Besides working with a top-notch building team for your custom home, these six apps will make the process simpler and more enjoyable. They run the gamut from the ideas and tools you’ll need to get the design started to figuring out where to hang the art once the house is finished.
Houzz
This app is a good one to have as early in the custom home building process as possible. It has thousands and thousands of photos for everything related to home design. Besides the ideas you’ll get in abundance, you can post your questions on the Houzz forums to get advice from others, including professionals.
Sun Seekers
It’s always been difficult to calculate the amount of sunshine your home will receive based on its positioning on the lot, but Sun Seekers takes the challenge out of it. This app shows you where and how long the sun will shine in each window of your home. It’s useful for people who want to take advantage of passive solar heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. You’ll also know where to take steps to cut UV exposure that can fade surfaces.
Photo Measures
This app is indispensable for anyone building a custom home or doing a remodel. You take the picture and it will give you distances between one point and another. Digital measurements are fast and accurate. They’re especially convenient since you can easily label the photos with the measurements your building team needs.
Havenly
Think of the Havenly app as your new best friend who happens to be an interior designer when you most need one. If you have a room that you want help decorating, simply send the designer at the other end a picture and your budget, and you’ll get advice tailored to the project.
roOmy
As you get closer to the end of the project, use this software to tackle the interior decorating, room by room. It converts your photo images into a 3-D format that you can use to get a sense of furniture placement and traffic flows. You can even hang artwork on the wall. This feature alone is worth downloading it to your phone, especially if you have large and heavy pieces.
Bottom Line
Putting these apps on your phone to build a custom home increases your productivity and accuracy. It even helps you communicate clearly with the building team and use interior designers more efficiently. Sharing photos, being able to annotate them with measurements, and review notes benefits both you and the crews that you’re working with.