Questions about 3D drafting costs almost always start, for us, with defining the work itself. The client keeps the design, the decisions and the responsibility in-house and gives us the drafting work that takes up volume. We draft and model, we do not do engineering, and we keep that boundary sharp because it keeps the estimate predictable.
The more clearly the client indicates which part of the model lies with us, the more tightly we can estimate the hours.
We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price, by agreement, and we bill net working hours only. Five minutes spent fetching a coffee means those five minutes are not billed. On this page, we explain how we break down a job, what information we need and which factors push the hours up or down. If you would rather test things on a small scale first, you can start with a short job and judge our speed for yourself.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Starting quickly with a clear view of 3D drafting costs
An estimate for 3D drafting starts with a conversation in which we go through the project. We ask about the purpose of the model, the level of detail the client expects and the drawing conventions that apply within their organisation. We usually receive existing documents, often DWGs that need a revision round or a set from which a 3D model has to grow. Those documents determine most of the hours. A clean, consistent base set can be worked through quickly, while a dossier with inconsistent layers, missing dimensions and handwritten notes first requires investigation.
We take on that investigation ourselves instead of calling the client every day, but we do flag it as soon as an assumption affects the model. As soon as the information is complete enough, we start. We respond to a new request within 1 to 2 working days, followed by a conversation in which we agree the scope, the standard and the rhythm of our meetings. We deliver in stages so that the client can see early on whether the direction is right and we do not spend a hundred hours modelling the wrong way.
Those partial deliveries cut costs more than any negotiation could, because corrections stay small. If you want a taste first, give us a small first job of a few drawings or a single component, so you can measure our speed and accuracy against your own standard. Based on that, we decide together whether an hourly rate or a fixed project price suits the next stage better. We also agree the rhythm of our meetings at that point, because one client wants to catch up every two days while another is happy with a weekly check-in.
Clients who outsource 3D drafting
The clients who approach us are engineering firms, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers, and more broadly companies with a lot of technical drafting work. The people at the table are usually managers, team leaders and owners, people who can see for themselves that the drawing office is getting stuck. The trigger is almost always capacity. There is too little time, there are too few drafters, or there is a peak the in-house team cannot absorb. In a situation like that, a team leader looks at the cost of 3D drafting differently from a buyer who only compares hourly rates.
The real calculation is about lead time, because a project that stalls costs more than a few extra drafting hours. We often see that the in-house team handles the complex, design-sensitive part perfectly well but gets stuck on the repetitive work around it. That is exactly the part we take over. A manufacturer that has to record hundreds of variants of the same part does not need an adviser but drafting capacity that keeps going. A contractor with an as-built dossier that was half drawn by hand wants the dossier to be right before handover approaches.
Our clients are based in the Netherlands and our focus is on the Netherlands, so meetings take place in the same language and within the same working day. We work entirely remotely from our own office, with our own licences, so you do not have to free up a workstation, hardware or software. That saves on the budget, and above all it saves hassle around access and permissions. We started this service because a client asked for it, and since then we have offered it as a permanent service.
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.
What we deliver in 3D drafting
In 3D drafting, we deliver models and the drawings that come from them. Specifically, that means modelling in Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, supplemented by Inventor for parts and Grasshopper where geometry needs to adapt parametrically. We use Dynamo and Vault to a limited extent, always in line with what the client already uses. From a model, we produce floor plans, sections, elevations, detail drawings and part drawings, plus the associated material schedules. We also produce 2D drafting, process revisions and turn as-built material back into a readable set. What we do not do is engineering: we do not run calculations, we do not give structural advice and we do not handle permits. That boundary keeps 3D drafting costs clean, because the client only pays for drafting hours. We deliver in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format.
We always work with the latest versions, in our own environment and with our own licences, so you do not have to give us a place in your system. For standalone drafting work, files go back and forth by email. On larger projects, such as greenhouse construction projects, we work with software that the client can log into to follow progress. The intellectual property of everything we make belongs to the client, so your team can develop the model further without us later on. We follow the drawing conventions and standard we receive from you, so the result fits with the rest of your set. If there is no such standard, we derive it from the existing files and briefly document our choices.
Scaling up without ongoing wage costs
We have a large, flexible team of drafters and scale up or down for each project. The team is already in place, so we do not need to recruit anyone before the work can start. For urgent work, we add people immediately, and for a deadline that cannot move, we put in extra hours. That is not theory: for a fixed handover date, we worked evenings and weekends, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours, even during a planned holiday of Sam, our team leader.
Everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, so scaling up does not mean the quality drops. The core of our team has around twenty-five years of experience combined, and Sam brings more than fifteen years of background in architecture.
As far as costs are concerned, the key point is that you bear no ongoing wage costs. If someone is out due to illness or holiday, we replace them and the work carries on. We do not work with a prepaid block of hours or a monthly hours subscription, so the meter stops when a job ends.
A short job is fine too. We discuss in advance how many drafters a phase can handle, so the staffing is never larger than necessary. When the project winds down or the volume drops, we scale back again. That way, capacity follows demand rather than a contract. For a project lead, it means a line in the budget they can switch on and off themselves, without having to put anyone on the payroll.
Frequently asked questions about 3D drafting costs
Get a clear estimate for your 3D drafting
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.