CA for future home builder/owner

[RMorrison]

The notion that you can save money by drawing the home yourself is something of a fools gold. Simply, you don't know what you don't know. Some designers out there can reasonably design homes, but if you think the difference between an architect and you is the mostly the ability to use CAD - then you may want to study and read up on some books before you set off on your project so you can appriciate this is not the case. The architect can pay for himself 10x over in many situations.

Johnnyprc, I have now given up getting sucked into these discussions. What seems so obvious to you or me or anyone who has some level of formal design training is never going to be understood by someone who hasn't. (This is like trying to tell someone who is walking out of the house with a plaid shirt and striped pants that maybe they should reconsider. If they don't see the issue in the first place, they just think you're being an arrogant aesthete.) There is virtually no way to convince someone who is pleased as punch about their mediocre design that it could have been much, much better, and often they resent the comment. (Especially when this forum gives so much enthusiastic support to beginners.) Granted, many of the folks here do about as good work as a first or second-year architecture student, but that is not necessarily something to be inordinately proud of, nor something I personally would want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to immortalize, but there you go. Also, everyone has an incompetent architect story to justify their position. So probably better to save your breath. For those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, no explanation is possible.