With CAD drafting for steel construction, clients usually outsource the detailing work and keep the structural decisions in-house. That is exactly the division we work to. We draft and model; we do not do calculations or advise on structures. Your structural engineer decides what goes where, and we turn it into drawings and models.
The work that comes our way is almost always repetitive and substantial. Think of a revision round across an existing set of DWGs, updating an as-built file or drawing up variants that keep coming back.
We scale with your peak, because our large, variable team deploys as many drafters per project as needed. Everyone on our team has more than ten years of CAD experience and works to the drawing conventions you supply. The work is done remotely from our own office, with our own licences. A first meeting covers the size of the set and the required format. We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Clients who outsource CAD drafting in steel construction
Our clients are engineering firms, architecture practices, contractors and manufacturers. In steel construction the person at the table is usually a manager, a team leader or the owner. The trigger is almost always capacity. There is too little time, too few drafters, or a peak your own team cannot handle. A vacancy for an experienced drafter sometimes stays open for months while the order is already in. We absorb that without you having to take anyone on. The type of work that comes to us is familiar. An existing set that no longer matches after changes on site.
A file half of which has been updated by hand and that nobody dares to use any more. A series of variants on the same principle, where the drafting keeps repeating itself. It is precisely that repetitive part that lends itself to outsourcing, because it needs little discussion and takes a lot of hours. You keep the thinking; we take over the execution. When an enquiry comes in, we first look at which part of the set is really worth outsourcing. Sometimes that is the whole pile, sometimes only the repetitive block your own team cannot get round to.
We started this service because a client asked for it. It worked well, and we have offered it as a regular service ever since. We have now delivered more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings for Firefly. Our clients are based in the Netherlands, which is also where we focus. Visits either way are possible, although we carry out the work remotely. You decide what you keep in-house, and we fit in with that.
Three review layers on every sheet of steel construction drafting
All our work passes through at least three review layers. A drafter draws, a second team member checks that work, Sam, our team leader, then reviews it and Barry, our project manager, takes a final look. In practice, this keeps the number of errors to a minimum. In steel construction that matters a great deal, because a wrong dimension on a sheet travels all the way to the workshop. The second reader looks not only at the lines but also at how the sheet fits with the rest of the set. A detail that is correct in itself can still clash with a sheet from a week earlier.
That is why we cross-check sheets within a project against each other. Sam guards the technical consistency as team leader. He has more than fifteen years of background in architecture, worked in Iran for seven years and still works as an engineer. He leads our CAD team and looks at the whole rather than the individual sheet. Barry signs off and checks the agreements with you, from naming conventions to sheet layout. We fix the errors we find ourselves, and anything we are unsure about we raise with you.
We mark assumptions visibly in the drawing. That way your project leader can confirm or correct them rather than overlook them. We deliver in stages precisely so that this review starts early. The first batch shows whether our interpretation matches what you intended. If something turns out to deviate, we correct it before it spreads across dozens of sheets. Everyone who works for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and that reduces the review workload.
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 outsourced drafting in steel construction
We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price. Both are possible, and we decide together with you which one suits. If the scope is clearly defined, for example a well-defined set of sheets, a fixed project price makes sense. If it is still unclear what will surface from under an old set, hourly billing is fairer for both sides. We only bill actual working hours. If someone steps away for five minutes for a coffee, that time comes off the record. So an hour with us is an hour of drafting, not an hour of being present. That makes the comparison with an in-house drafter cleaner than a half-day entry on a timesheet. What mainly keeps costs down is repetition. A set in which the same operation comes back hundreds of times takes less and less time per sheet. A complete brief also helps. If the drawing conventions or source files are missing, time goes into detective work that nobody ever sees reflected in the set.
Working parametrically cuts costs the most. A smart, reusable component is drawn once, and after that it is placed in a single action. The material schedule follows along, so a change carries through automatically. We draw up an estimate in advance based on a triage of the set. We separate sheets that only need cleaning up from sheets we have to rebuild. A short first assignment helps you test the balance between time and results. If you want to continue after that, you can scale up to the full project without any obligation. We do not work with prepaid hour bundles or a monthly hours subscription, and you pay no ongoing payroll costs.
Outsourced drafting compared with a freelancer or an in-house drafter
A freelancer is one person; our team is a group. If that one freelancer is off sick or on holiday, the work grinds to a halt. With us, we replace the person and the project carries on. What is more, our large, variable team scales up or down within a project, without you having to go looking again. When it is urgent, we add people straight away. Hiring a permanent employee takes time you do not have during a peak.
A recruitment process takes weeks to months, and once the peak is over you are left with a salary on the books. We only charge for the hours worked and you are not left with an empty workstation. An in-house drafter naturally knows your company better.
We make up for that by adopting your drawing conventions and working with a fixed point of contact. Barry picks up the enquiry, Sam as team leader takes over the technical side, and it stays that way throughout the project. So you do not have to bring someone new up to speed every week. A second difference lies in the review process. An individual drafter checks their own work, whereas with us three layers review it as standard. That is exactly what a drawing office manager usually misses when hiring individuals.
In every case, the intellectual property stays with you. We deliver the source files, so your own team can carry on with them. An NDA is also possible, even though clients have not asked for one so far. What you choose depends on how long the work will last. If you want to know whether this suits you, start with a conversation and, if you like, a small first assignment.
Frequently asked questions about CAD drafting for steel construction
Hand your steel construction 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.