CAD Software For House Design

Whether you are a home contractor or you’re planning to make some changes in your home, a lot of planning is required. Home decoration, refurbishing of the bathroom or kitchen; everything involves a lot of planning. Sometimes you want to communicate with builders or carpenters and tell them what designs you have on your mind but can’t express them visually. If you are facing these problems, the best solution for these is the utility of CAD software.

Best Free CAD Software for Home Design

CAD software are computer-aided programs that help users create, modify, and visualize 2D and 3D designs. These software are the most accurate way of simulating our thoughts and ideas visually to other people. There are many CAD applications available in the market for interior designing, floor designing, and architecture purposes. Moreover, CAD software for home design are affordable, easy to use, and easy to comprehend. In this article, I’ll enlist some of the best CAD software for home design available in the market.

1. SketchUp

SketchUp is considered one of the best CAD software for home design due to its built-in features. This software is famous for its comprehensive modeling suite, allowing users to create 3D models of their houses. Along with the minute details, the thoroughness provided by this software in building models is something to commend. Using this software, users can analyze building data and measure the details of energy consumption, HVAC, and daylight, so exact details during simulation are obtained.

To develop a model, first, a user has to create a detailed 2D drawing that elaborates the minute details. After completing the 2D sketch, the comprehensive modeling suite supports importing images and files that can portray the realistic picture of the model. The built-in library of this software is also rich in materials and styles, which helps to create a replica of your vision. In addition, the 3D objects library of this app is also rich in intuitive ideas, which are very helpful in the 3D model and floor map designing.

Another helpful feature of this software is its integration with virtual reality devices such as Oculus, Microsoft HoloLens, etc. With this feature, an architect can provide a detailed view and explanation to their clients. The paid version of SketchUp comes with unlimited cloud storage and a web tool. This web tool allows users to manage their cloud storage and share their work with others easily. The free version of this software offers limited services and is suitable for beginners. The pro version of this app is more suitable for professionals, interior designers, and engineers and is available at the cost of $119 per year.

2. Planner 5D

Planner 5D is another famous home CAD software with excellent home designing and floor planning features, just like SketchUp. The user interface of this app is relatively easy to comprehend, and users can create realistic interior and exterior designs with much less effort. For beginners, Planner 5D offers multiple templates of layouts and plans to start with. Similarly, professionals can use these templates to save time and quickly move on to other essentials of home designing.

Users can also create their customized home models from scratch without taking help from the available templates. They can apply customized colors and designs to furniture items placed in the 3D space of the model. Like SketchUp, users can turn from 2D mode to 3D mode and view home models from various angles. During the 3D view of the model, users can make adjustments to floor size, furniture materials and add windows and doors. Users can add a second floor and roof too in their home models according to their needs.

Another feature that gives Planner 5D a heads up over other CAD software is its compatibility with the iOS operating system. Users can use this software on iPhone or iPad during traveling. After completing the home model designing, the user can get the print layout of the final sketch in the photorealistic format. The Planner 5D offers home designing and floor planning services free of cost to all users. The only downside of this app is that you have to pay to use advanced in-app furniture items in 3D home models.

3. HomeByMe

Like Planner 5D, HomeByMe is also a good CAD software for home design without much effort. Almost all designing and planning tools are available in this online home designing software that users can find in other CAD software. Users can create a 2D sketch of the floor plan by using drawing tools. After completing the floor plan, users can manually import styles and designs for rooms, doors, and windows. To decorate the prepared sketch, the user can switch from 2D mode to 3D mode and access the 3D library of this software. The 3D library is connected online with different brands, and their items are available for decoration. The main benefit of this is that users can decorate the model virtually with materials currently available in the market.

Like Planner 5D, users can switch from 2D mode to 3D mode to better view rooms and the interior at different angles. Different light sources, wall designs, and paint combinations can be used in simulations to check how the home environment will look in certain conditions. After completion of the project, you can share it with your client online or on social media. The services of this app are free as HomeByMe believes in generating revenue from companies by featuring their furniture products in a 3D library.

4. FloorPlanner

FloorPlanner is a famous CAD software for home design due to its online functioning. A user can create 2D or 3D models online without the installation of any setup files. The library of this app is full of different furniture items, which helps a lot in creating 3D home models. Along with this extensive library, the interface of this software is very user-friendly. Using the drag and drop feature, the user can customize the model by adding furniture items other than the library.

Another advantage associated with this software is its effectiveness in floor planning. After creating the model, the “auto-furnish” feature automatically allot the room boundaries to designated rooms. In addition, after completion of the 3D model, users can use the rotation tool to has a 360° VR walkthrough to decorate the model in 3D space.

All of the features discussed above are accessible in the free version of this home design software. In the pro version of this app, users can share their work online with their collaborators. Users can activate the pro version at the cost of $29 per month. Overall, this app is handy for those who have basic knowledge about home designing and decoration.

5. SmartDraw

SmartDraw is a multi-functional floor planning tool and one of the most accessible home designing software. The user-friendly interface is very helpful for beginners, yet this software is advanced enough to serve other purposes like drawing flow charts, flow maps, organizational charts, etc. SmartDraw is considered a powerful tool for floor planning because of the extensive library in hand. Users can add different building materials, wall styles, windows and doors, vehicles, cars, and many more. In addition, the use of architectural symbols is beneficial for users in creating a floor plan.

Another plus point of this software is the availability of hundreds of floor templates, layouts, and designs for users. The drag and drop feature of this software makes usage of different drawing tools easy. The final output can be exported to other platforms like Goggle Docs, Microsoft Word, etc.

The downsides of this software include the unavailability of integration features with professional drawing tools such as AutoCAD. SmartDraw app offers seven days free trial during which users can access all services free of cost. If you want to use SmartDraw for long-term projects, users can get paid version of this software with the lowest price plan of $9.95 per month for a single user.

6. Roomstyler 3D Home Planner

If you like interior and exterior home designing as a hobby, Roomstyler 3D Home Planner is the best home designing software for you. Like other good CAD software for home design, this software also has quality features for designing and floor planning. Very few software offer tutorial videos for the guidance of users, but Roomstyler has a tutorial video for all the home designing tools available in this software.

Users can create 2D or 3D floor plans of exact dimension within few minutes with the Roomstyler. The library of this software contains furniture items of famous brands available in the market. Users can use these items to decorate home models to get a realistic view of how your house will look after designing with these materials. Furthermore, with photorealistic visualization obtained in Roomstyler, you will communicate well with your contributors or clients. Another plus of Roomstyler is its compatibility with both iOS and Android operating systems. In short, users can generate an economical yet quality home design using this software.