Home Design Software

[Yellowtail]

I have a "new" house I need to renovate, and I want to add an outbuilding that includes a mechanical room. 

 

Is anyone using an easy to use, reasonably priced windows software for doing simple designs and "3D" renderings that include dimensioning? 

 

Also, does can anyone recommend someone that does architectural renderings from photos to compare different color schemes on the house? 

 

Any recommendations for construction, electrical, plumbing and or AC contractors in the Pinklao/Taling Chan area of Bangkok would be appreciated. 

[GreasyFingers]

Try Room Sketcher for the design. It has a free version as well as paid for Pro software. The free version is good for 2D design but you will probably need to go to Pro for the 3D.

[Yellowtail]

On 4/14/2025 at 11:18 AM, GreasyFingers said:

Try Room Sketcher for the design. It has a free version as well as paid for Pro software. The free version is good for 2D design but you will probably need to go to Pro for the 3D.

Have you actually used it? It looks pretty good. 

[GreasyFingers]

Yes, but only the free version. Have designed a few houses with it but eventually did not buy the land they were designed for (Thai vendors can be difficult). Did all of the extensions to the house we eventually bought.

If using the free version you will need to pay a once off fee to print your design. This was given to a draftsman to do the building plans. The Pro version will do the building plans for another fee buy do not know if they would be acceptable in Thailand.

[Muhendis]

I use Sketchup for all my jobs.

It's good for architectural, woodworking and mechanical designing.

It's a 3D drawing system which can produce 2D printoff's.

There are some pre-drawn models which I find not useful.

But the most important thing is: 

It's free!

 

[Yellowtail]

Thanks guys. 

 

It will let you save and print without paying anything?

 

Did you do the site plans? It looks like to do site plans you have to upgrade to "Pro". But even then, the price is not crazy. 

 

[GreasyFingers]

I have not used Room Sketcher for a couple of years so cannot remember what is required. You will need to pay, was USD15, for printing but maybe also to save your work. If I remember correctly you can do 5 different projects for that fee and each project can have multiple layers.

Site plans are a problem unless you have square boundaries. You cannot input coordinates or bearing and distance (vectors) and doing it by angles was not accurate enough.

[carlyai]

I used 'Chief Architect' to design our house.

Takes a bit of getting used to (like any rendering program) but can pretty much do anything with a house 3D walk-thru as well.

For me I found you need the Pro version is the best buy of rendering software as with the standard versions, you always seem to need a tool that only comes with the Pro version.