Chief Architect
Review of Chief Architect Software: system overview, features, price and cost information. Get free demos and compare to similar programs.
Overview
About Chief Architect
Chief Architect Screenshots
Chief Architect Features
Customer Reviews
See why people love Chief Architect
Michele A.
Verified UserDesign · Self-Employed
Beautiful Renderings
This software is easy to use and the render quality is superb. It definitely helps me sell a design.
- This software is perfect for kitchen and bath remodel designs
Some things are complicated, such as putting a cut out in the wall or getting a good camera angle in a small space
John G.
Verified UserArchitecture & Planning · 2-10 employees
Using Chief Architect since 2005
Great
- I've used two versions of CA over the last 14 years
- It was easy to learn; that is, I learned by trial and error and rarely going to see what others were doing on CA website
- It has delivered very good, if not photo-realistic renderings when using the raytrace feature, and I can go through the design and working drawing phases of a residence in a matter of ten days or so for a very custom design comprising 9 24" X 36" sheets
- I can't say enough good things about my experience
- There have been some minor glitches with this software, but the autobackup feature prevents catastrophic loss
- I'm considering getting the latest version
- It's gone up in price since the old CA version 9
- 5 that I purchased, but I'm sure it will be worth the cost
- As I said there are always glitches in software as complex as this
- There were times when I had to hide certain layers to determine that a specific piece of furniture was preventing the program from creating a 3D model, then modify the object or change it out, then replace the layer and try again
- This is a small problem and they probably have fixed it on more recent releases
- Many of the problems I believed I had I've solved over time by looking for a solution that was right in front of me
- It is very difficult to create software tools that are always "intuitive" no matter how you approach them
- For example you may expect to see a tool for doing some function nested within a group of similar functions, but it may be elsewhere
- That's the way it is with all software
- I will say that documentation could be better
- Seems like every issue I have isn't in the index or table of contents, and I very much dislike being scooted to a webpage of issues and have to guess by their titles whether it might pertain to my problem
- It's like this everywhere
- CA isn't alone here
Switched From
Too expensive. I'd been a teacher of architectural drafting and had been using it free, but had to consider my personal budget.
Luis M.
Verified UserDesign · Self-Employed
Not a smart software
Horrible
- Nothing, I like absolutely nothing about it
- Everything, I hate every single thing about this software
- It is not smart whatsoever
- Once you use smart software, CA will be so insignificant
- You have very little room for customization, no phasing, the layout process is completely atrocious
- Worst software in existence
- Again, one you use good software CA will be a raisin for a brain compared to a highly respected scientist
Switched From
Because Revit is smart and CA is not/
Verified Professional
Real Estate · 51-200 employees
Owner and Principal Designer of Interior Design Firm
I recommend Chief Architect to all of my peers who own their firms as well. The technical support is beyond anything you could get from AutoCAD or SketchUp and the price makes it a much better product than Revit.
- I use Chief Architect daily to draw designs for my clients and contractors
- It's very easy to use and customize to specific clients or projects
- I'm able to quickly and easily provide plans views, elevation views, and camera views in order to express an idea or check feasibility
- I can present materials lists to my contractors, budgets to my clients, and keep track of how much time I'm spending on a project
- If I ever have a question on how to do something, I can contact easily and get an answer quickly
- I also sign in to the webinar trainings because there is always something new to learn or a faster, better way to do a task
- I wish more manufacturers participated and provided models for the software
- I find myself using only CA available vendors on my projects when I need to act quickly
- The rendering portion of the software could be more developed
Mark H.
Verified UserConstruction · Self-Employed
TOTALLY NON-INTUITIVE
The speed of generating a 3D building for a client to see can be very quick, but the learning curve and the inherent limitations just made it not worth the effort. I spent 40+ hours trying to generate drawings for an existing house, while client made changes on the fly. I couldn't overcome the learning curve or the limitations in a timely fashion and not only didn't get paid, but lost the client.
- As long as you want to do something already "canned" in the software, it's got some really sweet features
- The immediate 3D renderings are outstanding
- There's very little about the program that is intuitive to the way CAD has been traditionally taught
- And if you need to make an exception to what it "thinks is normal", OMG what a flippin' nightmare
- IF you can get it to at all do what you want
- The building of custom wall types: PITA
- I didn't want a footing, but piers for a pole barn: PITA
- Not even possible to eliminate the footings
- Make a material change from sheet siding to lap board: PITA
- Couldn't find a way to have it change ALL THE WALLS in 1 command
- It would only allow me to change ONE stinkin' wall at a time
- And THEN, I had to go back and do ALL of the gables, because gable walls aren't part of the walls of a house
Verified Professional
Design · Self-Employed
New Chief Architect vs Old Chief Architect
Overall, Chief Architect is a super cool software. It takes time to learn and I'm still re-learning all the bells and whistles. You have to systematically build your design in order for things to come out right. Their pricing is for serious home builders and designers.
- It's super software and so much better than using Autocad
- Once the principals are set up you can really get into designing a home quickly
- I've helped so many people visualize their dream home with 3D and it gets them so excited
- It's fun to work with once you know what the software can do and know where everything is on the toolbars, which also can be customized
- Being able to remove surfaces is very handy to see what is happening into the framing and potentially the problems with the design and structure
- It's fantastic
- Well, it does have a learning curve
- Even when I upgraded I found they changed some simple things and made it harder to accomplish which was disappointing
- It seems like every year they want you to upgrade
- Most of the upgrades at first were in the rendering capabilities which is more for design and not necessary for building the plans
- I was happy with the older version until I lost my dongle and had to seriously upgrade quite a few versions and had to practically relearn the whole program
- - it changed that much
Verified Professional
Construction · 2-10 employees
We like Chief
WE like Chief Archeiect. We have support only a call away. AND there are many users out there who are willing to help and teach as we go.
- We like that this software is a monthly subscription
- We can suspend in downtimes
- We like that is easy to use and that there is a large user base to get tips and tricks from
- There is an issue with the program holding measurements in that we input certain wall lengths and they somehow become skewed
- It leaves a rendering our of square
- This should be something inherently basic
- Maybe we are missing something
- We wish there were more LOG HOME related tools
Verified Professional
1001-5000 employees
Chief Architect has quickly made creating models and layouts easier than ever before for us.
1001-5000 employees
- There are many features to take advantage of almost immediately
- They make many of our common tasks such as floor-planning, creating shells, and dimensioning quick and easy
- With so many features, we were worried training materials would be hard to come by for our staff
- On the contrary, it was extremely easy reaching customer support and training was a breeze
Verified Professional
Insurance · 501-1000 employees
Light Years Ahead of Other CAD Programs
After years of using Revit, I had the opportunity to try out Chief Architect recently. Needless to say, I am hooked! CA is a quick study for experienced CAD users and performs exponentially faster that other programs I have used. The ray trace rendering feature is helpful but could be improved by allowing users to render in the cloud as other CAD programs (Autodesk products in particular) do. For designers who want to produce high-quality 3D representations of their work and generate construction documents and elevations, Chief Architect is well worth the investment!
Ease of use; graphics; available options for materials and finishes; ability to import and edit SKP files
Even with rental options, could be a bit expensive for new designers; rendering in the cloud is not an available option at this time
Verified Professional
Architecture & Planning · 11-50 employees
Chief architect.
Architecture & Planning
- Good 2d components
- It is flexible
- Light in size and flexible
- Poor render quality
- Not realistic
- Not very useful, it is not best for replacement
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