When you bring in a freelance 3D drafter, in most cases you are paying for time, and then the question is how that time is counted. We only charge for actual working hours. We stop the clock as soon as someone goes to get a coffee for five minutes. No start-up time, no waiting time and no time not spent working on the model appears on the timesheet.
Besides an hourly basis, we also work with a fixed project price, and we decide together which form suits best based on how precisely the assignment can be defined.
We do not work with prepaid hour bundles or a monthly hours subscription, and no salary costs keep running once the volume drops. We are OutsourceCAD, and we draft and model for companies that do not have enough drafting capacity of their own. We do not do engineering. The work is carried out entirely remotely from our own office, with our own licences and the latest software versions. Our clients are based in the Netherlands, and the trigger is almost always a shortage of drafting capacity.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Where a freelance 3D drafter saves you time
Modelling work looks varied, but most of the volume consists of repetition. The same facade build-up across twenty building sections, the same connection in four variants, the same components going back into the model for each size. That part determines the lead time, and that part ties up modellers you would rather put on the more difficult work. We take over that volume. The clearest example from our own practice comes from greenhouse construction. Companies in that sector often work in AutoCAD, and AutoCAD is not smart at building up components such as valves in piping systems.
If you need a valve in 90 and in 110 there, you draw it by hand again every time. With a smartly built component, it is placed in a single action. In that kind of work, the approach saves at least seventy per cent of the time. That percentage does not come from a calculation model but from work we have done ourselves. The gain is not limited to the first placement either. If a dimension changes halfway through, not every drawing has to be checked by hand.
A freelance 3D drafter who simply clicks faster does not solve that problem; the gain lies in how the model is built up. That is why, on a new assignment, we first look at where the repetition lies and which part can be standardised. Sometimes that is a handful of components that come back in hundreds of drawings. We tackle that part first, because the rest of the series then runs considerably more smoothly and the number of correction rounds visibly drops.
What we deliver as a freelance 3D drafter
The work rarely starts from a blank screen. There is usually material to start from: a 2D set that needs to be extended into a model, an existing model that needs expanding, or an as-built file that has to be redrawn. We deliver 3D modelling and the 2D drafting that results from it, such as floor plans, sections, elevations and details taken from the model. We also produce as-built drawings and process revisions to existing sets. Part models and assemblies are part of the package too, as is building components that come back across multiple projects.
We deliver in DXF, DWG, the Revit formats and STEP files, and in practice in any common CAD format. Which format it will be is determined by the chain in which the model is used further down the line. We also state what falls outside our scope, because that prevents confusion. We do not make calculations, give structural advice or prepare permit documents. A freelance 3D drafter who promises to do all of that as well is promising too much.
We draft and model, and the content decisions stay with you. The intellectual property remains with you. We work in our own environment rather than yours, so no licences or workstations need to be made available. For standalone assignments, delivery is by email; on larger projects it is through software you can log into to follow the model's progress without having to call. We agree at the start of the project which part will be delivered when.
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.
Parametric working and smart components
Parametric working is at the heart of the return you get from Revit. We build parametric families: smart components that adapt to a new situation or a different size. The component is built once and then placed anywhere, without having to be drawn again. The material schedule updates along with it: if the component changes, the schedule changes automatically. That saves drafting time and the rechecking of quantities, because they stay in line with the model at every change. With an existing set, the first question is always whether cleaning it up or rebuilding it is wiser. That depends on the state the set is in. If the families are reasonably consistent and the problem lies mainly in naming and duplicate variants, cleaning up is faster. If the set is very messy, with families built on top of each other without any logic, rebuilding is sometimes the shortest route.
We say so after reviewing the set, not beforehand. For a client looking for a freelance 3D drafter, this is often the part that delivers the most in the long term. A single modeller delivers drawings, whereas a well-built family set also shortens the work on future projects. We use Dynamo and Vault to a limited extent, and we use Grasshopper where geometry is better built up in a rule-based way. We document what we build within your conventions, so your own team can carry on with it independently afterwards. That handover is part of the work and we do not market it separately as a standalone service.
Software, versions and formats used by our freelance 3D drafters
Most of our work is done in Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino. We also work in Inventor and Grasshopper, and to a limited extent in Dynamo and Vault. Which choice makes sense in a project depends on what already exists and on what happens with it further down the chain. Rhino is the obvious choice for free-form geometry, Revit for work in which components and quantities need to be reusable, and Inventor for parts and assemblies.
We always work with the latest versions. If you ask for an export to an older version because your downstream process is set up for it, we provide that. We connect to an existing set on the basis of the drawing conventions supplied to us.
We adopt layer structure, naming, title blocks and the way revisions are tracked exactly as they have been defined. If part of those conventions is missing, we raise the question rather than making something up ourselves. Before a large series starts, we deliver a small part so you can check whether our interpretation is correct. A freelance 3D drafter who starts without that step delivers work that still has to be straightened out afterwards.
Files are exchanged in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format. With a mixed set, in which part has been set up in AutoCAD and part in Revit, we agree in advance which part is leading so that no two versions of the truth arise in the project file. We put that agreement in writing before the first drawing is delivered.
Frequently asked questions about freelance 3D drafters
Let us handle your 3D modelling
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.