A drafting collaboration usually comes up with us alongside two other options: hiring a freelancer or taking someone on. All three routes solve the same problem, namely too little capacity in the drawing office. They differ in what it costs you when the work goes quiet for a while.
A new employee means recruitment, onboarding time and then ongoing payroll costs. A freelancer is on board faster, but drops out as soon as they fall ill or take on another job. We deploy a team that is already in place and that we scale up per project.
That team is large and flexible, so we deploy as many drafters as the volume requires. If someone drops out, we replace them ourselves and the work carries on. You keep a fixed point of contact and do not pay for idle time. We draft and model, and the engineering stays with you. You receive a first response within 1 to 2 working days. We then schedule a conversation in which we discuss how the collaboration will be set up.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Scaling up within a drafting collaboration
At OutsourceCAD we have a permanent team and scale up per project. It often starts with one drafter working on a defined part. If the volume grows, we deploy as many drafters from our large team as are needed. Those people are already here, so scaling up is a matter of deploying them, not searching for them. When it is urgent we add someone to the ongoing work immediately. Every drafter on our team has more than ten years of CAD experience. As a result, getting up to speed on a new set takes days, not weeks.
We do ask for your CAD standards, because that is where the time savings lie at the start. Scaling down is just as easy. When the peak subsides, we take people off the project and you no longer pay for them. For a team leader, that difference from permanent staff is often the deciding factor. We absorb absences internally. In case of sickness or holiday, we bring in a replacement who carries on drafting within the same conventions. Because several people work on the same set, the knowledge does not sit with one person.
We record decisions in the drawings and in our meetings, so a handover takes little time. Capacity alone is not enough, by the way. The work also has to be divisible, and we look at that at the start. A series of floor plans per variant is easy to split across four people. A small but interwoven model we prefer to keep compact, with a small crew. We make that call together with your project lead before the crew size is fixed.
How it differs from a freelancer or a new employee
Hiring a freelancer is quick and works fine as long as it involves one person. It becomes a squeeze as soon as the volume is more than one person can handle. You then have to manage several freelancers, each with their own way of working. With us, that runs through a team that is already well attuned. We divide the work internally and you keep one point of contact. A second difference lies in continuity. If a freelancer drops out, the work stalls until a replacement is found.
We arrange that replacement ourselves, within the same conventions and the same standard. Hiring a new permanent drafter is a different consideration. That choice pays off if the work is structural and will last for years. Recruitment, onboarding and building up project knowledge then take time that pays for itself. For a peak or a temporary catch-up, it does not pay for itself at all. After the project you are left with staff who have no work. With us, the costs stop as soon as the job stops.
There are no prepaid hour bundles, no hours subscription and no ongoing obligation. What we do not replace is your own senior who liaises with the client and the construction site. That work belongs within your own firm, because that is where the context lies. We take over the drafting work that involves volume and repetition. With that division you keep control and gain time. We deliberately do not do engineering, calculations or permits. That boundary keeps the division of roles clear for both sides.
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.
Communication within the drafting collaboration
Barry, our project manager, is usually the first point of contact for a new enquiry. He goes through the project and puts the initial agreements in writing. After that, Sam, our team leader, takes over the technical side and directs the CAD team. He has well over fifteen years of background in architecture, worked in Iran for seven years and ran his own design practice in the Netherlands. He still works as an engineer, which keeps discussions about technical choices short. As a result, you have a fixed point of contact and do not have to go through five people. The meeting rhythm varies per project. On a tight project we speak every two days, otherwise weekly. Day-to-day contact runs via email, phone and short meetings. We come to you or welcome you at our office.
The work itself stays remote, because our entire process is set up for that. For standalone AutoCAD work, files go back and forth by email. On larger projects, such as in greenhouse construction, we work with software you can log into. There you follow the project and see which parts are finished. We deliver in stages, so feedback comes in during the work and not at the end. We process those comments, and the next part then follows the same direction. What we ask of you is clarity about priorities. If there is more work than there is room for, we decide together what comes first. That coordination takes ten minutes and prevents the wrong sheet from being finished first.
How we start a drafting collaboration
A collaboration with us starts with a conversation about the work that is being left undone. In it, we map out which drawings exist, which software is in use and what the schedule requires. We then receive the existing documents, usually sets that need revising. We review them and tell you what we are missing before we start. We need your CAD standards, layer structure, title blocks and naming conventions.
If there are templates or families, we use them. If the existing family set is very messy, we discuss whether cleaning it up or rebuilding it is faster. Which is wiser depends entirely on the state of that set.
As soon as we have enough information, we can get started. We prefer to start with a small package, so you can judge our speed and accuracy. A short job is fine, even without any commitment to follow-up work. If you are happy, we expand the crew and the rest follows the same pattern. Everything we make remains your intellectual property. Clients have not asked for a non-disclosure agreement so far, but we are open to an NDA.
Billing can be per hour or at a fixed project price, whichever suits the job, as agreed together. We bill only productive working hours and do not work with prepaid hour bundles. You can reach us by phone or via the contact form on our website. After your enquiry, you will hear back from us within 1 to 2 working days. An appointment follows soon after.
Frequently asked questions about drafting collaboration
Start a drafting collaboration with 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.