Drawing a Plan

When you draw a plan in Chief Architect, you are placing 3D objects that represent building components. Chief Architect comes with predefined default settings so you can start drawing plans immediately. You should review these default settings to be sure they match your drawing and building methods. See "Defaults & Preferences".

Set the Defaults

Open the plan template you want to use, or choose File> Startup Options> New from Template to begin a new plan.

Set the structural defaults:

Floor Defaults. Set the default ceiling height for Floor 1. See "Floor Defaults".

Foundation Defaults. Set the foundation specifics such as type, footing size, and stem wall height. See "Foundation Defaults".

Framing Defaults. Set the floor framing specifications, including type and dimensions. See "Framing Defaults".

Default Wall Types. Specify the defaults for walls and railings.See "Wall, Railing, and Fencing Defaults".

Set material defaults for roof, walls, and rooms (optional). See "Material Defaults".

Set style defaults for doors, windows, molding, cabinets and other objects.

Draw the Floors

Draw the exterior walls on Floor 1 in a clockwise direction. See "Drawing Walls".

Adjust the perimeter shape and size as required. See "Using Edit Handles".

Place any first floor bearing walls.

Define types for special rooms such as garages and decks in the plan. See "Room Types".

Place perimeter doors and windows. See "Doors" and "Windows".

Build additional floors. See "Adding Floors".

Specify the default ceiling height for each floor as soon as it is created. See "Floor Defaults".

Adjust the perimeter shape of additional floors as needed. See "Editing Walls".

Align edited or moved walls with below where appropriate. See "Aligning Walls".

Entering Dimensions

When using Imperial units, enter distances as inches or feet and inches, in fractional or decimal form. Millimeters are the default unit for all metric distances. See "Dimensions".

To enter feet, include the ( ' ) marker or the program assumes inches.

In most cases, the program allows precision to 1/16th of an inch. Fractions with denominators 2, 4, 8 and 16 are allowed.

The program usually converts decimals to fractions.

You can enter angles as bearings, decimal degrees, or degrees, minutes, and seconds. See "Number Style/Angle Style Dialog".

Build the Foundation

Derive the foundation plan from the first floor. See "Building a Foundation".

Adjust the foundation perimeter shape as needed.

Place interior foundation walls as needed for the first floor bearing walls.

Place any other foundation walls required.

Align with Above as needed.

Add Structure and Details

Build non-structural interior walls. Begin on floor one and work up in multiple storey structures.

Align walls where needed such as a chimney chase, plumbing walls, or Open Below.

Finish the relevant interior structure including interior doors, doorways, cabinets, fixtures, and fireplaces.

Build the roof planes. If you generate the roof automatically, remember to carry the roof directives in the walls from the first floor up to the top floor for multiple storey structures. See "Roofs".

Build the framing. See "Framing".

Build the terrain and landscaping (optional). See "Terrain".

Create the plot plan and plan footprint. See "Plot Plans and Plan Footprints".

Create any necessary views and use CAD Detail from View to create 2D elevations and plan details. Use and modify details from the Library, as well. See "CAD Details".

Create the Layout

If one does not exist, create a Layout file with a title block, placing the border, title block, and other text on page 0. See "Layout".

Send details to the layout, starting with layout page 1. See "Sending Views to Layout".

Print the plan. See "Printing & Plotting".