Chief Architect: Drawing Floorplans As Side Income

[Deleted member 128537]

send 10 appraisers out to measure a house and you will get at least 8 different results

Yes I’m sure of it. BUT the second floor plan wasn’t even close to how it actually was. It had a totally different orientation than the sketch.

 

[RCA]

BTW, here is an appraiser of 20 years, Danny Russo, I think in New Orleans, that has a separate business for providing ANSI measurement and floorplans. This is exactly what I mean (note the prices he charges would be higher in California, starting around $200): http://www.nolafloorplans.com/. - Although, I believe there aren't that many appraisers around who can do this kind of work. I do not think he needs to worry about competition .... Also, unlike someone who does this exclusively and can ask for probably as much time as they need, appraisers only have 1 to 1.5 hours max to do everything and get it right the first time. ... But this guy is pretty good for the prices he charges!

Next, I used to use Chief Architect Premier up until 8 years ago, when they didn't have Home Designer Pro. The problem with Chief Architect Premier is that it costs initially $2700 and figure on spending $700/year for upgrades. I bought Home Designer Pro 2016 about three and one-half years ago. In the meantime there has been versions 2017, 2018 and now 2019. I just upgraded from 2016 to 2019 for $295 - much less expensive than Chief Architect Premier. The things is Home Designer Pro is all you need as an appraiser, in fact, it is far more than you will ever use. You can do 3D, glass houses and the like. You can also get and use free libraries of materials and fixtures for many well-known brands. If you want enter competitions with your home designs - yea, then you will need to get Chief Architect Premier to generate those ultra high res designs with ray tracing and the like. E.g. like https://www.chiefarchitect.com/supp...stic-lighting-effects-for-your-fireplace.html.

You just need to learn to take measurements reliably and accurately and then hope you are smart enough to go back to the office and fit them all into a plan, reconciling interior and exterior measurements and wall thickness --- it's like a jigsaw puzzle. But kind of fun. Hard to explain to someone who hasn't done it before.

 

[Renee Healion]

Agents around here can purchase a package that includes professional photography (glamour shots of property, extra for the glowing, night-time shots with every light in the place ablaze) and plans. The drawings are not architectural or engineering quality, just floorplans but more than we draw. They are useful to me as an appraiser when included in the MLS photos of potential comps.

I went to the site to look up the prices once. For the drawings they have someone go to the property with an iPad and a mini disto-like laser, whilst back at HQ a team of not-quite AutoCAD drafters receive the info and crank them out, quick. I'll see if I can find it.

edit: https://www.planomatic.com/how-it-works

 

[RCA]

Agents around here can purchase a package that includes professional photography (glamour shots of property, extra for the glowing, night-time shots with every light in the place ablaze) and plans. The drawings are not architectural or engineering quality, just floorplans but more than we draw. They are useful to me as an appraiser when included in the MLS photos of potential comps.

I went to the site to look up the prices once. For the drawings they have someone go to the property with an iPad and a mini disto-like laser, whilst back at HQ a team of not-quite AutoCAD drafters receive the info and crank them out, quick. I'll see if I can find it.

edit: https://www.planomatic.com/how-it-works

Yea, those "Floorplan Only" packages are kind of expensive and not even stated as ANSI compliant. I would however, expect those prices to be quite appropriate here in California, especially if they are based on ANSI compliant measurements.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/planomatic...ic_standard_rate_sheet-pricing-01_02_2018.pdf