Home Design Software by SoftPlan

Professionals seeking a better tool for designing houses fall into one of two groups, those that know how to run AutoCAD® and those that do not. Each group will evaluate SoftPlan from completely different perspectives.

Current AutoCAD®users that make the switch to SoftPlan will experience increased productivity. Simply put, a house can be draw faster in SoftPlan than in AutoCAD®. How is that? Since SoftPlan is object oriented, it is essentially building the house in three dimension, as the plan of the house is being drawn. This information is then quickly repurposed to create items like elevations, 3D renderings, and material lists. In SoftPlan a wall is drawn as a smart object complete with all the properties of the physical wall -- the length, height, thickness, and construction materials (top plates, drywall, studs, plates, etc.). In AutoCAD® that same wall is drawn as a series of parallel lines or planes that contain no "construction information" at all. Walls drawn to form a corner in SoftPlan are automatically joined together based on the physical properties of the materials involved. Whereas, in AutoCAD®, walls are joined manually with commands such as fillet, extend, and trim.

For those not currently using AutoCAD®, SoftPlan is a clear choice based solely on how easy SoftPlan is to learn. As it is a general purpose CAD tool, AutoCAD® is often taught in drafting classes at the high school or collegiate level. AutoCAD® is certainly the most popular general purpose CAD package but even the most adamant supporters would not characterize it as easy to learn. It is our experience that when you were “back in school" was the time to learn AutoCAD®.

Many current SoftPlan users who were former AutoCAD® users tended to come to SoftPlan looking for 3D renderings or material lists. Not only did they get photo-realistic 3D renderings and dead-on-accurate material lists, but they ended up with an easy-to-learn and comprehensive tool that increased their productivity.

AutoCAD® may even be the best program for certain disciplines but for drawing houses SoftPlan is an easier to learn and easier to use tool, resulting in more comprehensive documents in less time.

Read below for testimonials from former AutoCAD® users who now use SoftPlan:

“I have worked for homebuilders for the past 10 years. As an 8-year user of Autodesk® Architectural Desktop, I felt that the residential market was being slighted over all those years by Autodesk®. And since my needs were to be able to offer many services including presentation renderings, interior finish schedules, and takeoffs, as well as a program that knows how to build a house, I knew I needed a different program. After doing much research, I purchased SoftPlan 13 and now own 14. I have to say that once I unlearned a few things from AutoCAD®, it was not hard to figure out. Though I am weary that programs too simplistic are not a good thing either, SoftPlan was right where it needed to be. In the beginning I was worried that I was going to hit a wall early on since I am used to advanced functions of AutoCAD®. But instead, I am finding myself looking for SoftPlan commands when using AutoCAD®. I have to say that I feel ‘free’ when I use SoftPlan. Not only can I draw faster in SoftPlan, but I can draw actual wall components instead of an object that I name a component. And the renderings are really eye catching. No need to redraw in SketchUp® or import to a 3rd party render program. Best of all, my drawings look professional when they print. I am giving myself a pat on the back for jumping on board when I did.”

Michael Collazo Division Production Manager Pulte Product Development Tampa, FL