Building Software Features
"The high end, photo realistic 3D rendering capabilities absolutely blow my clients away. Chief Architect – in a word, is nothing short of spectacular!"
–Glenn Travis, President
GMT Home Designs, Inc.
3D Design Software for Builders
Powerful Home Design & Remodeling Tools
Chief Architect was created specifically for the residential and light commercial design market. The powerful building and drafting tools help the Design-Build professional quickly design according to standard building practices. Every element you place in the plan has commonly used defaults to make the design process efficient and productive. As you draw your walls, the program automatically creates a 3D model and generates a Materials List. You will also find powerful Automatic and Manual Building tools to generate foundations, floors, roofs, framing and more. Find out why so many Design-Build professionals save time and use Chief Architect for their designs on your next project.
Automated & Manual Building Tools
Plan Sets & Construction Documents
Home Design & Remodeling
- Perfect for residential or light commercial design – from concept to final plans
- Improve client communication and satisfaction
- Design in a 2D Plan View and 3D simultaneously
- Automatically generate foundations, floors, framing and roofs based on structural information you specify
- Complete kitchen and bath design tools. Easily use the Cabinet Designer™ tools to create any custom kitchen
- Choose from over 1,000 built-in CAD details, import your own or create custom details
- Create terrain, landscapes and Site Plans with custom elevations – place roads, sidewalks and driveways
- Learn and design quickly with How-To videos in the Chief Architect Video Training Series
Plan Sets & Construction Documents
- Use the Layout tool to produce detailed professional Plan Sets with framing, elevations, cross-sections, 3D overviews and more
- Layouts are synchronized with your design – change the floor plan, it automatically updates in the Layout
- Use the Layer Sets to turn on and off layers to easily create the exact view for your Plan Sets
- Control line weights and styles, set scale, select built-in architectural fonts, choose colors and more
- Print anywhere – desktop, large format printers or use the built-in PDF print driver
- Easily create custom title blocks or use pre-defined templates for your Plan Sets
Design with 2D & 3D Models
Floor Plans, Site Plans & Terrain
- Turn concepts into realistic 3D models in minutes
- Use the 3D views, models and Virtual Tours to help communicate and illustrate the finished project to the client
- Quickly drag and arrange walls, windows, doors and cabinets in 3D and 2D
- 3D models are automatic. To see a view, simply point-and-click the camera. Save any view as an image to email or print
- Choose from several 3D tools including the Full Overview, Doll House,™ Glass House,™ and many more
- Use the Plan Database to organize and maximize reuse of your plan portfolio
Automatic & Manual Building Tools
- Use the powerful built-in Automatic and Manual Building tools to make the most of your design time including: walls, windows, foundations, framing, stairs, decks, CAD, electrical and more
- Automatic and Manual Dimension tools – click to place automatic dimensions or manually place dimensions
- Automatic and manual roofs: hip, gable, curved and more
- Advanced roof tools: Auto Dormer™ and Auto Roof Returns™
- Material Schedules: windows, doors, cabinets, electrical, fixtures and furniture
- Automatic framing for walls, foundations, decks and roofs
- Materials Lists for cost estimating
Powerful Design & CAD Tools
Automatic Materials Lists for Cost Estimating
- A complete CAD tool set, including the Visual CAD Snaps™ to highly customize designs
- Choose from a Library of over 1,000 CAD Details – customize or import new Details
- Import and export DWG/DXF/3DS/OBJ files
- Use the CAD-to-Walls tool to import 2D files and automatically generate 3D models – AutoCAD® compatible
- Easily design custom cabinets with the Cabinet Designer™ tools – over 1,000 styles of cabinets including a built-in Cabinet Library
- Quickly design kitchens or baths in 3D, dropping in cabinets, changing styles, adding custom countertops, flooring and more
- Produce accurate Site Plans with elevation data imported from your surveyor