be more clear I may be able to answer.

[bluejets]

On the plan views or on the elevation views, dimensions between uprights ( for want of a better word perhaps vertical support posts)

Some plans I see are taken centre to centre, whereas others will be external.

 

In the first plan I drew up for example (only a land rice shack.....no requirement for draughtsman etc) some I have made as external whereas others internal.

I imagine it would be a point of confusion if normally the two were mixed as this and wondered if there is a standard i.e. internal or external.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, bluejets said:

On the plan views or on the elevation views, dimensions between uprights ( for want of a better word perhaps vertical support posts)

Some plans I see are taken centre to centre, whereas others will be external.

 

In the first plan I drew up for example (only a land rice shack.....no requirement for draughtsman etc) some I have made as external whereas others internal.

I imagine it would be a point of confusion if normally the two were mixed as this and wondered if there is a standard i.e. internal or external.

The architect produced this

 

to produce the building plans

 

but to allow a better visualisation for produced this from the AutoCAD file

 

and we got this

 

so as you can see the plans are not, nor were they intended to be, exactly what was produced, case in point, no visible posts or beams apart from the overhead crane.

 

Where the measurements are drawn from probably depends on the importance of the area, the ability of a builder to follow, or even get within a country mile of, the plan is also an interesting discussion.

 

I suspect that center to center of critical points is standard as then a change from 200mm to 250mm posts is a trivial issue 

Edited March 15, 2022 by sometimewoodworker

[Encid]

3 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

 

 

 

This is typical for architectural drawing produced all over the world, not just in Thailand.

All the structural columns (or vertical support posts or uprights) are identified in one plane alphabetically (A, B, C...) and in the other plane numerically (1, 2, 3...).

Therefore each individual column can be identified (B2, C4 etc.).

All minor setout dimensions reference the main column spacing dimensions.

 

The SketchUp drawing produced by bluejets has the columns spaced at irregular dimensions and would give your typical Thai builder some head-scratching moments lol.

Better to stick to regular dimensions.

[bluejets]

With reference to "irregular" I guess that depends on where one actually looks.

If you are referring to the "2925mm" then I guess you might call that irregular but case in point, this is centre to centre, outer dimension in this example is a neat 6000mm.

Sometimewoodworker, that is SOME fan you have there........ ????

 

OK then I guess I'll stick to internals and go from there.

Placement of the support posts is not really a concern at this point, as you say, the draughtsman will sort that.

Cheers Jeff

Edited March 15, 2022 by bluejets

[Encid]

I too am going to be building a rice farm shack as you call it Jeff.

Here is my plan for the local builder to fabricate from.

No need for an architect or draftsman.

Nothing fancy... just 20cm sq columns in a 5m x 4m pattern.

20x20x600 Q-CON block walls.

Electrical conduits will be surface mounted.

The circles you see outside the structure represent a water storage tank and underground grey water and sewer tanks.

We are planning to live in it whilst our main house is being built.

After our house is built it will revert to a rice storage area and a rest retreat for the farm workers.

And, back on-topic, I used AutoSketch software.

 

[TimCM]

On 3/15/2022 at 8:08 AM, bluejets said:

Notice you use the centreline of the uprights as main dimensions which would in most instances be the room interior sizes.

Is that the conventional method in Thailand?

Short answer Yes

 

I noticed this on the drawing we got back from our engineer too

[OneMoreFarang]

I bought Home Designer Pro 2022 for about 500USD.

 

Not cheap, but very good. And at least for my renovation the cost of the software are minimal compared to the whole project. For that reason I thought I buy something good.