Residential designers create a large portion of the home designs built every year and represent a large portion of SoftPlan users because SoftPlan is the best choice for residential designers.
In addition to being a great value, SoftPlan is also easy to learn.
SoftPlan lets you design in both 2D and 3D, using the advanced and easy-to-use design tools that have always been the hallmark of SoftPlan.
Choose from SoftPlan's thousands of symbols and textures and customize every aspect of your design. See for yourself why so many designers have made the switch to SoftPlan.
“I just called to say that you guys got this right. The program is awesome. I upgraded from Version 13 to 2014 and everyday I find something new that was on my wish list. Please pass this on that SoftPlan is the best and I have used them all."
Andrew Bozeman
Home Designer, Montgomery AL, USAThis is the major design program I use, rarely use ACAD anymore, except to make 3-D models for parts to be placed in SoftPlan 3-D models. Unmatched tool, and I've sampled many AutoCAD 2016 suite, 3DS Max, SketchUp, and who knows how many more. Nothing compares to this in accuracy and ability to do a complete 3500SF design in just over 1 day.
James Holley
Holley & Associates Design LLC, Westfield, IN, USABackground
With an educational background in architecture and interior design, Stefani Thatcher was first introduced to SoftPlan in 1999 when she and her husband were working towards building their first home. A few years later, Stefani was hired by an up-and-coming general contractor and fellow SoftPlan user to start up the in-house design department for their custom home building business. Stefani was also tasked with designing the starting lineup for a new sister company that focused on production homes.
In 2015, Stefani left to start her own independent residential design business, Domani Home Design. Since then, she has designed nearly 100 custom homes and is currently working on branching out her services to help other aspiring designers learn how to become successful residential designers.
Experience with SoftPlan
While it's hard to remember the early years of using SoftPlan, I don't remember feeling too much frustration which enabled me to continue working in the program. It was quite intuitive and easy to learn the basics. I felt like I was able to produce a decent set of floor plans with a very small learning curve.
That being said, I also had very low expectations for my finished product, so the end product I was producing wasn't that great, to be honest. But I learned. Bit by bit, I incrementally learned one more new feature at a time to get better and improve my end results.
As of this date, I am 90% finished assembling a SoftPlan template project file to expedite my workflow and decrease my production time.
Benefits of SoftPlan
On the benefits of SoftPlan, Stefani says, “I use SoftPlan because I want to be time-efficient” and “because of the ability and ease I have to work remotely with other associate, independent residential designers through the cloud-based file sharing functionality.”
Continuing, Stefani also lists SoftPlan’s compatibility with other industry programs, keyboard shortcut commands that increase efficiency, and custom scales for completed floor plans as other useful benefits.
Discussing how SoftPlan helps her stay competitive, Stefani mentions the 3D design experience SoftPlan offers, including new virtual reality capabilities that allow her clients to get a more realistic understanding of their new home design. She says, “For some of my clients who struggle with visualization, they really appreciate the VR viewing options.”
Discussing roof design, Stefani says, “[With SoftPlan] I can design a roof in minutes where I’ve been told by users of other BIM CAD programs that designing roofs takes up to a full working week of time.”
Background
Jenney Petrikin is an architectural and interior designer based in Nashville, Tennessee. Starting in the business in 1998, Jenney went on to establish her firm, JP Designs, in 2000. Jenney designs high-end, new construction homes and multimillion dollar residential remodels. She works both locally in the Nashville area and nationally.
Experience with SoftPlan
I have been working with SoftPlan since 2002. In school I learned on AutoCAD. When I graduated, I tried several other programs prior to SoftPlan but they were not suited to my needs and were more complex to learn. SoftPlan just seemed to work in my system. Many years later, I still like working with the program and find it relatively easy to navigate. There are some quirks, but in general I find it very user friendly.
Benefits of SoftPlan
Explaining how SoftPlan helps her compete in her industry, Petrikin says, “Because I do both architectural and interior design, the program allows me to design my projects efficiently with a lot of detail and makes it a cost-effective approach. This allows my clients to see 3D drawings in a relatively short amount of time. The clients always want it quicker and more cost-effective.”
On the unique benefits SoftPlan offers, Petrikin continues, “I have always found that having the plan build in 3D in the background while I was drawing is extremely beneficial and unique. It helps myself and others visualize the structure and potential issues that might arise by having a quick and dirty reference to the model as I design.”