To build a house in The Sims 4, open Build Mode (press F3 or click the hammer icon at the top right), draw the outside walls with the Wall tool or Room Tool, add doors and windows, put a roof on, then furnish from the catalog. Everything can be undone with Ctrl + Z, so there is no wrong way to start. This guide takes you through each step and the keys and cheats that make it faster.
Step 1: Open Build Mode and learn the tools
The Sims 4 has no separate Buy Mode. Building and furnishing both happen in Build Mode. F2 opens the catalog of objects sorted by room, F3 opens the build catalog with walls, roofs and floors. The tool bar at the top has everything you will use:
| Tool | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Select | H | Pick up, move, resize and adjust objects and walls |
| Eyedropper | E | Click a wall, floor or object to select the same one again |
| Sledgehammer | K | Delete objects and walls. Click and drag to delete many at once |
| Design tool | R | Change an object’s color or swatch for free |
| Wall tool | B | Draw walls one segment at a time |
| Undo and redo | Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y (Cmd on Mac) | Only works until you leave Build Mode |
| Time of day | L | Switch between morning, afternoon, evening and night to check lighting |
The icon at the top left opens the lot info panel. It shows the lot’s value and size, lets you rename the lot, set the number of beds and baths, and pick up to three lot traits.
Step 2: Plan the floor plan
Decide roughly what you want before you draw: a one-story starter, a two-story family home, or a shell you will fill in later. Two rules from the game shape every plan:
- Keep 2 tiles clear of the edges. Walls, foundations and fences cannot sit in the two tiles nearest the lot’s edge or the front sidewalk.
- Upper floors need support. Flooring can stick out two tiles past a wall below. Beyond that you need walls or columns underneath.
Put living areas at the front, bedrooms and bathrooms at the back, and leave space for a garden, a pond or a pool. Sims route through doors, so avoid dead-end corridors and rooms you can only reach through a bedroom.
Step 3: Draw the walls
The Room Tool drags out a finished rectangular room in one go. The Wall Tool (B) draws one segment at a time, which you need for L-shapes, bump-outs and bay windows. Holding Shift while drawing walls makes a square or rectangular room. Holding Ctrl and dragging along an existing wall removes it.
Walls come in three heights (short, medium and tall). Changing the height changes every wall on that story, but each story can have its own height, so a tall ground floor under a short upper floor works. Half walls come in 19 heights and take wall paint, decorations, doors and windows if they are tall enough. Round walls arrived with patch 132 as room pieces you place and edit.
Want the house raised off the ground? Add a foundation. Platforms do the same for a single room, which is how you get a sunken living room or a raised stage.
Step 4: Put a roof on
The Sims 4 does not auto-roof. You drag a roof piece over the house and push and pull its edges and corners until it fits. The base game has gabled, half gable, hipped and half hipped roofs, each also in a diagonal version. Patch 57 added pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal and round roofs, a curvature mode and eaves for gabled and hipped roofs, and patch 68 added six glass roofs.
- Start simple: one gabled roof across the main block, then smaller pieces over wings and porches.
- Layer them: two or three overlapping roofs at different heights look better than one huge one.
- Eaves and trims: turn on eaves and add roof trim for a finished look.
- Seasons: if you own Seasons, roofs keep rain and snow out, so cover any room you want dry.
Kate Emerald’s building masterclass shows the push-and-pull roof controls better than words can:
Step 5: Doors, windows and the outside
Doors and windows are sorted by wall height (tall, medium, short) in the build catalog, so pick ones that match your walls. Windows can be placed one at a time or automatically for a whole room. Mix a few large windows at the front with smaller ones for bathrooms and bedrooms, and keep the trim color the same across the house so it reads as one building.
Outside, the build catalog has fences, columns, spandrels, friezes and exterior trims, stairs and railings, and outdoor plants. A porch with columns, a path of terrain paint and a few trees do more for curb appeal than any amount of wall paint.
Step 6: Furnish and decorate
The object catalog is sorted two ways: by room (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and so on) and by function (comfort, surfaces, plumbing, lighting, electronics, appliances, decorations and more). Styled Rooms are ready-made rooms you can drop in and edit, which is the fastest way to furnish a house you only built as a shell. Save any room or the whole lot to My Library to reuse it later.
- Rotate: hold an object and press
,or., or drag it around with the mouse. - Resize:
Shift + ]makes an object bigger andShift + [smaller. See our guide to resizing objects. - Raise and lower: with
bb.moveobjectson, the9key raises an object and0lowers it. - Paint a whole room: hold
Shiftwhile applying wall paint or flooring to cover the whole wall section or room.Ctrl + Shiftremoves it again.
Leave walking space. Sims need a clear tile in front of every chair, bed and appliance, and the camera needs room to move in small rooms.
Cheats that make building easier
Open the cheat console with Ctrl + Shift + C (Cmd + Shift + C on Mac, all four shoulder buttons on console) and type:
| Cheat | What it does |
|---|---|
bb.moveobjects | Place objects anywhere, overlapping and off the grid. Our move objects guide has the details |
bb.showhiddenobjects | Shows debug items in the catalog, like invisible ceiling lights |
bb.showliveeditobjects | Shows debug objects from the worlds, such as trees and rocks |
freerealestate on | Move into any lot for free |
motherlode | 50,000 Simoleons for the household |
rosebud | 1,000 Simoleons |
Moving or starting over
The Move Lot and House tool on the tool bar picks up a single house or the whole lot so you can shift it, for example to make room for a backyard. Bulldoze Lot clears everything after a confirmation, and Bulldoze Terrain only flattens the ground and removes terrain paint and ponds while leaving the house alone. Undo and redo only remember changes from the current Build Mode session, so a bulldoze you regret after returning to Live Mode is gone for good. Save to My Library first if you are not sure.
FAQ
What is the best way to start my first house?
Use the Room Tool to drag out two or three rectangles, add a door and a few windows, drop one gabled roof over the lot and fill the rooms with Styled Rooms. You can replace every piece later. A finished small house teaches you more than an unfinished mansion.
How do I make my house look less boxy?
Add bump-outs with the Wall Tool, use a different wall height on one story, layer two or three roofs, and put a porch or balcony on the front. One angled or round wall also breaks up a flat facade.
Why can I not place a wall near the edge of the lot?
The game keeps the two tiles nearest the lot’s edge and the front sidewalk free of walls, foundations and fences. Move the house inward or pick a bigger lot.
Can I build on a lot I do not own?
Yes. Open the world map, click any lot and choose Build. Changes to community lots are saved to that save file.
Do I need a pack to build a good house?
No. All the tools above are in the base game. Packs add more furniture, windows and roof styles. Our list of every Sims 4 pack says what each one adds, and the Maker Packs on EA’s Marketplace are a cheap way to get a themed furniture set.
Sources: The Sims Wiki pages on Build Mode in The Sims 4, walls and roofs; The Sims 4 cheat list. Video by Kate Emerald.