Hey HN! Ilya and Nikita here. We’re building HomeCat, a tool that lets you design a backyard office space - https://myhomecat.com
We started out by helping people design sheds, and quickly realized that many people actually want to build a backyard office. There wasn't really an easy way to do this, so we thought we'd take on the challenge.
Right now, you can design a backyard shed and our tool will make it code compliant. It's maybe 90% of the way there, since you also have zoning/HOA and other edge cases. But it does figure out most of the details for you. Right now, it's pretty simple: enter your address, what you want to build (i.e. 8x8 backyard office), and it'll create a few concepts for you. If you like one, you can customize it with the chat.
We would love for you to try our tool if you are planning your backyard office. As a bonus to the HN community, we can professionally design one for you for free if you comment what you're looking for.
Happy labor day!
saastown 4 hours ago
3D design of backyards look great!! Did you use three js for the 3D effects?
As recently I built 3D town and have used Three js, and want to take this forward.
Americentrism? Code compliant where? I tried my place in New Zealand, but the address isn't recognized. I couldn't find anywhere on the site what countries/regions are accepted.
dearilos 2 days ago
What province/state/territory in NZ? I can add it in. We just research the code compliance stuff manually so we couldn't cover the entire world but I can add your case in.
trainingonme 2 days ago
The UK doesn't seem to work, either. (Tried postcode and town)
dearilos 2 days ago
I can add this in too. Sorry, it might take a bit of time!
barryvan a day ago
Any chance of Western Australia? This looks like a really useful tool and I'd love to give it a proper go here...
dearilos 14 hours ago
Heya I'd love to help! Could you shoot me a note to my email in my bio? I didn't see a way to reach out from your profile.
ajb 2 days ago
To be fair it's going to be nontrivial to implement all the codes everywhere. In some cases it's going to be impossible for an app like this to judge - In the UK, for example, there are "permitted development" rights which allow certain things (like a garden office or other outbuilding) without going through a bureaucratic process. But while some of the rules are easy to automate (eg, must be less than 2.5m high) some are not. For example, the UK allows building over 50% of the garden[1]. But if it was just measurement based, you'd be able to build over 50%, then 50% of the remaining 50%, etc etc. So the rule is "50% of the original garden". That's going to be difficult for an app like this to find out.
[1] it's slightly more complicated than this
foopod a day ago
Oh yeah, not suggesting they try to handle everywhere on Earth. But it would be nice if supported countries/regions was listed somewhere.
wink 20 hours ago
I mean the page is in English and they used $ for the currency, how many countries could they really target? /s
xnx 14 hours ago
Site doesn't list prices without logging in (boo!), but I saw $50/plan.
dearilos 14 hours ago
Yes - we only charge for the building plans. So it's $50, but you get to revise as many times as you want. Others have found this really useful for zoning/HOA/permit approval so far.
Everything else like designing, materials lists, code compliance - we intend to keep free.
hedgehog 2 days ago
There's something funky with the renderer, it looks like perspective is wrong. All vibe coded?
dearilos 2 days ago
Can you link your scene? It's possible there is an edge case.
That's a good reference for what orthographic rendering is, but if you look at the rendered scene it's definitely not orthographic. Parallel lines in the model converge towards the camera when the model is viewed from an angle.
rendaw a day ago
I think it's an optical illusion. It looks weird to me, but comparing it with various objects I have I do feel like they're parallel.
Specifically the roof edge vs base edge, the back of the roof vs the front of the roof.
xnx 14 hours ago
Probably better to use perspective as the default like Sketchup.
toyg 2 days ago
Hijacking a bit, sorry: I already built the space, but I just filled it with old, mismatched, clunky furniture. Is there some sort of designer site where I could play with furniture, apart from Ikea?
dearilos 2 days ago
We actually do want to do more complex interior, and let you add furniture from any catalog. Can I email you on your profile about this?
