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My wife and I are considering buying a piece of property on which to build a house. We have not had much luck finding a house in our area to our liking so we are thinking about building one to suit us. We have not done this before. Obviously we would work with a builder to help us with design ideas but I thought I might try to work up a basic home design plan to present to the builder so that he has a general idea of what we want to do instead of just giving him a sketch on paper.

My dad is not an architect but he has designed his last 3 homes by using Autocad or something like that. Does anyone know of a good app or program that I could use to try to flesh out a plan? Thanks for any tips.

Sketch up is decent and allows you to draw to scale. There is a free version available.

This is my industry. Remember most people are good at what they do. Builders, build. They think like a builder not a homeowner - so be careful of their advice. You likely don’t know building codes, best practices, cost saving layouts, etc. I tell clients, look on line, and at magazines, find layouts, parts of floor plans, and design ideas you like. Sketch some ideal floor plan layouts based on your lifestyle and lot. Determine a house size based on budget, e.g. homes in your area are being built for $300/sqft., your budget is $600,000, so you can afford a 2000sqft home. Now find a local engineer/architect or reputable home designer (not the guy at the lumber yard), and pay him/her to draw a house for you. The $10k you spend will easily pay for itself in terms of a built right, ideal design for you, AND less likelihood of design changes after building starts. Remember this, nothing is cheap and the more you do up front to minimize errors the less costly they will be. And if things go south, an attorney will cost you $10,000 just to pick up the phone; you will wish at that point you paid a professional upfront.

We are going through this right now and just about to start construction in a month or two. I have Home Architect on my computer and it was helpful, but we found more house plans and ideas by doing an internet search for online plans, narrowing it down to some that interested us, and then having them modified to suit our needs. I used my Home Architect program to make the modifications then sent it off to the plan supplier to make up the plans to suit the powers that be with all the proper language , specifications, etc... on the drawings.
You will most probably need to have a structural engineer draw up the plans also with proper sized elements like framing members, joist, rafters, floor joists, etc... to satisfy your planning/permit department, among other things.

It has been a long process for us, but we are finally getting to the construction part, so hopefully we will be in our house relatively soon.

Thanks M10mm.

Good luck Sheister. If we build it would be well out of town and apparently here in Arkansas the only thing inspected is the septic.

We did that 4 years ago and are real pleased. We didn't go so far as using a software package, though. We just used graph paper and drew up some different concepts until we got what we liked. Referring to various home plan websites really helped. We took our ideas to our builder, who had a design team, and let them use their system for the final work. We saved the time and frustration of finding and learning a new software package.

Look up Blue Line Design. They have locations in many different states I think. You can go through a large portfolio of their designs and pick the one you like. You then set up a meeting and go their studio and arrange the plans to your specifications. They'll charge you for the service, but you get a set of blueprints that a builder can work from.

Very good info here.

I've been doing Residential Design for 50 year now, from 800 Sq.Ft. cabins to 5,000 sq. ft. Lake Front Homes, close to 1,600 projects.
My designs have been in National Magazines, won many local Home Builder Awards and have been built in about 6 different states.
Here's what I tell my clients,
1. What's your budget, be honest, if you're in a job that you see annual increase to your salary, base your budget on what you'll be making 3-5 years down the road.
2. What are your needs , retired, empty nester, starting a family, caring for a Senior, etc. How many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, laundry, mud room, half baths. Basement
3, Style you're interested in, ranch, two story, split level, traditional, modern, matching the neighborhood.
4. Life style, love to cook, big kitchen, entertain, big dining room, large living room, outdoor deck, patio,
5. How important is the Master Bath, stand alone tub, big two person shower, stool closet, double vanity, lots of storage.
6. Master Suite, normal wall closet or a big walk-in, King size bed, lots of furniture.
7 Other Bedrooms, Queen beds, twin, bunks, closet requirements
8. Do you have a view, what rooms need to take advantage of it.
9. Fireplace(s), gas or wood, cathedral ceilings, ceiling heights
10. Garage, two car, three car, boat, camper storage, space for mower, snow blower, bicycles
11. With this info. on your computer search engine type in " Ranch home, 1500 sq. ft. traditional style"
You'll get pages of examples, now don't worry about finding the exact layout, but find the Master Suite & Bath you like, then look for the Kitchen you want, galley island, U shape etc.
Next find a nice Living Room with big windows, cathedral ceilings, fireplace with cabinets on each side.
Go through your whole idea, print each plan and circle what you like.
With this information find a good Residential Designer. Some of your bigger lumber yards have good ones.
He should know the local codes, lumber requirements and have a good library of his past homes.
He/she can also give you a list of builders that build homes the size you're interested in.
Now, here's some advice, If your home is of standard construction, nothing fancy, just a nice modern home, stay away from Architects. (Worked with many over the years, they do a good job, but charge way to much for what you want or need) Their fee is usually a % of the homes cost, so a 400K home could cost you 25K, a good Residential Designer should run 1/4 or less of that. Fee's may vary as to your location. Also, if you know some good builders ask them who they use.
Good Luck, everyone should build an affordable dream home once in their life.

That is good advice these fellows are giving, I am a builder and have built simple and complex homes. I’ve had good plans that worked fine and others that were great on paper but things just didn't work out. Stairs that were halfway covering a garage entrance, another one by same guy that left a 4’ tall opening to enter the upstairs. Doorswings that dont work.cabinets blocking door holes. What im getting at is just because the program doesn’t flag a problem doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It will be worth your money to get a qualified and experienced person for your plans.
Building codes aren’t a bad thing, they are minimum requirements and for your safety. Some counties don't use them, if any builder is weary of “codes” I would look for a different one. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck with your new home.

Thanks so much for sharing gentlemen. I will take it to heart.