Software for Interior / Kitchen / Bathroom Designers & Fitters
A very large number of visitors to this site are looking for advice on choosing the right program for kitchen design and interior design. I regularly talk to professionals in this field who are very confused with the array of packages available to them. I fully understand the confusion as it’s exactly the same for anyone looking for a new package that will be right for them and at a realistic price.
For a company there can be an enormous ongoing investment in training a person for AutoCAD or other complex systems and that doesn’t make sense unless they can dedicate that employee to CAD design tasks full time. Training a current employee with great product knowledge and creativity to be a competent CAD technician can take a great deal of time and expense. The alternative, hiring someone who knows CAD, can be problematic if they are not totally familiar with the product. Builders tell me that the problem with a lot of ‘architects’ these days is that they can use the package, but don’t posses the practical one-site experience and therefore make big, time consuming mistakes.
So below I have stated the four main points that I consider the most important when choosing a system while at the same time realizing that most looking will not be trained CAD professionals, will not want to spend a fortune, will not want to spend weeks learning the package and want help when they have a problem.
What To Look For In A CAD System
Anybody designing kitchens and bathrooms these days in 2D is rather behind the times, which immediately rules out AutoCAD LT. These days clients want 3D realizations and there are plenty of packages to achieve this. There are bespoke kitchen design packages available, but the problems with them is that they are very limited in their functionality, they are very restricted in adapting to awkward angles or sizes and they are not CAD systems meaning that they are unable to link into other packages.
I’d suggest that your main criteria for choosing a package would be the following:
Ease of Use
The high end expensive packages will inevitably have lots of features that you will never use or need. If you don’t need them, then they can only slow you down and get in your way. TurboCAD will enable you to draw a house or room layout in a fraction of the time AutoCAD would take, either by eye, or by typing in sizes. 2D layouts are then either extruded into 3D representations, or used as a base on which to build the design. With TurboCAD by the end of just one day’s training you will be able to draw kitchen cabinets in 3D and place then in your design. The advantage of using CAD is that once drawn, you never have to draw it again, next time you want one you just pick it up from your library. If it needs to be a bit higher or longer, it takes very little time. There is an extensive library of 2D and 3D symbols that come with TurboCAD and as a new customer you also have access to 44 million symbols free for two months. Any type of material can be applied to a surface at the click of a mouse. Bricks can be laid in different patterns, wood grain can be opened out, colours changed and wood grain direction altered.
Training
Any course that takes longer than two days is too complicated for your needs. With TurboCAD there is plenty of free training to get you started, both printed and video. Our courses are £184 for a day – and that’s all you’ll need to get up and running. After that there are training books and forums to help out with particular problems. Make sure that any package you choose has the type of training you want, books, videos and / or training days and make sure that they don’t cost the earth. Most companies have e-mail support, but try and check out beforehand if they actually reply. It is not uncommon for me to get a call in the afternoon from a customer who has a big problem with a job that must be finished that day. So try and ensure that you have the safety net of someone you can call.
Support
AutoCAD will charge you something like £600 a year, just what are you getting for this? Not much is the answer, but that’s why they are so rich, loads of people pay up without considering whether they need to. Another point here is that most companies will promise support, but what they mean is technical support. So if your computer crashes, then they’ll help, (when they have time, between you and all the others waiting on the phone), but if you have a simple practical question, say regarding opening an incoming file, they’ll regard that as a training issue and your on your own. At Avanquest we provide free support, not only technical but also practical with any problem whatsoever, you simply pick up the phone. If we are away from our desk, just leave a message and someone will get back to you within 24 hours – that’s what we do, it costs you nothing. We also have CAD professionals in several fields that are willing to take on jobs and we can put you together. I think that if you spend thousands of pounds with a company you should have a number to phone when you’re in a corner and if the company can not give you that assurance, I’d look elsewhere.
