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.
