Oliver of Fermain built a free 3D planner for building on steep land

Oliver is the founder of Fermain, a software studio in Durban that "works on unusual projects". Floorplan is one of them. It is a free tool that runs in the browser, for planning a new building, an extension or a change to an existing one, and then costing it, checking it and seeing it in 3D.

Oliver is careful about what the numbers mean. Floorplan "makes a best effort material/cost estimate, the figures are just for guidance and they should take their model to a professional for a quote."

Built for the slope

"I live in an area where flat land is scarce, and I love to build software and houses." Oliver tried free, freemium and premium apps, but "I could never afford professional software just for a personal project." Two houses were designed with an existing app on Steam, and the frustration was always the same: no way to see several units on one plot with uneven ground.

Then the third project came along, on "even steeper land than the last!" Once Floorplan was finished, Oliver published the code for anyone to use for free.

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"I took the time to write Floorplan instead of making do with an inferior tool."

It started as a series of experiments in ThreeJS, with a lot of iteration and testing before any interface or brand came together. As for the name, "Floorplan was just the name of the repo I created off the cuff, but it's simple and it stuck." When it was ready, Oliver sent it to friends who work in construction: architects, contractors and surveyors. There is no sign-up and no analytics, "so I don't know how many people are using it!"

Free, on purpose

Oliver chose the Ubuntu ring, and explains it plainly: "information wants to be free, brothers and sisters want to help each other, and the best way to build - is together." For Oliver, "Expensive license fees limit who can do what. I believe that good tools should be free whenever possible, and that you can make a good living providing free software."

The repo is public and issues are quiet so far. Next on the list is reaching other African countries by adding their building codes as plugins.

Durban helps. "Durban has one of the best climates in the world, perpetual warmth broken by dramatic storms." The cost of living is low compared with other cities, though electricity and water disruptions happen. "If you can mitigate these, then life is good."

The open ask is about a paid Pro package that sits alongside a Floorplan that stays free. Oliver has a clear picture of what Pro should offer, "but not the business experience to do this." The hardest part is subscriptions across Africa, so "anyone who has experience doing international payments will be my best friend."

And for everyone else: "If you find this project interesting, please hit me up or consider contributing to the github repo!"