If you have been looking for a freelance BIM modeller, you are in practice weighing up a few routes. The first is to hire a freelancer for a few months. The second is to take someone on permanently and accept the recruitment time. The third is to hand the modelling work as a package to an external team.
We are OutsourceCAD, and we provide that third route. The difference from a single contractor lies in staffing and continuity.
We have a large, flexible team ready that scales up or down per project to whatever the work requires, and if someone drops out, we replace that person. A freelancer who falls ill or starts on another project leaves a gap that your own drafting team has to fill. We draft and model, nothing more, so engineering, calculations and permits stay with the client. The work is done remotely from our own office with our own licences.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Clients who have been looking for a freelance BIM modeller
The companies that come to us are engineering firms, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers, and more broadly businesses with technical drafting work. The people at the table are managers, team leaders and owners, in other words people responsible for a schedule rather than a drawing. The trigger is almost always the same and rarely has anything to do with expertise. There is not enough time, there are too few drafters, or a peak comes along that does not fit alongside ongoing work. At an engineering firm, this often shows up as model work that keeps slipping while the calculations are already done.
At an architectural practice, we see it in detail sheets left lying at the end of a phase. Contractors run into it when a set of as-built material has to be updated while construction continues. Manufacturers usually talk about series of components that are drawn again and again. In all these cases, the question is not whether your own team can do it, but whether your own team can take it on. That is a capacity question, not a quality question, and the two often get mixed up in recruitment processes.
Another problem we regularly see is work being fragmented across several hired contractors, each bringing their own approach. The set gets fuller, but not more consistent. Because our work passes through several hands before it goes out, the structure stays the same across the whole set. For a project lead, that is usually more important than the speed of an individual drafter, because inconsistency only takes its toll in the next phase. Our clients are in the Netherlands, and that is where our focus lies.
What we deliver when a freelance BIM modeller is wanted
Our delivery consists of 2D drafting and, where needed, 3D modelling, as-built drawings and revisions. In a modelling assignment, that means floor plans, sections, elevations, detail sheets and the model build they are derived from. When it concerns an existing set, we process revisions in the supplied files instead of creating a parallel set alongside them. With as-built work, we turn the supplied material back into a drawing that is legible and fits the rest of the file. For manufacturers, we work out parts and assemblies down to the level of individual components.
We deliver output in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format. We agree at the start which sheets and which scale the delivery includes, so there is no discussion about the scope afterwards. We deliver in stages, not all at once at the end. Each partial delivery is reviewed, after which we process the comments and pick up the next block. That rhythm prevents a wrong interpretation from spreading across hundreds of drawings.
Working this way, we have completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings for Firefly, including an as-built file whose existing drawings had been badly printed and were partly drawn by hand. That material was hard to read and messy, and we worked it out ourselves instead of calling the client about it constantly. What we do not deliver is engineering, because calculations, structural advice and permits fall outside our role.
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.
Costs when a freelance BIM modeller is wanted
We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price, and we decide together which form it will be. For a clearly defined package, such as a set of revisions of known scope, a fixed project price is the obvious choice. For work that moves with an ongoing project, such as modelling work that shifts from week to week, an hourly basis is often fairer for both sides. On an hourly basis, we only bill the time spent on the work itself. If someone steps away for five minutes for coffee, the clock stops, and that is not a slogan but the way we record time. We do not work with prepaid hour bundles or a monthly hours subscription, so nothing keeps running when there is no work for a while. You pay no ongoing payroll costs, no workstation and no licences, because we work in our own environment with our own licences.
What keeps costs down in practice is preparation. Clear CAD standards, a complete set of files and a contact person who answers questions quickly save more hours than any discussion about rates. Repetition also keeps costs down, because the more the same components recur, the more we can solve parametrically. An estimate is drawn up after the first conversation, in which we look at the documents supplied and determine how much work is actually involved. If the scope is unclear, we suggest starting with a small package, so the picture is based on real work rather than an assumption. The form of the collaboration is not fixed for the whole term either. A project can start on an hourly basis and later, once the scope is clear, switch to a fixed price per package.
How the work starts after the search for a modeller
We can start as soon as we have enough information. In concrete terms, that means the existing files, the client's drawing conventions and a picture of what needs to be finished when. On most projects, the client supplies the details plus existing drawings that need revising. If the standard is missing, we ask for it, because making something up ourselves only leads to correction work later.
We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days. This is followed by a conversation in which we go through the project and decide which staffing suits the schedule. When things are urgent, we add people straight away, because the team is already in place and there is no recruitment process in between.
That is the practical difference from the route in which a firm first posts a vacancy and then trains someone up. 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. Sam has more than fifteen years of background in architecture, worked in Iran for seven years, ran his own design practice in the Netherlands and still works as an engineer.
You therefore keep a fixed point of contact instead of a changing one. How often we meet depends on the pace, which comes down to weekly or once every two days. Contact runs through email, phone and meetings, and we visit you or welcome you at our office. A small first assignment is a good way to judge whether the pace and accuracy suit you.
Frequently asked questions about a freelance BIM modeller wanted
Hand your BIM modelling 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.