Better Home Designer Suite Review: Limited Capability-Not For Remodeling

When I read the other reviews on this product, I was a bit surprised at their
very positive nature. Then I remembered how I felt when I first tried this
program and it all made sense. My guess is that the folks who wrote the positive
reviews probably haven't worked with the program for very long or tried to
create anything but the most elementary structures. I know I was very impressed
at first. That is until I tried to re-create my own home as the starting point
for a remodeling project.





This program is very intuitive and easy to learn, the problem is that it is also
very limited. After you get past the ease of creating floor plans, the next
obvious progression is to see the building in 3D. That's where the problems
begin. The roof planes are nearly impossible to control. If you are creating
anything other than a simple cape or ranch, you will quickly see how un-nerving
this program can be.



Since most homes are comprised of several sections, controlling how the roof
planes associated with those sections are generated is critical if you are to be
able to create an end product that resembles what you had in mind. This program
takes almost all of the roof plane control away from the user. The program
generates the roof planes based on a few user defined parameters. This results
in 3D images that almost never match what I had in mind.



Just for the record, I'm not technologically impaired. I am an engineer by
trade. If I can't get it to work, then the average user is likely going to have
even more trouble. In the end, if you can't get an accurate 3D model from this
program that resembles what you are trying to create, then why spend the money
or the time on this program. Just get a $10 floor plan program or jump up to the
$500 version of this Chief Architect program which, as I've been told (haven't
used it myself) , is very capable.