Great bathroom design is only successful when it works as a real-life example. When the design is decided, the suite is chosen, and the tiles, colours and furniture is set, it’s how it all works together that decides if it the design was good.
A bathroom is a very functional room and one that gets more use than almost every other and often for limited time. How the bathroom works in real life is paramount to great design and seeing this on a flat drawing is a tough one to imagine.
That’s where CAD design comes in…
What is CAD design?
CAD (Computer Aided Design) is a design software that gives designers the ability to create designs in 3D so that their customers can view and virtually ‘walk around’ their new bathroom. It’s pretty exciting to see it come to life like this.
CAD is widely used in not just bathroom design but other areas like kitchens and building designs by architects. Creating the designs in 3D helps customers and those who struggle to see a conceptual idea in a real world working example from a set of drawings. CAD gives a much clearer view for the designer and the customer of how the final design will look and feel.
Why is CAD design important?
Seeing is believing, and seeing is also understanding. As designers, we would really struggle to get our expertise across to the customer if they couldn’t see it. We might suggest moving some plumbing to improve the bathroom greatly, but as this comes at a cost, the customer might not be keen on the idea.
With CAD, we can show the benefits which might include design, style, flow of the room, or more storage space – which are all important to the final success of the bathroom.
What can CAD design do?
CAD creates a virtual bathroom to work with. Between us (the designer) and the customer (home owner) we can work with designs, styles, products, and any changes to the layout together, and avoid any future problems or dislikes. CAD shows the bathroom in 3D and then allows us to chop and change, swap in and out, and move and remove the bathroom elements. This is really helpful if you can’t choose between two options or you’d like to see different colours.
CAD design is great and anyone can use it. It’s quite intuitive if a little technical to get going with at first. But you do need a good designer to have the forethought and ideas for the bathroom to make it really work. Most people can use CAD, but if you don’t know what you are doing, it won’t give you the results you’re after.
Can you share the CAD design on email?
Yes, you can. CAD can be sent on emails and shared with your family, builder, or anyone involved in the project. Some CAD is cloud-based and gives you the ability to share a live link and check in on the updates as they’re added. Others are shown as a moment in time and shared as a file.
The function of sharing CAD digitally makes it really easy to work on a bathroom design that involves lots of people and means you don’t need to get them all in a room together. This can really help speed up the decision-making process of the project and get the bathroom installation and finishing date closer.
Is CAD Design Free?
Like all software, if it’s good, it costs. As CAD is very good, It’s not free to us. But it is included in your design cost. We believe that CAD is an integral part of the design process and that designing without 3D computer generated images makes the job harder and doesn’t get the best results.
Some bathroom designers might charge extra for CAD, but we see it as so important to the quality of our work that we use it for all our work and don’t add on a premium to your bathroom design costs.
We want the very best result for your bathroom and by using CAD we can work to the best design process possible. We work together on it and we don’t need to rely on your imagination to a point to see how the bathroom will look.
This is really important when we remove or create walls, move plumbing, or change a bath for a shower. Big changes can be tough to imagine, although we have met many customers who have a brain that’s naturally very good at this.
CAD is just a part of the design process for us. It’s not an optional extra – it’s essential.
CAD design bathrooms for all…
Our success and track record prove that great design and great bathrooms come from a well set-up process to begin with. We’re on the same page from the start and your wishes and our skills come alive on the page (and screen!).
For decades we’ve created dream bathrooms and the results and customer reviews speak for themselves.
Need more help? Pop into our Coventry bathroom showroom and we’ll talk you through your future bathroom and show you some displays and designs.