In practice, 2D drafting outsourcing is often about volume: how much repetitive drafting a project contains that your own drawing office cannot get done in time. Think of a series of floor plans, connection diagrams or part drawings that largely resemble each other but have slightly different dimensions or layouts each time.
We take over that volume with our large, variable team of drafters, each with more than ten years of CAD experience, which scales per project with whatever is needed.
We work fully remotely, in our own environment and with our own licences, and we follow the CAD standards and layer structure you provide. We deliver files in DXF, DWG or another common CAD format, matching what you already use. Every drawing goes through at least three review layers before we deliver it, so high volume never comes at the expense of accuracy.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Clients with a lot of 2D drafting
2D drafting outsourcing is mainly relevant for engineering firms, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers dealing with technical drafting in high volume. The people at the table are usually managers, team leaders or owners who can see that their own drawing office cannot handle a peak, or that a drafter structurally has too few hours left for the volume of drawings coming in. The problem is often not that the work is complicated, but simply that there is too much of the same kind of drafting at once: a series of floor plans, a set of connection details or a batch of part drawings that all need to be finished in the same period.
For a manufacturer that means part drawings that keep coming in with slightly different dimensions, for a contractor working drawings for several similar projects at once. Firefly is our client for this kind of work to date, with more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings as a result. When a deadline could not slip, we worked through evenings and weekends at the time, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours, to get the volume done on time.
That shows the problem is often not design or engineering, which stays with the client, but purely the amount of drafting that has to be finished within a limited time. For clients like these, outsourcing 2D drafting to us is a way to absorb the volume without permanently enlarging their own drawing office for something that fades again after the peak. An architectural practice with several similar projects running at once will also recognise this pattern of recurring volume.
Quality control in 2D drafting outsourcing
With 2D drafting outsourcing, we put every drawing through at least three review layers before it leaves our hands. A drafter draws the work, a second team member then checks it, Sam, our team leader, reviews it again after that, and Barry, our project manager, carries out a final check before we send a drawing to you. With high volume, where we deliver dozens of similar drawings in a short time, this matters all the more, because with repetitive work a small error creeps in more easily and then repeats itself throughout the whole set.
By having several people check each drawing separately, we keep the number of errors minimal in practice, even when the schedule is tight. This proved true at Firefly, with as-built material whose existing drawings had been printed incorrectly and were partly drawn by hand: our team worked it out for itself rather than calling the client, and still delivered a clean, verifiable set. Because we deliver in stages, we support that review process further, as you can look along the way and indicate early on whether something does not match your standard.
That way we do not discover a deviation only at the end of a large volume of drafting, but already at the first partial delivery. For clients who outsource a lot of volume at once, our setup with multiple review layers is often the reason to choose a permanent drafting team rather than separate, changing drafters. Everyone on our permanent team also has more than ten years of CAD experience.
No ongoing payroll costs and no idle staff once the peak is over. If one of our people is off sick or on holiday, we replace them and the work simply carries on.
The cost of 2D drafting outsourcing
We build up the cost side of 2D drafting outsourcing from the way we invoice and the number of hours that actually go into the volume. We work on an hourly basis or at a fixed project price, decided together with you, depending on how predictable the volume is. On an hourly basis we only bill pure working time: if a drafter steps away for a coffee, that time does not go on the timesheet. We do not use prepaid hour bundles or monthly hour subscriptions; every project stands on its own. What mainly keeps costs down with high volume is repetition: drawings that closely resemble each other take us less time each once the first in the series is finished and serves as the basis for the next. Where we can build components parametrically, for example as a Revit family, our drafters do not have to redraw a recurring component every time, which saves at least seventy percent of the time in that kind of work.
You also pay no ongoing salary costs: if a drafter is off sick or on holiday, we replace them internally so we simply keep working through the volume without you paying extra for it. A short first assignment is possible with us, so you can first judge how quickly and accurately we handle part of the volume. That way, with a large volume of 2D drafting, the cost structure stays directly linked to the hours that actually go into it. When it is urgent, we also bring in extra drafters quickly, without you having to recruit anyone first.
2D drafting outsourcing versus a freelancer or permanent employee
The difference between outsourcing 2D drafting to our permanent drafting team and hiring a lone freelancer lies mainly in continuity and control. A freelancer usually works alone, without the review layers that come with a team, whereas we put every drawing through at least three review layers before we deliver it. If a freelancer is temporarily off sick, the work stalls, whereas we replace people internally so the volume keeps moving.
Hiring a new permanent employee also takes time to recruit and onboard, whereas our large, variable team is already in place and scales per project in line with the volume.
With a new employee you also pay ongoing salary costs, even in periods when the volume drops back to a normal level. With us, you only pay for the hours we actually spend on the volume, on an hourly basis or at a fixed project price. Everyone on our team has more than ten years of CAD experience, which is not always as easy to verify with an individual freelancer. Barry is your fixed point of contact, rather than you having to manage and coordinate several separate freelancers yourself.
For a peak that fades again after a few months, our setup is often more practical than hiring a permanent employee for work that will structurally decline again. The core of our team also brings around twenty-five years of combined drawing office experience, something a single freelancer cannot match.
Frequently asked questions about 2D drafting outsourcing
Hand your 2D drafting over to us
Send us your documents and drawing conventions and we will let you know within one to two working days what we can take on and when.