Depends on what stage you are at! Our architect presented us with a physical model along with a floor plan, right at the beginning of our design process. Without it, we would certainly have struggled to visualise the entire concept, and it definately cemented our faith early in the design. In the 4 months since, he has provided 2D renders of areas we've made minor changes to, and we are now waiting to view the 3D digital render, in order to layer & dress. He is also constructing a final physical model for us. We have an awesome architect!

Hi I use a combination of 3 different programs depending on the need and who it is for. Each can be used to do complete drawings depending on your needs and time. I only use Sketchup to illustrate a 3d for clients so they have a visual. It has its limitations though as major changes can be quite laborious. I use Chief Architect only to nut out multiple layout options as you can simply click and drag to draw a wall that you have pre-defined the properties of eg brick veneer exterior, stud internal etc. If you have a room dimension you want to increase, you simply highlight the wall you want to move, click on the dimension that has popped up and change it. The surrounding walls alter to adapt to the new wall location so it is quick and easy. I don't use it for detail work as being an American program a lot of the options and specs don't apply unless you get Australian add ons... For detailed CAD drawings I use Autosketch 10 and TurboCad 20. Being old school (2D) I use Autosketch mostly for over 90% of my drawing as with about 7 or 8 tools you can pretty much draw anything and it does detailed construction drawings the way I prefer. Being only 2D you have to think 3D and draw the elevations etc in 2D but I enjoy that as it helps think through how something is going to be put together. Cheers

Thanks so much for the confidence boost :) I ran over the design 100 times to ensure it is completely functional. Sometimes a design might look great but in reality parts of it aren't practical. We're now focusing more on interior design than we do 3D visualization as that is where our passion is so your words mean a lot :) I am using 3DS Max for the modelling. For the purposes of demonstrating concepts to clients i would recommend sketchup - much easier.

I use Sketchup Pro with the PlusSpec plug in. I do building design and interior design. It can do everything you'll ever need for houses, interiors, etc. Its easy to learn the basics but I'm still learning new things all the time. As they say - easy to learn, difficult to master.