Does anyone use Lowes' Deck Designer on Windows 10?

newbury · Dec 3, 2017

I've been trying to design a deck for my house where my son and family live.
I need a "plan" to give to the county inspectors for a permit.
I want to make it slightly fancy, not just a simple square.
I know my son will want to make some alterations and I'd like to be easily able to build a cut list so I can figure out what the options will cost for materials.
And I get a 10% discount from Lowes

Lowes offers this on line Deck Design Software which looks like it would be an excellent tool but I can't get it to load. I tried IE (latest) and Firefox (latest). I tried "chatting" w/ Lowes, was told to delete my cookies, did - no good.

So has anyone else used this?

Or know of a comparable free program that works easily?

/edit - Main thing is to be able to coordinate changes in build and try to contain costs.

Redlands Okie · Dec 3, 2017

No idea on the lowes software but as a rule of thumb keep any dealing with inspectors and permit officials as simple as you can to take care of your business. Not saying you can not have a fancy deck. Not saying to lie or present false info. Just keep the presentation and info simple and to a minimum as much as you can.

LittleBill21 · Dec 3, 2017

"You must be a Lowes.com registered user to access the deck design tool"

did you log in? doesn't load for me either

3Lfarms · Dec 3, 2017

I couldn’t get the Lowes software to work. I went to Home Depot and sat down with their guy that does the design work.
I knew all the dimensions of what I wanted, so it only took about 15 minutes and it spit out the structural designs and materials list. All for free. I used the drawings they provided for my permit. Easy peasy.

GLyford · Dec 4, 2017

I have not used the lowes tool, but Decks.com. Design, Free Plans & Software, How To Build has a free tool that worked pretty well for me.

I took their plans for a covered deck and converted them into a 3-season porch, but had I wanted just the covered deck (or a screen porch) I would have had no problems just submitting them as is...I just would have had to add a lot layout sketch to show the setbacks. Easy enough to figure out using google maps and my county's online data.