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I want to include a floor plan in my listings – ideally 3-D and with furniture, but a simple walls-doors-windows-fixtures will do. I can do a hand sketch and provide exact measurements, but I haven’t been able to convert into a professional looking floor plan since I lost access to the drafting studio when I graduated high school.
I know there is probably freeware – but I’m a month behind on gardening and two months behind on my accounting, so I’m not looking to master a new hobby on the computer – I’m looking for a host who has a reasonably-priced person (maybe a student) who can bang one of these out quickly and cheaply. (Or a host who likes doing these and has the skills and wants me to buy them lunch.) I don’t want the uncertainties of an online service either.
Anyone got a suggestion other than "Do it yourself… it’s E-E-E-ASY !!! ??
Tax assessment in this jurisdiction is not done locally – the agency is province wide – and does not rely on totally up to date plans. They stopped enforcing filing plans for small renovations many, many years ago – when the building on a typical suburban home (like ours) represents only 3% of the value, they don’t really care if you’ve turned your basement into a rec-room… it won’t have any noticeable impact on property tax payable.
Spark said he didn’t want to deal with an online service.
@Spark- One thing you could try is to get in touch with BCIT in Burnaby, which does have courses in drafting and computer drafting programs, and see if there might be students interested in this.
Funny story- I have a friend who went to BCIT to take courses to get an estimator’s licence after he had an accident in his profession as a carpenter and didn’t want to pound nails anymore.
There was a young woman, quite attractive, who had an old house in Vancouver that needed a lot of work. When she was in need of a carpenter, she’d go hang around the carpentry dept. at BCIT, chatting guys up at break or lunch times. One would end up dating her, she’d get them to do the carpentry work she wanted, then she’d dump him and go chat up the plumbing students, etc. Word finally got around about her technique, but she apparently got a lot of work done that way.
Not suggesting you try that, you’re probably not cute enough to pull it off, but it was pretty funny.
Sparks will get very fast pro results from pros. They may not live in a convenient radius from his home. Looking for pros online means that quality can be had from a pro no matter how far away they are. Fiverr is (one of many) places that talent offer their services. I doubt none of us know his town or neighboring area well enough to say “Go to xxx streeet and find yyy, they will do the job for you”…
What I’m asking is if any other hosts in this forum have a person who has done this for them for a modest fee. I’m not paying for a big professional design/engineering shop – this is too small potatoes for them unless they charge so much it’s not worth it to me.
When I was in high school I could have accessed the drafting-class studio over lunch and banged off a simple 2-D floor plan in 20 minutes… and would have thrilled to do so for $50 (in today’s dollars adjusted for inflation – about a dime back then).
If anyone in the forum reading this has someone like that in their life who is maybe a student or retired and has the software and skills to do a simple, quick floor plan for $50, I’ve got the fifty dollars and can easily prepare a hand drawn first draft (with specs and measurements) to work from. Being referred by a forum host to a known and proven amateur (or retiree) is not – in my mind – the same thing as going online and rolling the dice.
Also – if anyone got a floor plan for their listing from outside their personal network, I’m interested to learn how and who.
those two examples can’t possibly be the same place! I could supply one that looked like the first, if you sent me a hand drawing with some measurements. dm me.
No – I couldn’t find an example of 2-D and 3-D renderings for the same location… they were just meant to illustrate the minimum and maximum level of detail I am looking for.
Thank you for your offer! I need to wait until I have a break (no guests) so I can get in and measure. Looks like we may be empty for a few days late Nov/early Dec
I can’t help you Spark but I think it’s a great idea to include a 3D view into one’s listing and you’ve inspired me to do the same…however, I can’t draw one either - I’m going to ask around friends and family, someone’s bound to be messing about with sketchup or similar. BTW do you know what software created that 2nd image?
No – but after I did the google search to find that image, an ad for this architectural rendering software (see below) popped up in my face book feed (how’s that for some classic big-brother shit?}.
Once again thanks for the offer @gypsy. My wife is giving volunteer mentoring on public speaking to a woman we have just discovered is a foreign trained (i.e. locally unaccredited) full fledged architect now doing (digital) drafting in a local architectural firm, and she insists on doing this for us for free.
I think I could likely do draw-ups like the one I posted above for my host friends here for about 80$US. Unless it is a mansion or multiple levels. Its a great thing to have if the layout doesn’t show in your photos!
Thanks gypsy, that’s good to know although I wasn’t thinking of a floor plan but the 3d rendition. I’ve commissioned one off a mate of mine, who’s a google sketchup whizz, and I’ll post it here when I get it …but don’t hold your breath, he said I’m held in queue and will be answered shortly.
but it was pretty funny.
- I’m going to ask around friends and family, someone’s bound to be messing about with sketchup or similar. BTW do you know what software created that 2nd image?