Bringing in a DWG drafting firm in the Netherlands starts with a decision about what goes out of the door and what stays in-house. Usually the detailing work is outsourced, while the client keeps the design decisions, the customer contact and the technical responsibility.
That fits the way we work. We draft and model; we do not do calculations or give structural advice. What we take on are the DWG sets that need updating, extending or setting up from scratch, plus the rounds of revisions that always follow.
You supply the existing files and your drawing conventions, and so stay in control of how the set looks. We work in our own environment with our own licences, remotely from our office, covering the whole of the Netherlands. The core of our team has roughly twenty-five years of combined experience, and everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years in CAD. When an enquiry comes in, we respond 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 bring in a DWG drafting firm
The companies that approach us are engineering consultancies, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers. We also hear from companies that do not call themselves a drafting firm but produce technical drawings on a structural basis. The people at the table are managers, team leaders and owners. They are the first to notice that the hours no longer add up and that a project is falling behind. The problem on the table is almost always the same: too little time, too few drafters, or a peak that in-house staff cannot absorb. It is rarely about knowledge that is missing internally.
A drawing office usually knows exactly what a set should look like; it is just that nobody can free up the hours to do it. A contractor may have a file in which the revisions are lagging behind the work on site. An architectural practice has to deliver detail sheets while the design team is already starting on the next project. A manufacturer has a range of parts that comes in eight sizes and that someone has to set out sheet by sheet. With us, that work ends up with people who do this every day. Everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, so a set with unfamiliar conventions does not put anyone off.
What we need is your standard and a complete file; we pick up the rest ourselves. We started offering this service last year because a client asked for it, it worked well, and we have offered it as a regular service ever since. For Firefly we have completed more than twenty projects and delivered hundreds of drawings. If you are a project lead who recognises this situation, you do not need a worked-out plan before getting in touch.
Scaling up capacity without fixed payroll costs
We have a large, variable team and scale up or down per project: one drafter for a small job, and on a large project as many drafters as it takes. The team is already in place, so we deploy what the project needs without having to recruit first. When things are urgent, we add people straight to an ongoing project. You notice the difference mainly at the start. Hiring a drafter takes weeks of recruitment, interviews and onboarding, and only then does that person start producing. When things quieten down, the cost simply stays on the books.
With us, you pay no ongoing payroll costs and you are not tied to anything between two jobs. If someone is off sick or on holiday, we replace them and the work carries on. That is possible because several people know the same set through our review layers. The work passes through at least three layers before it leaves the office: a second team member checks the drafter's work, then Sam as team leader and finally Barry as project manager. As a result, errors are kept to a minimum in practice, even if the staffing changes halfway through. What we do not offer is a prepaid hours card or a monthly hours subscription.
A short assignment is fine, and so is starting with a small package to assess our speed and accuracy. Once we have enough information, we get started. How far we scale up depends on whether the work can be divided. A series of similar sheets is easy to spread across more drafters. If everything in a file is interconnected, a small, fixed crew that knows the set inside out works faster.
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 costs of a DWG drafting firm in the Netherlands
We work with an hourly rate or a fixed price per project. Both are possible, and we decide together with you which suits best. For a clearly defined package, such as a fixed number of sheets in a familiar standard, a fixed project price works well because the amount is agreed in advance. For work that changes along the way, which is often the case with revisions, an hourly basis is fairer to both sides. We only bill pure working hours. If someone steps away for five minutes to get a coffee, the clock stops, and that is exactly why our timesheets stay traceable. Most of the savings are made at the front end. A complete file makes the biggest difference: up-to-date files, clear drawing conventions and a point of contact who answers questions quickly. If the latest revision of a sheet is missing, someone keeps drafting on outdated information and you end up paying twice for the same work.
Repetition in the set also lowers costs, because once a solution is right we can carry it through the whole series. We only prepare an estimate after we have looked at the material, because without the files any estimate is a shot in the dark. We would rather not name a figure that later turns out to be wrong. What does help is identifying up front which part of the package carries the most weight. Often most of the hours go into a small share of the sheets, and that is exactly where a different approach can pay off. A conversation and a look at the set quickly give you a more realistic picture.
Consultation and contact with our DWG drafting firm
You have one fixed point of contact with us. Barry is usually the first contact for a new enquiry and keeps hold of the coordination. After that, Sam takes over the technical side, leads the CAD team and oversees project supervision. He is still active as an engineer, with more than fifteen years of background in architecture, seven years of work in Iran and his own design practice in the Netherlands.
So you do not have to deal with four people to get one answer. Day-to-day coordination takes place by email, phone and meetings. We agree the rhythm with each client: on a tight project we speak every two days, while on a calmer one a weekly meeting is enough.
We can come to you or you can come to our office, although the work itself is done remotely. For standalone AutoCAD drafting, files go back and forth by email. On larger projects, such as greenhouse construction projects, we use software that you can log in to and follow the progress of your project. We deliver in stages, gather feedback and incorporate it before moving on. That way, a misunderstood agreement is limited to a handful of sheets rather than the whole set.
If we notice ourselves that something in the supplied documents is not right, we flag it immediately rather than papering over it with an assumption. You own the intellectual property of everything we draw. We have not yet signed a non-disclosure agreement because clients have not asked for one, but we are open to an NDA.
Frequently asked questions about a DWG drafting firm in the Netherlands
Hand your DWG 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.