Compatibility
Lastly, and very importantly is compatibility. You must be able to open drawings sent to you created in different packages and you must have the ability of saving in a variety of file formats including PDF and the latest and past DWG and DXF formats. If you can’t do this then you are seriously restricting your capabilities. If you buy any package that can only open a small range of file formats, then you’re throwing your money away. TurboCAD opens 29.
For all of the above reasons TurboCAD is used extensively by all types of interior designers. In the last six months, among others, we have trained designers working in the following fields:
Interior / Kitchen Designers / Bathroom Designers
Stage Designers / Exhibition Designers
Manufacturers of Doors / Windows / Fencing / Decking /
Garden and Landscape Designers
Warehouse layout and Management / TV outside Broadcast Layout
Manufacturers of Locks
The list is far more extensive and far more diverse than the few areas mentioned above. (We even trained an Oxford PhD student how to recreate a 3,000 year old Egyptian Temple).
For more info please leave a comment or give me a call, 01962 835081.
June 6, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I am interested in your TurboCAD, we have a cad system that has kitchen designs only, we are expanding to do bathrooms and bedrooms. what do you recommend
June 8, 2009 at 12:41 pm
John
Once you get the hang of drawing in 3D, TurboCAD is very versatile for kitchen and bathroom designers, who make up a very large proportion of my clients. Bedrooms are simple. I can draw a kitchen cabinet in perhaps ten minutes and once it’s drawn you always have it to use again. TurboCAD Professional comes with about 22,000 symbols and I have extra disks especially for interior designers. The only snag with these is that they are American, so you may need to edit them slightly, but again, once drawn it is in your ‘toolbox’ for whenever you need it.
I have a garden design customer who takes a couple of photographs with his phone, imports the picture and then draws on top of this to show a customer the possibilities. Once you have a stock of cabinets, you would be able to do this on site. A couple of clicks turns the design into perspective to provide realistic representations.
Designs can be saved as a PDF, so as long as a customer has a computer, you will be able to e-mail prospective designs.
The advantage that TurboCAD has over the customised packages is that it is able to adapt to the area you need to work in, so for example if walls are not meeting at right angles, it is not a problem, it is also considerably less money. Also if you are provided with CAD drawings of the building that you need to work in, then you will be able to open them and build your design on top of the existing drawing.
Paul
June 21, 2009 at 11:38 am
Dear Paul, I am looking into using a CAD software package to design bathrooms for our customers.
Also
June 23, 2009 at 10:33 am
Stephen,
I think that you’re missing a bit from your question. Also…….
TurboCAD is perfect for the job for three reasons:
It’s far easier and quicker to learn than other packages.
It reads about 30 different file formats and is able to save to PDF. So no problem getting CAD files from manufacturers or other designers or sending your drawings to them, which is not the case for those using AutoCAD. They pay thousands more, but can’t read the majority of formats, only their own
And finally price and support. To get a better CAD package you will need to spend at least £4,000 + pay for an annual license and if you want special add ons for kitchen design put another few hundred on the table. You should get change enough for a pint to cry into. TurboCAD does not behave in that way. Of course it’s a business that has to make a profit, but there are forums out there were people swap ideas and help each other out. Avanquest have people to help out with any problems whether technical or practical, they will not ask when you bought your product and from who and ask for code numbers before they are willing to assist, they just do it.
Paul
September 23, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Hi there,
reading through your website has really interested me, i have a diploma in interior design and really want to futher my career but every job vacancy i consider you need knowledge of CAD, long expensive courses are not really an option as time and money are not on my side. I would be really greatful if you could give me some advice!
Many Thanks
Sharon Fitzjohn
September 25, 2009 at 11:46 am
Sharon,
There are various ways that you could start. You could just buy an old version of TurboCAD Deluxe for £30 and at the same time get a couple of the new training books, which include training videos. This would give you a sound 2D training and at the same time show you how the package works and introduce you to 3D. If you get the hang of it you can then upgrade to professional, this would be the cheapest way to start and end up with the top of the range product.
