For many drawing offices, detail drafting outsourcing is the quickest way out when the schedule stalls on a pile of details that will not be finished on time. We draft, we do no engineering, and that keeps the division of roles sharp: we work out junction details, nodes, sections and components according to your CAD standards, without changing anything in the design.
It is often work with a lot of repetition, such as a run of similar node details in a larger project, where the amount of work demands more than the available time allows.
Our large, variable team scales with each project, and we deploy exactly what the volume requires. Everyone on our team has more than ten years of CAD experience, and our work goes through at least three review layers before it comes back to you. That way we maintain quality while your drawing office keeps room for the work that simply has to carry on. We carry out the work remotely, from our own environment with our own licences.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Detail drafting for when you cannot absorb a peak yourself
Engineering firms, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers all run into the same wall from time to time: there is more detail drafting than there are drafters to produce it. A project lead sees the deadline approaching while the drawing office is already full with ongoing work, and filling a vacancy takes weeks that are not available. In that situation, detail drafting outsourcing is often the quickest way to get the schedule back on track. For a contractor it might be a series of junction details needed on site, for an architectural practice the nodes and sections that complete a planning application, and for a manufacturer part drawings that keep coming back in small variants.
The problem is rarely a lack of knowledge in the in-house team; it is a lack of hours. That is exactly where we take over part of the work, so you do not have to hire a new employee for work that will drop off again in a few months. Our team leader Sam, with a background of more than fifteen years in architecture and seven years of work experience in Iran, leads the technical side and makes sure the details fit with the rest of the project.
Barry, our project manager, is usually the first point of contact for a new enquiry, after which he hands the technical side over to Sam. For you, that means one fixed point of contact, even when we deploy several drafters on the same project. That is why clients entrust their detail drafting outsourcing to us: we absorb the volume without the management being scattered across separate, changing people who do not know the project.
What outsourcing detail drafting delivers
With us, detail drafting outsourcing covers a broad range of output: 2D detail drawings, junction details, sections and, where needed, 3D models of the component or node in question. We draft in Revit, AutoCAD or Rhino, complemented by Inventor or Grasshopper where that suits the project, and to a limited extent Dynamo and Vault. We deliver the files as DXF, DWG, in Revit formats or as STEP files, depending on what you need further down the process.
If the same kinds of components keep recurring, such as a run of similar connections along a pipe route, we often build a parametric Revit family: a smart component that adapts to a new size without anyone having to redraw it. That way a detail does not have to be drawn by hand ten times, while the material schedule updates automatically as soon as the component changes. The work itself starts with a conversation in which you supply the details and usually existing drawings that need revising as well.
We then deliver in stages, gather feedback, make adjustments and carry on, at a rhythm that differs per client: with one we catch up every two days, with another weekly. Files usually go back and forth by email, and on larger jobs we work with software you can log in to and follow progress. Exactly what we deliver therefore depends on the project, but the core stays the same: accurate detail drafting that fits with what is already there and with what happens to it further down the line.
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.
Costs of outsourcing detail drafting
With detail drafting outsourcing, the question of cost soon comes up, even though we do not quote an amount here. We charge by the hour or at a fixed price per project, and we agree with you which option fits. With hourly work we only bill genuine time: if a drafter steps away for a coffee, we stop the clock. That distinction makes the difference between an estimate that is accurate and an invoice that brings surprises afterwards. A fixed project price is the obvious choice for work with a clear scope, such as a defined set of details for a construction dossier, while an hourly rate suits work whose scope may still shift, such as an ongoing revision round. What keeps costs down in practice is mainly repetition: if we build a run of similar details using a parametric Revit family, it takes considerably less time than drawing that same run by hand over and over.
In greenhouse construction, a smart setup like this easily saves at least seventy per cent of the time compared with manually repeating a component in different sizes. Scaling our team also keeps costs down indirectly: no new permanent employee needs to join for work that drops off again after a peak, and you pay no ongoing salary costs that keep running when the project is on hold. If a drafter drops out through illness or holiday, we replace them, so the schedule does not slip and there are no extra costs from downtime. That way the price breakdown remains traceable to the work we have actually done.
Getting started quickly with detail drafting
If you are considering detail drafting outsourcing, you can start as soon as we have enough information to estimate the work properly. That begins with a phone call or an enquiry via the contact form on the website, to which we respond within 1 to 2 working days. In the conversation that follows, we go through the project: which details are needed, in which format, and which CAD standards you work to.
You supply the existing drawings that serve as the basis, often including components due for revision, and we then work to the standards and drawing conventions you give us. A short assignment is perfectly fine: a project lead who first wants to see how quickly and accurately our team works can start with a small first assignment before handing over a larger share of the detail drafting.
That fits with how we at OutsourceCAD started this service ourselves, namely because a client asked for it, and we now offer it as a standard service. The intellectual property of what we draw belongs to you, and where desired we are open to a non-disclosure agreement, even though no client has asked for one yet.
As soon as the first documents are in, our drafters get to work almost immediately, and we deliver at the agreed rhythm, whether that is every two days or weekly. If it needs to be quick, we add people to the project straight away. That way detail drafting outsourcing does not have to be a long process before the first result is on your desk.
Frequently asked questions about detail drafting outsourcing
Hand your detail 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.