Quirky - that is what I am talking about

[johnnyprc]

By the way for those thinking Chief starts at $495, here is screen shot. I was wrong about $79, it starts for $59.00 - for "enthusiasts" (and that is MSRP, i have seen on sale for $19). The few people I have admitted using Chief to at my AIA meetings, looked at me like I was from another planet. One said "you get that cheap software to work for you"?

They have no idea. Chief is hurting themselves more than they know.

[sutcac]

The few people I have admitted using Chief to at my AIA meetings, looked at me like I was from another planet. One said "you get that cheap software to work for you"? They have no idea. Chief is hurting themselves more than they know.

I have gotten exactly the same reaction. One of the many reasons I discontinued my membership with the AIA this year. There is one other architect in my (fairly small, rural) area that I know uses it just based on the images on his website.

Personally, CA should change its name for the flagship full blow software. The problem is that Chief Architect is the name of the company, but everyone relates it to the name of the software. Due to that, the $20 Costco version makes laymen think they are buying Chief Architect

I have said more or less the same thing on this forum many times. It is so ironic that a software called Chief Architect (which just sounds silly on the surface of it anyway), doesn't really market to architects at all and the architects on this forum are so often maligned just for being architects.

[Chad Cardin]

By the way for those thinking Chief starts at $495, here is screen shot. I was wrong about $79, it starts for $59.00 - for "enthusiasts" (and that is MSRP, i have seen on sale for $19). The few people I have admitted using Chief to at my AIA meetings, looked at me like I was from another planet. One said "you get that cheap software to work for you"?

They have no idea. Chief is hurting themselves more than they know.

I think johnny has a good point. I think its the marketing he is talking about. As I was reading his post I couldnt help but think of Toyota and Lexus. I dont think Toyota would be selling too many $100,000 Toyotas if they were priced as such without thinking about renaming it to Lexus.

Many people out there who dont 'know' what chief is hears chief architect as chief architect, they go to costco and see the $79 dollar special they see that as CHIEF ARCHITECT. Those same people dont log onto chiefs website and see that the professional version is well over $2000 and has more features.

I have to agree, if this were my business I would probably call the home versions something completely different, with perhaps a tiny (extra tiny) label saying made by the makers of chief architect, if they were going to keep the Chief Architect name for the top of the line flag ship.

Good point Johnny, I agree with your brand imaging explanation.

I also was thinking of my own experience with this. Several people who know I use chief said, oh yeah we were going to remodel our place and paint so we saw chief at the store and were going to buy it to help us with our color choices. I never knew you could do all that you do Chad with such an inexpensive software it was less then $100. It would be great if it were only $100 and could do what it could do but the truth is it doesnt nor does that lesser version do the half of what the full version does. So Johnny I can see the awkward conversation that you had at the AIA, its like you have to explain further, if you dont want to appear to be less then professional about your software you use.