After a while it would be beneficial to come on a one day course. You could cover all this in about four weeks and although will not quite be an expert, you will be able to create 3D perspective drawings of interiors, walk through them and present them as plans and elevations showing lots of different variations of finishes.
Best to give me a call 01962 835 081 (1)
Paul
October 14, 2009 at 6:54 am
Hi Paul i am starting a kitchen,bedroom and home office fitted furniture company, and i need a cad system which is user friendly and efficent. I am not a computer tech so it must be idiot proof. Can you help?
October 23, 2009 at 11:44 am
Rob
Only yesterday I gave a training day at a company just off the M25, who design and fit offices. Much of their work involves sorting out the best layout for the available space. This particular company used furniture from their suppliers, but other companies that I’ve trained build everything bespoke.
People engaged in your area areca consist of a very large number of my customers.
Working out how to get going in 2D is not difficult with one of the new training guides, as they are in written and video form. 3D takes more effort to understand and I’d advise you coming on a training day in Winchester.
The route I advise is as follows. Buy the professional platinum version with both the 2D and 3D training books. After you’ve been through a few exercises, give me a call and arrange a date for a training day. The cost for all of this bought from our site would be £1,249, but book it through me and I’ll only charge you £800, plus you will have full telephone support for when you hit those snags in the early stages of using TurboCAD.
Paul
01962 835 081 (1)
November 13, 2009 at 10:08 am
Hi Paul
Part of my sales manager kitchen design training was to be taught Planit Millenium(since superceded by Fusion)this was 5 to 6 years ago but I still remember the basics.
How easy would it be to learn TurboCad and produce 2D plans and elevations + 3D colour perspectives suitable for presentations to clients.?
I have spent some time looking on the net for packages and find that they are either spectacularly expensive or just not suitable.
Can you help?
November 23, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Phil
Planit and similar tend to be a matter of taking cabinets from a library and fitting them in place, whereas, although you can do that with TurboCAD, you are also able to much more. Planit’s strength is that it is easy and relatively quick to learn, its weakness is that it is unable to accommodate for unusual features that you may come across in a room such as walls not meeting at right angles. Its other weakness is its high price.
TurboCAD will take longer to learn, but once you understand it, it will give you far more flexibility. You’d be able to draw a kitchen cabinet from scratch in ten minutes, showing it in a different finish, two clicks on your mouse, adding another shelf, seconds. You’ll also have the advantage of being able to save your drawings in thirty file formats, including PDF, enabling you to send proposals to customers that do not have a CAD system. Of course, once you cabinet is drawn, that’s it, you save it into a library and reuse it as many times as you like. In this way you are saving more time as time goes along, because you will slowly build up your own sets of kitchen furniture and effectively have what you’d get with Planit, but with the advantage of being able edit any components in any way. You can also turn your kitchen into perspective and walk through it.
The way I advise people to do it is this:
1 Buy the full Professional package and I’ll give you two training books with over 400 training videos. Go through a couple of exercises in 2D and 3D, until you have a bit of an idea how it goes. You’re welcome to call me if you get stuck.
2 Then, when you have some idea, call me and arrange to come on a training day.
By the end of that you will have a good working understanding and the more you do, the more you’re learn. Doing it this way saves you £254, because all the training comes free.
Paul
January 23, 2010 at 8:28 pm
I use ArtiCAD. In my eyes it’s the best CAD software available for Kitchen, bedroom and bathroom design. It’s made my copmany a fortune over the years, we can’t imagine not having it.
January 25, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Wez,
That’s interesting, it’s a package that I’ve heard of, but not seen demonstrated. I’ll see if I can get a demo copy to try out.
thanks
Paul
July 8, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Hello Paul,
I am trying to change career’s, I have been running large photocopiers since school. I liked the job but I felt I could be doing something better with my time. I have not done any further education since when I left school. I went to night school to complete maths and english in city and guilds. I then managed to get funding for a full time course in AutoCAD. I found it very challenging at first but I went on to pass City and Guilds autoCAD level 2. I am finding it hard getting voluntary work let alone a job. Do you have any advice as to what I could do at college that would strengthen my career prospects. I feel I need something alongside autocad and I really want to just draw and work on plans etc. Any help would be appreciated.
