If you want to get 3D models worked out, it pays to draw the line first. We draft and model. We do not carry out calculations, we do not give structural advice and we do not handle permits either. Our team turns the design principles, details and existing drawings you supply into a clean model and the associated sheets, in high volumes and with a lot of repetition.
We do this in Revit, Rhino and Inventor, supplemented by Grasshopper and, to a limited extent, Dynamo and Vault.
We work remotely from our own office, in our own environment and with our own licences, following the drawing conventions you give us. Everyone who models for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and the core of our team has around twenty-five years of experience combined. We respond to a new request within 1 to 2 working days, after which we go through in a conversation what is there and what is still missing.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Getting started with 3D models worked out by us
We can start as soon as we have enough information, and that threshold is lower than clients often think. Essentially, we ask for the design principles, the dimensions and the existing material the model needs to tie in with. That is usually a set of drawings, sometimes an earlier model version, and sometimes just sketches and photos of what is there. We also want your drawing conventions and standard, because our model has to fit your library, not ours. If something is missing, we say so straight away rather than grinding to a halt halfway through.
The process starts with a conversation in which we go through the scope, the software and the schedule. Barry, our project manager, handles the first contact, after which Sam, our team leader, takes over the technical side. We respond to a request within 1 to 2 working days. Getting 3D models worked out does not have to start with a large package. A short assignment is fine, and we are happy to start with a small, well-defined part so you can judge our speed and accuracy for yourself.
If you are happy, we scale up without the agreements changing. From the start, we deliver in stages. The first package goes to you early, you respond, we make adjustments and carry on with the rest. That way the approach is fixed before the volume gets going, which saves correction rounds further down the line. We do not work with prepaid hour bundles or hour subscriptions, so there is no obligation that extends beyond the work itself.
Clients who get 3D models worked out
The people we talk to are managers, team leaders and owners of engineering consultancies, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers. The reason is almost always capacity. Too little time, too few drafters, or a peak the in-house team cannot handle. At manufacturers, we often see the product portfolio growing faster than the drawing office. Every variant needs a model, every size needs a sheet, and the in-house team no longer gets round to new work.
At an architectural practice it is different. There the design is done, but translating it into a usable model takes weeks that were not in the schedule. Contractors usually get stuck on existing situations, where a model has to be built from material that does not add up. From Firefly we received as-built material in which the drawings had been printed incorrectly and partly drawn by hand, hard to read and messy. Our team worked it out ourselves instead of constantly calling the client, and still delivered it cleanly.
We have since completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings for that client. Getting 3D models worked out also comes up at companies that win a single large contract and do not want to hire a permanent drafter for it. They hire capacity for the duration of the project and then stop without a round of redundancies. Our clients are in the Netherlands and that is where our focus lies too, so communication takes place in the same language and the same working culture. We started this service last year because a client asked for it, and we have offered it as a permanent service ever since.
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.
What we deliver in 3D models and drawings
With us, the model is rarely the end product in its own right. We usually derive sheets from it, such as floor plans, elevations, sections, detail sheets and assembly drawings that move along with the model. If a component changes, the derived drawings follow, and that is exactly why you start with a model rather than with loose lines. We build parametric Revit families, in other words smart components that adapt to a new situation or a different size. We create such a component once and then place it wherever it is needed. The material schedule updates automatically. The effect is clearest in greenhouse construction piping, because a valve in 90 and in 110 normally takes two rounds of manual work in AutoCAD, and with us a single action. In that kind of work, it saves at least seventy percent of the time.
Besides new modelling work, we handle revisions and as-built files, and we clean up existing families and templates when they have become clogged up. If the existing set is very messy, we sometimes prefer to rebuild it rather than repair it. We deliver in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and otherwise in any common CAD format. We agree on the required output in advance, including layer structure, naming and level of detail. If you are considering getting 3D models worked out, it is wise to settle those points early, because they determine the entire setup of the model. You own everything we create, including the parametric components our team builds for the project along the way.
Scaling up from one drafter to a whole team
We have a large, variable team and deploy what the project requires. For a well-defined assignment one modeller is enough, and on a large project we deploy as many modellers as needed from our large team. Scaling up takes no recruitment time, because the people are already there. When something is urgent, we add someone straight away. For you, that means a different calculation from a permanent appointment, because there are no ongoing salary costs, no idle time between two projects and no onboarding period on the basics of the trade.
If someone on our side drops out through illness or holidays, we replace that person and the work continues.
The project knowledge sits with our team and with Sam, not with a single individual, so a changeover costs at most a short handover. Sam leads the CAD team and oversees the technical side. He has more than fifteen years of background in architecture, seven years of work in Iran and his own design firm in the Netherlands to his name, and he still works as an engineer. What we can do when it really matters, we showed on a deadline that could not move.
Our team worked evenings and weekends, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours, and the work carried on even during a planned holiday of Sam's. That is not a normal rhythm and we do not sell it as standard. It does show what happens when a date is fixed and the volume turns out larger than expected, and how much room our team still has to step up.
Frequently asked questions about getting 3D models worked out
Hand your 3D 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.