Rating: 
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time!
Review: I thought with the "Better Homes and Gardens" name it would be quality software. Boy was I wrong. I couldn't get anything drawn accurately and when I tried to do a simple 3D view of what I did get drawn my computer crashed. I sold it last week at a garage sale for $5 and I felt guilty doing it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very solid product
Review: I was looking for a software that would let me create a good design of my new house. I am not an architect and I am not interested in details such as plumbing, electrical, framing etc. I just wanted to create the walls, add the doors windows, furniture, stairs, roof, etc.This software can do all of these easily, no bugs, no frustration, everything fits or can be rezized. So far I am 80% done with my house. I have had no crashes when I use it with my desktop (2.6 GHZ P4, 256 RAM, GeForce FX5200). But it crashes when I use it with my Laptop (P4 1.8 GHZ, 512RAM but a mobility ATI radeon). The error message says it crashed because of my video card and it happens when switching to 3d view. To see the good about this software read the marketing review, I strongly agree in all of them. I'll list only my complains:
- Not 100% of the objects can be copy/paste from one plan to the other.
- When you start a design make sure you carefully select the template plan. The template plan gives properties to the objects (cabinets, tables, walls, etc). Because when you are half way in your design and realize that you want some object (ie fancy railings) that is not available in your template but it is in another, you also realize that you cannot change the template of the plan you are currently using. You can open a new plan with the correct template, add the object and do a copy and paste, but not all objects can be copy and pasted (ie. Railings).
- When you switch to 3d view it recalculates everything. This gets annoying and slow when your project is almost finished.
- So far i do not see a solution to adding new objects. For example a new door style, a new sofa style. The publisher does not have an online database where they can add new styles for users to keep their design updated. The software is pricy but it is the best I have used. Granted that I have not used the punch software. I have wasted 15/20$ at a time buying low cost software on the software bins
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I'd read reviews for a lot of these types of programs, and it seemed to have the fewest complaints. Well, for $100, I expected much much more. It's probably OK if you want the most basic simplistic approximation of a space, but you cannot:
1. Customize any objects. Got a curved counter or shelf? Forget it! The so-called CAD tools are for floor plans only, you cannot create your own 3D objects.
2. Import any pictures or textures. Want to put in your carpet or wood grain or marble or stucco, or art or whatever? Forget it!
3. Import any 3D objects. Would aleviate a lot of problems. Other programs allow it. Forget it!
4. Adjust texture directions. Put wood grain on a molding. Note the direction of the grain. Want to rotate it 90 degrees, so it looks right? Forget it!
5. Export to ANY 3D format. Want to share the design via VRML or 3DS or ANYTHING? Forget it! It does export DXF, but only the flat floor plan.
So again, if you don't mind the barest basics, this is an easy and fun program. But if you want to get an idea of what your place would look like if you actually put in the stuff you wanted, there ain't no way, unless you happen to use the boring objects they ship with.
Rating: 
Summary: Suitable for only the simplest designs
Review: If you want to design and build a box with a simple A-frame roof, then this tool is for you. For any modern design with multiple roof lines, gable walls, bonus rooms, etc. it just doesn't work. Also, the window library is not very good and there are no way to build your own windows, i.e. put an eliptical transom over a window, etc.
Rating:
Summary: They just want you to buy the upgrade
Review: It's as if they stripped out most of the functions on purpose...I guess they want customers to be frustrated with this software so you'll buy their expensive upgrade. I hope they take my return instead.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Software - Very Powerful
Review: This is great software. I have the Home Architect Deluxe 3.0, so I already had some experience with how the program would work. From that, this version let's you do amazing things if you take the time and put in a little effort. Photo quality renderings that no architect could ever give you. Anyone who is giving this a low rating isn't spending enough time with it. And that's not to say you need to take a course on it.... I spent about 3-4 hours and got the results I wanted, which was a 3D rendering of our planned house, which has a complex roofline. Powerful software can overwhelm people, or they just don't want to give it the time to learn. Like Microsoft Excel, you can't expect to become an ace with spreadsheets just because you buy the software. You have to put in a little time to learn. The results you can get from this software can't be produced any other way. Buy it and spend some time with it and you will love it.
Rating: 
Summary: As advertised, no crashes and creates most "normal" houses
Review: This is the right tool in the hundred dollar range for home design. It is simple enough to play with floor plans and let you create and visualize and manipulate them. I've used it a few hours and find it 90% intuitive. It does all that is says that it will do. I don't see any false claims in the descriptions. Here are some things that I haven't figured out to make it do easily or at all.
1. Construction details for framing connections are not part of this package.
2. Same thing for all other concrete wall and roof structures.
3. No engineering support for beam calcs, earthquake, snow load or the like.
4. Some complex roof lines that you might want to create are difficult or even impossible to express with this package, but you can likely get close.
5. Roofs that cross floors and split level homes are possible but not intuitive to create for me. You likely will find this a design/visualization tool for expressing your ideas in a better way than you can draw them with pencil. A couple of hours to learn to use it and you can start playing with interesting ideas. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: What good does it do me?
Review: This looks good, but I can't use it because I have an iMac!! Please make your products work on all formats!!
Rating:
Summary: *** EXCEPTIONAL RESTRICTIONS ! *** Jan 25, 2005
Review: This software Better Homes and Garden Suite 6 appears to be the(EXCEPTIONAL) best on the market for the 100. doller range. The drafting, CAD, or technical basics for some featurs have major(RESTRICTIONS). Roof design or pitch for starters. The (PRO) version appears to be less restrictive, except for the 1/4
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: Very dissapointed with product. It looks like they took 5 year old program technology and put a new wrapper on it. Anybody that loves this product either works for Better Homes or hasn't taken their medication.
| 