July 12, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Alan,
The days of AutoCAD ruling the CAD world is long over. As long as the system that you use reads DWG, DXF and saves as PDF you can use just about anything. Many AutoCAD LT drawings I see could have been drawn using a £30 package and as for 3D work forget it.
I’d suggest that you learn Google SketchUp. Most CAD users have the free version on their machine, but probably are not too good with it. I think that there is an opportunity there to quickly draw mock-ups for projects or spending a day raining people up on it, I think that it is only going to get more popular.
Paul
November 5, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Hi i am a trainied architect have been using a CAD software for years including turboCAD and autocad. i agree with comments listed above. If anyone is interested i also use a specialised software for kitchens and bathrooms called ArtiCAD. it has capability to design in 2d and 3d at the same time and has help me win literaly 100′s of kitchens tenders. if anyone wants to try it for kitchens i suggest taking a look at it. it cost me around £3K and i was trained on site by a chap from north london who was brilliant at kitchen cad design, it exports all dxf to autocad but does a design in minutes, which help with full developments. regards J.Naysworth
November 10, 2010 at 5:02 pm
John,
ArtiCAD seems to be getting around these days, I’ll have to try and take a look at it when I get a chance.
Paul
July 23, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Hi Paul
Browsing through your site makes me to realise that turbocad has several capabilities.
I just finished a certificate programme in interior design form KLC. I have been intending to do a CAD progamme.
Please, could you advise on the CAD programme suitable for me( i do living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and every area of an interior),the training cost and date.
Presently I am in Nigeria, but would be willing to come to UK again for the trainning.
Thanks and awaiting your response
Omodele.
July 24, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Hi Paul,
I do not have a prior knowledge of any CAD software but intend to get training on one that is appropriate and suitable for my interior design work.
However, I would also like to know if I purchase the software, can I get going with the tutorials alone or I would essentially need to attend the training.
Omodele Kadri
July 25, 2011 at 11:22 am
Omodele,
The best plan for you would be to buy TurboCAD v18 pro platinum and Google SketchUp. When you buy both together I give you the training books and films for TurboCAD free. You can buy the software on my shop and then email me to let me know and I’ll post your books personally.
It is best to go through a few of the training exercises from the books, or by watching the training films, then when you have some idea of how the package works, book yourself on one of my training days. Either one that does TurboCAD in the morning and SketchUp in the afternoon, or a TurboCAD one that introduces SketchUp later in the afternoon.
This is a package that I sell to a lot of people in your line of work and it works very well.
Paul
July 25, 2011 at 11:36 am
Thanks Paul
I wish to buy from your shop and of course I would be ordering these from Nigeria.Could you let me know the total cost of the TurboCAD v18 pro platinum and google sketch up.
Omodele
February 2, 2012 at 12:33 pm
John the CAD.
I have very little skills in useing any type of CAD as I fit kitchens only, now i would like to sit behind the desk doing the designing instead.
Due to an injury my future employment will now be limited but i would like very much to do kitchen design!
Would the IMSI TurboCAD 15 V15 Deluxe 2D/3D Drafting & modeling be the one to start off with? or would you suggest another package..
many thanks
February 3, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Tony,
I wouldn’t start with v15, it’s a few years old now and not supported by win 7. The latest, v18, is £80, (a bit cheaper via this site), and will be more reliable. If it’s only 2D that you want then this will do everything you need. I’d also recommend a 2D training book, these are excellent and have training films included.
If you later want 3D, then check out Google SketchUp, the combination of the two are used by many others in your line of work.
You’re always welcome to call.
Paul