Chief Architect's Green Initiative

Download a Trial Version of Home Designer. Watch the Video Overview to help you get started using the software right away. Remember, you can also purchase the full version of Home Designer and try it using our 30-day money-back guarantee. E-mail or call 208-292-3400. Sweet Home 3D is a free construction drawing software for interior design letting users view ready-made 2D floor plans in 3D for context and presentation. It is also the best interior design app that is perfectly suitable for designing interiors and creating home or office plans.

Chief Architect is proud to be a Green company and provide these resources for green building and design. Chief Architect's physical products and printed manuals are all digital (backup media and printed manuals can be ordered separately). When you download our software, there is zero usage of packaging or the services used to create, deliver, and dispose of the packaging — a win‑win for our environment.

We invite you to explore, in Chief Architect's software and on our website, resources and content for learning more about the green building and design process. We hope you will find information that will help you be more Green for your next design!

Green Building Software Tips

Cross-reference the image markers with the list below for suggestions and descriptions of Green building techniques. Follow the links for more information on a specific topic.

1. Passive Solar Design, like these skylights and large south-facing windows, reduce electrical lighting needs and helps heat the building in winter months.
2. Metal Roofing is durable, long lasting, energy efficient, and available in a wide variety of styles and colors. What's more, metal roofing is recyclable, unlike some of its counterparts.
3. Solar Attic Fans or other self-powered systems are both green and cost-effective additions to any design.
4. Roof Trusses and other factory engineered components are a more efficient use of raw materials, and they cut down on jobsite waste.
5. OSB, like other wood chip based products, makes use of small trees and waste wood, allowing the conservation of larger trees.
6. Energy-Efficient Windows that have multiple panes, low-E coating, and are paired with quality window treatments help keep the sun's heat out in the summer and add insulation value during winter. Look for windows with a low U-Factor for the best energy savings.
7. Deciduous Trees, when planted strategically, block the hot sun while shading southern exposures in warm months, then let the sun's heat in when its needed once they lose their leaves in fall.
8. Rain Collection Barrels and Cisterns recycle grey-water run-off from the roof that can be used for irrigation, drastically reducing water bills and conserving drinking water.
9. Tank-less Water Heaters are energy efficient and provide more constant hot water. Other HVAC systems provide efficiency with comfort, like Geothermal Heat Pumps which gain heat from the earth and radiate it throughout the home.
10. Well Insulated and Drained Foundations complete an efficient building envelope and create comfortable living areas in basements.
11. Eco-Friendly Flooring, like bamboo, cork, reclaimed wood, and linoleum, are available in a wide selection of colors and styles.
12. Energy Star Approved and High Efficiency Appliances save water, electricity, and cut utility bills.
13. Low-Flow Toilets and Faucets drastically reduce water consumption.
14. Engineered I-Joists and Floor Trusses reduce lumber consumption with increased span capacity and by being composed of less wood materials. Their larger depth allows for more insulation value (R-Value) and better layout options for HVAC and plumbing.
15. Xeriscaping, or landscaping with native and drought-tolerant plants, is functional, beautiful, and reduces water consumption.
16. Solar Panels mounted to a rooftop supplement a household's energy needs as a clean, renewable power source.
17. Recycled Plastic Lumber and Wood Composite Decking are durable alternatives to natural wood.
18. Solar Accents, like these path lights, are available in a variety of options and affordably and easily enhance outdoor spaces.
19. Preserving Mature Trees at the building site reduces waste and labor for removal, provides shade, wind-breaks, and landscaping, and filters pollutants from the air.
20. Advanced Framing, or Optimum Value Engineering, a construction technique designed to use less lumber, optimizes the spacing of framing members to reduce waste and increases framing cavity size to allow more space for insulation. When specifying insulation, look for types with a high R-Value.
21. Low VOC and Zero VOC (volatile organic compounds) Paints and Stains produce little-to-no odor causing or toxic emissions when compared with traditional solvent-based paints, and are still available in the same durable and beautiful colors you love.
22. Glass Countertops are available as solid slabs or as composites made of fractured glass bits. Not only are they attractive, but are also durable, easy to maintain, available in a variety of colors, and just as importantly created from recycled materials
23. Recycled Content Shingles look like Cedar, but are manufactured from reclaimed sawdust, metal, plastic, and tires, and weigh a fraction of its predecessor but lasts just as long. This roofing can be re-recycled at the end of its lifespan.

A beautiful home is a dream for everyone. However, to have a beautiful home, you first have to come up with a beautiful home design.

In fact, home designing is a complex process which involves many steps such as planning, building structure, furnishing, decorating, finishing, etc. It is always good to have a virtual design in place before designing it in real. You may want to change or redesign your apartment’s interior, or you may simply want to decorate your newly bought house.

As home designing is not easy, many of us take the help of professional architects for designing our homes. However, now things have changed for the better. Now, you can also design your ideal home and see how it might look.

With 3D Home Design Software you can now easily play an active role in designing your dream home. Moreover, home designing software is being increasingly used by architects and interior designers for designing homes and interiors.

Here, we have shown a collection of 10 Best free 3D Home Design Software which goes on to ease your work of designing homes.

