Extreme Home Makeover - SoftPlan users made dreams come true on the national network television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The popular ABC show provides new homes for deserving families in difficult circumstances with builders, designers and crew completing the project in just seven days. Two builders that appeared on recent episodes used SoftPlan to create home plans for the show.

One of these remarkable makeovers was completed by John George and his team at Majestic Homes. George, president and CEO of Majestic Homes and Realty, has been building homes in Palm Beach County for more than 20 years. Among other things,
John George (middle) and his team at Majestic Homes, produced a set a plans in one day with SoftPlan for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
George used the power of SoftPlan to design a home plan quickly and accurately for the show’s tight deadlines. Of the software George said, “We have been using SoftPlan for over 10 years. Due to the speed and accuracy of SoftPlan, we were able to produce a set of plans in one day that allowed us to build a beautiful home for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Rainford Family) in 106.5 hours”.

Additionally, members of George’s team cited SoftPlan’s intuitive design and competitive price point as reasons why SoftPlan was the program they chose both for the show and for daily design efforts. Draftsman, Timothy Cribb noted, “SoftPlan allows the process of creating full permit sets quicker than most of its competitor’s CAD programs. The interface is much simpler and makes it easier for employees with no experience to learn and master the program. SoftPlan is more reasonably priced than its major competitors, which allows smaller firms and businesses to have a top of the line program to produce top of the line products. We love it!”

Following Majestic Home’s success, Tulsa based builders Simmons Homes also used SoftPlan for the creation of a 4,200sq ft, 6 bedroom, 4 bath home. Simmons Homes also uses SoftPlan floor plans on their website with customization options to help new home buyers visualize upgrades and changes to standard floor plans. Click here to view the plan online.
   
Building Products Top 100 - SoftPlan was named the #10 most requested product of 2005 by Building Products magazine. Building Products and sister publications Builder and Remodeling are industry leading, award winning business to business magazines by market specialist Hanley Wood. Building Products caters to high volume builders and remodelers, a segment known to buy more products than any other in the industry.
SoftPlan named the #10 most requested product of 2005

Each year, readers of the publications request information about some of the hundreds of products featured in the magazines’ pages by mailing in their service cards contained at the back of the issue. The result is a list of products that represent what’s new and innovative in the industry as a wide range of building professionals tally up their expertise on products that boost productivity and slash material costs.

SoftPlan’s entrance on the list at #10 shows tremendous industry recognition of SoftPlan’s functionality. And to those familiar with the SoftPlan product line, it’s no surprise. The article, published in the June ‘06 edition of Building Products, notes SoftPlan’s unique ability to draw fully assembled walls, windows, beams, rafters, foundations, and more, as well as automatically create elevations, cross sections, framing diagrams, and materials lists.

To view the Building Products article online click here.
   
 
The Southern Design Competition
This year at the Southern Design Competition, SoftPlan users came out on top. The competition took place as part of The 2006 Southern Building Show held on June 8-10 in Atlanta and was hosted by the American Institute of Building Design, a non profit organization committed to the development of the profession of building design.

Three top new home designers were given specifications for a hypothetical home. They designed the home live over two days in the exhibit hall. Then, show attendees along with AIBD officers, and sponsors voted on the best plan.

The winner of the competition was SoftPlan user John Honea of Olde South Design Studios in Snellville, GA for his design entitled "Magnolia." The design emphasized traditional family spaces, and a modernized southern aesthetic in the two story home plan that hearkened back to the Southern farm house. Honea’s winning design was offered a publication contract by a sponsoring online home plan service. Click here to view the house plans.

Another noteworthy designer in the competition was Randall Henley, a longtime SoftPlan user, of Lawrenceberg, GA.