If you are looking for a drafting firm for non-residential construction, your drawing office is usually already full. An office building is under construction, a school is in preparation and, in between, a round of changes arrives on a set of floor plans that was called final only last month. Your permanent drafters no longer get round to detailing because they spend all day updating revisions.
We take over that part. Our team drafts and models, and we leave engineering, calculations and permits to the parties responsible for them.
We produce 2D drafting, 3D models where needed, revisions and as-built drawings, and we deliver in the format the client already uses. The work is done remotely from our own office, with our own licences. The client stays in charge of the design and supplies the drawing conventions, and we make sure the sheets match them. We look at staffing per project, because sometimes one drafter is enough and on a large project we deploy as many drafters as needed from our large, variable team. We get back to you on new requests within 1 to 2 working days.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What our drafting firm for non-residential construction delivers
In non-residential construction, we mainly produce production drawings and the work around them. Think of floor plans, sections, elevations, typical details and wall build-up sheets, including the associated title blocks and sheet layout. We update existing sets after a change, process revision rounds and carry the revision status through consistently across all sheets involved. We also take on as-built drawings, even when the material supplied has been partly updated by hand. We model in 3D in Revit as soon as the project calls for it, and we build the components the client needs.
We use Rhino for shapes that are hard to build in a standard package, and Inventor for parts heading towards fabrication. Our output leaves as DWG, DXF, Revit file or STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format. What we do not do is at least as important: no engineering, no calculations, no structural advice and no permit procedures. We draft what the client has determined technically, and we do so in their layer structure, with their hatches and their naming. On a large office project, that often means hundreds of sheets with a lot of repetition, because the same core connection, the same window frame detail and the same floor build-up come back in whole series of variants.
It is precisely that volume that keeps an internal team away from the design work where their knowledge counts. We take it over and deliver in batches, so the project leader can always see where things stand. If unpacking the set reveals that variants are mixed up, we report it before drafting any further. That way the client does not get back a pile of sheets that is technically correct but administratively a mess.
The process with a drafting firm for non-residential construction, step by step
With us, it always starts with a conversation. Barry, our project manager, picks up the initial request, goes through the project and records what is there and what needs to happen. Sam, our team leader, then takes over the technical side, so the client keeps dealing with a fixed point of contact. At the start, we ask for the existing drawings, the drawing conventions, the layer structure and the sheet layout the practice uses. Usually there is already a set that needs a revision, and that set is our basis.
Once we have received enough information, we begin. We then deliver in batches, gather feedback, make adjustments and continue with the next block. Partial delivery is deliberate: we do not want to see an error in the set-up of sheet three come back on sheet eighty. We match the meeting rhythm to the pace of the project, so for rush jobs we speak every two days and for a calmer project weekly. Day-to-day contact runs by email and phone, and we visit the client or welcome them at our office.
For standalone AutoCAD drafting, files go back and forth by email. On larger projects we use software the client logs into to follow progress without having to call us. Internally, every sheet passes through at least three review layers before it goes out. A drafter does the work, a second team member checks it, Sam then reviews it as team leader and Barry, as project manager, goes over it last. As a result, the number of errors stays limited in practice and the client keeps their own checking time short.
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.
When outsourcing in non-residential construction makes sense
Outsourcing pays off above all with volume and repetition. If there is a package with dozens of similar sheets, a revision round across a complete set or an as-built file nobody has dared to tackle yet, we get through it faster than a team that keeps working on it in between other jobs. A peak after a won tender is also a good moment, because the client does not have to hire people who will have nothing to do once the project ends. The same applies to a vacancy that has been open for months. There are also situations in which your own team is better off keeping the work. Design work where a decision comes up every hour belongs with the people who know the client and the building. After all, we draft; we do not design and we do not set technical design criteria.
Work that depends entirely on knowledge that has never been recorded also costs more coordination on our side than it delivers. A third case is a set so small that the handover takes almost as much time as the drafting itself. We simply say so in the first conversation, because an assignment that does not fit benefits neither side. In practice, it usually lands somewhere in the middle. The client keeps the design and client contact in-house and passes the detailing, revisions and standard details on to us. If you want to know whether your package lends itself to this, give us a limited first assignment and then judge our pace and accuracy for yourself.
Drafting firm, freelancer or an in-house drafter
A freelancer is quick to arrange, but remains one person. If he is off sick or goes on holiday for two weeks, the work stops and the schedule slips with it. With us, a team is at work, so we replace someone internally and the work carries on. We also scale with the project, because our large, variable team deploys as many drafters as each project needs, and when it is urgent we add people straight away.
A freelancer also does his own checking, whereas our work passes at least three pairs of eyes before it leaves our office. An in-house drafter is a different story. That choice costs a recruitment process, an induction period, a workstation, a licence and then ongoing payroll costs, even in quiet months.
For a structural base capacity, that can make sense. For a peak or a temporary project it rarely works out well, because the costs remain when the volume disappears. With us, the client pays no ongoing payroll costs and is not left with a half-empty drawing office. We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price, by agreement, and we only bill pure working hours.
A five-minute coffee break means the clock stops straight away. We do not work with prepaid hour bundles or a monthly hours subscription, so there is no unused credit left sitting on the books. Everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and the core of our team has about twenty-five years of combined experience. If you want to make the comparison concrete, call us or fill in the contact form.
Frequently asked questions about a drafting firm for non-residential construction
Let us handle your non-residential 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.