Instant Architect Reviewer's Comments

Our number 3 ranked home design software and "TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award" winner is Instant Architect by IMSI Design. It's an inexpensive, no-frills home design software product that's easy to learn, and offers a solid set of home design features.

The main reason Instant Architect didn't receive a higher ranking was its lack of sample house plans, and a few other features. If you want more advanced functionality, like the ability to import your own designs and symbols, and landscape and deck design, try IMSI's TurboFLOORPLAN Home & Landscape Pro, which is a great all-in-one package.

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Aesthetic Appeal:  

Instant Architect’s interface is clean and simple, and the way tools are grouped makes it easy to build a home. The 3D models for furniture, appliances, and the like don’t quite rival that of Home Designer 8.0, but they’re realistic enough to make your designs come to life. Bottom line: You can easily get the job done, with a reasonable idea of what the end result will be.

Features & Tools:  

Instant Architect has a great house builder wizard that guides you through the process of setting up a basic home, from the foundation up. It literally takes about a minute to build a home and then customize to your liking.

The object library, or catalog, has 3D models for appliances, furniture, fixtures, and lighting, but what really set it apart was the ability to edit object properties: You can edit the appearance, dimensions, and even enter the manufacturer and price information, to aid in creating a budget. In fact, we really liked how we could double-click and edit just about any object in real-time.

Support & Documentation:  

Instant Architect comes with a Getting Started Guide, and includes application help and online FAQs, tips, and tricks. There were no video tutorials, which we found helpful with the top two products, but all in all their help system answered most questions.

Summary:  

For the price, Instant Architect from IMSI Design is an excellent product that will help you put together your dream home, or just remodel your kitchen. Keep in mind that this product doesn’t let you create or edit landscapes, and we would have liked to be able to build upon existing floor plans, or at least import our own.  

If you need a more robust all-in-one solution, TurboFLOORPLAN Home & Landscape Pro has everything Instant Architect has, and also includes: sample house plans, terrain, deck, and patio builders, a 7,500-plant database, seasonal change simulation, and more. IMSI Design is a serious contender for casual and professional home design.