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Chief Architect, Inc. is headquartered in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. See how to reach the editors of this site.
Chief Architect has been published for the professional home design market since 1992, built around an object-based 3D CAD approach often described as building information modeling (BIM). It remains one of the most widely used home design applications for residential design work.
Chief Architect Premier covers full residential design, including kitchens, baths and interior design.
Home Designer is the developer's product line aimed at DIY home enthusiasts, tracing back to 1993.* It is designed to be approachable for home owners who want to visualize, design or remodel a space, and it is file-compatible with Chief Architect, so projects can be shared with professional builders and designers.
* From 1993 to 2002, Home Designer was sold in retail as 3D Home Architect under a license with the software publisher Broderbund. From 2003 to 2009, the product was sold as Better Homes and Gardens® Home Designer under a license with the Meredith Corporation.
The free 3D Viewer mobile app lets clients explore home projects in 3D. A designer can export a model from Chief Architect and send it to a home owner, structural engineer or subcontractor to review. Inside the app, models can be explored with augmented reality tools, walking and flying navigation, and dynamic cross sections.
The Chief As-Built app captures 3D floor plans of rooms by scanning or sketching on an iPhone or iPad, which can speed up documenting existing conditions. Clients can even scan their own rooms, and the resulting models can be imported directly into Chief Architect as a starting point for a remodel.
