The question clients really ask us about drawing digitisation is whether it still works when the source material is messy, and the answer is yes. We have processed files that were badly printed, partly drawn by hand and hard to read. The second question that usually follows is whether the delivered files will fit the existing set, and we take care of that too by following the client's drawing conventions.
We are OutsourceCAD, and we take on this work for companies that lack the drafting capacity in-house.
It is drafting and modelling work, not engineering, so calculations and structural advice stay outside our role. We work with Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, always in the latest versions and with our own licences. All our drafters have more than ten years of CAD experience. Our large, flexible team scales with whatever each project requires. We respond to enquiries within 1 to 2 working days.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
How a drawing digitisation project works
It starts with a conversation. In it, we look at what material there is, what state it is in and where it needs to go. The client supplies the details and usually also the existing drawings that need revising. We first look at what is usable and what needs to be set up again, because that assessment determines the rest of the schedule. We then agree which part needs to be finished first. We deliver in stages, you see, not all at once at the end of the project. After each partial delivery, we gather feedback, process it and move on to the next block.
That order is a deliberate choice. If an interpretation differs from what the client intended, it comes to light after twenty sheets rather than after two hundred. The meeting rhythm varies per client. With a tight schedule, we meet every two days; on a calmer project, weekly contact is enough. Day-to-day contact runs through email, phone and meetings, and where it helps, we visit you or welcome you at our office.
In most cases, files go back and forth by email. On larger projects, such as in greenhouse construction, we use software where you log in and follow progress. For standalone AutoCAD work, such an environment adds little and we simply deliver by email. Barry, our project manager, is usually the first point of contact for a new enquiry, after which Sam, our team leader, takes over the technical side and supervises the project.
Drawing digitisation from a messy as-built file
A concrete example comes from our work for Firefly. We received as-built material whose existing drawings had been badly printed and were partly drawn by hand. The whole thing was hard to read and messy, and in places the material contradicted itself. The easy route would have been to phone about every ambiguity. We did not do that, because a client who outsources their own file gains little from still having to answer questions every day. We worked it out ourselves, recorded our choices with the reasoning behind them and still delivered it neatly.
What we take from that to other projects is above all a working order. First, we take stock of the entire package before a single line is drawn, so it is clear which sheets overlap or contradict each other. We then collect the open points and present them together rather than one by one. For the client, that means a single consultation instead of a series of interruptions. We also fix the recurring elements early on, so symbols and hatching stay the same across the whole set. A second lesson is that hand-drawn material often lacks dimensions that do appear elsewhere in the file.
If you look at the set as a whole, you usually find that information in a detail or an elevation. We have since completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings for Firefly, and that approach has stayed the same throughout. It saves correction work in the phase where it is most expensive. What we have mainly taken away from it is the habit of spending more time at the start than a schedule suggests.
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.
Drawing digitisation to the client's standard
We work to the client's standard and drawing conventions, which the client provides at the start of the project. That sounds obvious, but it is exactly where outsourced work goes wrong in practice. A set that is technically correct but uses its own layer structure still costs the in-house team hours to make usable. That is why we ask in advance for the layer structure, the naming of files and sheets, the line types, hatching and the title block. If there is a template, we work in it. If there is not, we follow the structure of the supplied drawings so the new set fits seamlessly into the old one. With digitisation work, there is an extra consideration. Hand-drawn or badly printed material often contains inconsistencies that make little sense to copy literally. We then propose which convention we will follow and let the client choose, because this is an agreement, not a technical matter.
We also agree on the arrangement of blocks and components, because a block built differently will cause problems in every revision later. In terms of formats, we deliver DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice any common CAD format. We always work in the latest versions, in our own environment with our own licences, so not on the client's workstations. With the first block, we check especially carefully that the structure is right, because a deviation there would otherwise repeat throughout the whole set. If a client later switches standard, for example because a new template is introduced, we adapt to it. That does become a separate agreement, because converting sheets that have already been delivered is extra work.
What the review rounds prevent in practice
Every package goes through at least three review layers before it goes to the client. A drafter produces the work, a second team member checks it, then Sam looks at it as team leader and Barry does the final check as project manager. That makes four pairs of eyes, three of which had nothing to do with the original drawing. As a result, the number of errors stays small in practice.
More important than the number of layers is what they focus on. The first check focuses on the drawing itself, so dimensions, connections and completeness of the sheet. The second looks at the set as a whole, because a sheet can be correct and still not match the adjacent sheet.
The third check is about the agreements, so layers, naming, hatching and title block. In digitisation work, this mainly prevents three kinds of error. A dimension copied wrongly from a poorly legible print, a symbol that changes shape halfway through the set, and a sheet built in a different layer structure from the rest. Those three cost a disproportionate amount of time later, because they only become noticeable once people continue working in the set.
Sam has more than fifteen years of background in architecture and still works as an engineer himself, so he recognises such issues early. Together, the core of the team has around twenty-five years of experience. What we do not do is guarantee zero errors, because nobody could live up to that. We do keep the review process in place, even when the schedule is tight.
Frequently asked questions about drawing digitisation
Hand your drawing digitisation 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.