Quickstart

This quickstart walks you from a blank screen to a usable AI-generated floor plan in about ten minutes. It assumes nothing more than that you can describe a space in plain English.

1. Decide what you are actually planning

Before opening any tool, write down four pieces of information on a piece of paper:

  1. Total area in square metres or square feet (an approximation is fine).

  2. Overall shape of the footprint: rectangle, L-shape, square, narrow corridor.

  3. Number of rooms you need, including bathrooms.

  4. One non-negotiable constraint, for example “the bedroom must face the back garden” or “the kitchen and dining area must be open-plan”.

These four items make the difference between a generic AI sketch and one that is actually relevant to your situation.

2. Write a first-pass prompt

A good first prompt is a short paragraph, not a bullet list. AI models that generate floor plans respond well to spatial relationships expressed as ordinary sentences. Compare:

Weak: “3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living, 120 sqm”

Stronger: “Design a single-storey 120 square metre family home on a rectangular plot. Place three bedrooms along the north side, with the largest at the east end sharing a wall with an en-suite bathroom. The kitchen and dining area should be open-plan and face the south garden, with the living room next to the entrance.”

Notice how the stronger version names directions, adjacencies and priorities.

3. Generate, then read carefully

When the tool returns a layout, resist the urge to immediately re-prompt. Spend a full minute reading the drawing:

  • Trace your own route from the front door to the kitchen, then to the master bedroom. Does it cross the living room awkwardly?

  • Check that every room has at least one door, and that no door swings into a corridor wider than the corridor itself.

  • Confirm bathrooms are not directly off the kitchen or dining area.

  • Look at window placement: bedrooms and living areas should have at least one exterior wall.

Write a short list of what works and what does not. This list becomes the basis for your next prompt.

4. Iterate with targeted edits

Instead of rewriting the whole prompt, ask for specific changes:

“Keep the overall layout but move the laundry from next to the kitchen to between the two children’s bedrooms. Add a small linen cupboard in the corridor.”

Two or three rounds of targeted edits typically produce a plan you can either use directly or hand off to a designer for refinement.

5. Export and annotate

At this stage, export the plan as a PNG or SVG and annotate it manually with:

  • Approximate dimensions for each room.

  • Door swing directions.

  • The location of the electrical panel and water heater if known.

This annotated version is what you share with a contractor, agent or designer. The AI draft is the starting conversation, not the final document.

Where to go next

  • Look at the Prompt templates page for ready-made starting points by housing type.

  • Read Layout guidance for the spatial principles you should sanity-check every AI draft against.

  • If a word in the AI output puzzles you, the Glossary explains the most common architectural terms.