Landscape, Deck & Patio Designer - Windows

I had great hope for this program as a friend wanted me to help her design and build a deck for her above ground pool. The program was a snap to install but it was all down hill from that point on. I have been in construction for years and years so I can lay out what I want and bid the materials. My hope for the program was that it would be easy to draw what I wanted and it would help me present the deck and that it would assist in a material list. I have spent some 15 to 20 hours attempting to learn how to use this program. A simple "how to start" would have been great help but if there is something of that nature I could not find it. I finally just gave up and got out my drawing board and layed it out with a overhead layout and a front view. generated a material list and will start construction next week.

While you can create a house, I used it to plan my backyard. Software is not especially deep, but it saves time and is easy enough to figure out without a manual. One great feature is where to plant trees to reduce heating/cooling bills.

Not exactly what I hoped it would be. I am always looking for new software to create things....I am such a diy'er but this one was not worth my money. I thought it would be easy to use and could start planning within a few days, I was wrong.