So, if you want to design your new home or want to visualize your design ideas, these 3D Home Design Software can turn out to be your ideal partners. They prove to be a blessing for budding residential architects who want to design their home.

The best thing is that these 3D Home Design Programs are available for free. We have done the research for you and have featured the best 3D Home Design Software based on feature set and ease-of-use. They come as an easy-to-use package which helps you to produce a viable home design. They have an intuitive interface together with the high degree of model interactivity. You would surely love to use these fabulous 3D Home Design Software.

So, let’s begin and explore these Best 3D Home Design Software.

10 Free 3D Home Design Software

Home Designer Pro 2021 Free Download

1. DreamPlan Home Design Software

DreamPlan Home Design Software comes as a home and landscape planning and design software. It allows you to plan your dream home with a realistic 3D home model. You can create the floor plan of your house, condo or apartment. You can even plan out exterior landscaping ideas and garden spaces.

It provides objects for various categories including building, exterior, interior, decks, and landscaping. It provides lots of cool features for the house and floor plan design, landscape and garden design, room and interior design, kitchen design, bathroom design, and also for remodeling, additions & redesigning.

2. Room Sketcher

Room Sketcher is another very popular tool for 3D Modeling. If you are looking for an intuitive and easy to use 3D Home Designing Software, then Room Sketcher can be your ultimate choice. It makes home designing fun and dynamic. It provides lots of free and editable objects that can save you a tremendous amount of time.

It is made for people who want to redesign their homes. You can arrange furniture and see a 3D version of your home design. It helps to create a realistic image of your home and all its parts. Room Sketcher comes as free software for designing 3D house plans and floor plans. It can also be useful for architects.

3. Sweet Home 3D

Sweet Home 3D comes as a free interior design application using which you can draw the plan of your house, arrange furniture on it and view the results in 3D. Sweet Home 3D is available for download and can also be used online within your browser. It is an open source software and can be used for redesigning your homes.

Its interface is easy to use and has four sections. It is simple to use and has been empowered with several advanced features for providing an enhanced 3D Virtual Planning experience.

4. HomeStyler

HomeStyler is another very solid and easy-to-use 3D Home Design Software. It provides you the opportunity to design your home in 3D. It provides thousands of real furniture products for decorating your space. It’s totally free and requires no installation. You just need a modern browser for starting your home decoration journey.

With its Floor Planner, designing in 3D becomes fun. It allows you to create beautiful 3D designs with adjustable environment colors. You can also get professional 2D drawings with a single click. By using HomeStyler’s Floor Planner, you can create a precise floor plan and experience your space in real time. Its product catalog offers rich product selections for inspiration.

5. SketchUp

SketchUp is an immensely popular tool for 3D Modeling. It is certainly better than many CAD Programs and functions as an intuitive and easy-to-use 3D Home Design Software. It is being used by numerous professionals and amateurs to study, design, and present their ideas in 3D. Most importantly, Designing with SketchUp is both fun and dynamic.

Home Designer Pro Free

It provides lots of free and editable objects that can be used in your projects and which go on to save a lot of your valuable time. You will certainly enjoy working with SketchUp whether you are an architect, renovator, or decorator.

6. Roomstyler 3D Home

Roomstyler 3D Home Planner is free, easy-to-use and one of the most popular 3D Home Design Software. You can upload your floor plan or work with preloaded floor plans; Roomstyler 3D Home Planner proves equally good for you.

The program allows you to insert walls, doors, windows, and select from a gallery of interior finishes, It has a simple user interface and enables you to view your plan and 3D image at the same time. Using its extensive color selection, you can even paint the walls and ceilings. It uses real products for inserting into a model. A free app is also available.

7. IKEA Home Planner Tools

IKEA Home Planner Tools provides you the opportunity to become your own interior designer. You can drag and drop the choice of your furniture according to the size of your room. Rearrange and try out different styles until you are satisfied. The best part is that it is free and easy to use home planner tools.

It allows you to configure your floor plan, choose furniture and décor, and calculate the cost. Once you are happy with the plan, you can take the print out and purchase from the nearest IKEA store.

8. Planner 5d

With Planner 5d you do not need any special skills for creating stunning home designs and interior décor in 2D & 3D. Planner 5d embarks you on an effortless journey of creating floor plans, interior design, and décor. It comes as a powerful online tool and allows you to easily create detailed home plans & modern interior designs like a pro.

Its apps are also available for iOS, Android or OS X. By using Planner 5d, you can design houses, flats, offices, cafes, or bars in 2D or 3D modes. With Planner 5d, you can easily create your dream house.

9. Home Renovator 3D

The Home Renovator 3D Home Design Software enables you to choose from among insulation, drywall, paint, ceramic tile, and deck projects. It provides free worksheets for measuring space, enters your measurements and reviews your tool requirements.

It also provides a report telling you how much material is needed for your project. It even shows illustrated instructions which depict cutting and placement of materials.

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10. HomeByMe

HomeByMe is available as a free and downloadable room planning tool. It allows you to build your room from the ground up ending it with furniture and accessories.

You can build your room in 2D, and once you are ready, you can convert it to 3D. The walls fall away, and you can have a look at the interiors that you have created.

Home Designer Pro Free Download

We hope that the presentation Best Free 3D Home Design Software proves immensely useful to you. Do share your comments with us.