If you want to hire a Revit drafter temporarily, the first question is which software the work needs to be done in. Our core software is Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, supplemented by Inventor and Grasshopper, and to a limited extent Dynamo and Vault. We always work with the latest versions and in our own environment with our own licences, so you don't need to arrange a workstation or account.
We deliver files in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format.
We adopt your standards throughout, from layer structure to how families are built. Our work is drafting and modelling, not engineering. Everyone who works for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and the core of our team has around twenty-five years of combined practice. Sometimes one drafter is enough; sometimes we deploy as many drafters from our large, flexible team as the project requires. Our focus is on the Netherlands. We respond to a request within one to two working days.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Repetitive work a temporarily hired drafter takes on
Most of the work that comes in to us has one thing in common: repetition. Hundreds of sheets that follow the same structure, a detail that recurs in ten variants, a series of elevations where only the dimensions differ. For a permanent drafter that is fairly thankless work, but it still has to be done and it often determines the lead time of the entire project. That is where our time savings lie. We deploy people who are used to this pace and don't approach every drawing as a new problem. As a series progresses, each subsequent sheet goes faster, because the conventions are fixed and the structure is familiar.
A good example comes from greenhouse construction. Companies there often work in AutoCAD, and AutoCAD isn't smart at building up components such as valves in piping systems. If you need a valve in 90 and in 110, you draw it by hand every time. That kind of work contains a lot of time that adds nothing. We approach it differently, and on projects like that it saves at least seventy per cent of the time.
A revision round on an existing DWG also falls into this category, because the same action repeats across dozens of sheets. Meanwhile, your own team has time left for the work where your firm's expertise really counts. That is why temporary hiring works out better for this kind of volume than overtime in your own drawing office. Overtime also drains a firm of energy it will need later in the design, while we are set up precisely for this volume. On top of that, our pace doesn't drop as a series drags on.
What you get when you hire a Revit drafter temporarily
The delivery depends on the phase the project is in. In a detailed design phase, we produce the floor plans, elevations, sections and typical details and place them on sheets according to your firm's layout. If the project is in its final phase, it is more often about revisions, correction rounds and completing an as-built file. We handle both streams. Where 3D is needed, we model the relevant part and keep the derived views linked to it, so a change doesn't have to be made by hand in six places.
We also build families and templates, or tidy up what is already there. With a temporary assignment we often deliver in smaller packages, because a short period sits poorly with one large delivery at the end. That way you see the first results within a few days and can adjust course before the rest follows. What we don't do stays the same on a temporary job: no calculations, no structural advice and no permit procedures. Every sheet goes through our review layers, even if the assignment lasts only a few weeks.
At the end, our team hands over the work in the format you use, with the files you need to carry on yourself. The intellectual property belongs to you, so a temporary collaboration leaves no loose ends. On a short assignment we agree in advance which sheets must be finished within the period, so no half-finished work remains at the end. If the assignment runs longer after all, we simply extend that list.
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.
Revit families and parametric working during a short assignment
A large part of the time savings comes from parametric families. These are smart components that adapt to a different size or situation without anyone having to redraw the component. We build the component properly once, after which a drafter places it wherever it belongs. The material schedule updates automatically, so if the component changes, the schedule changes too. For a temporary assignment that is especially valuable, because the effect remains after our people have left. Your firm keeps the families and uses them in future projects. Back to the example of the valve in 90 and 110, because the difference is easy to see there. Drawing by hand means starting from scratch every time; with a smart family, the component is in place in a single action.
In that kind of work it saves at least seventy per cent of the time. We can clean up existing families and templates or rebuild them, and which is more sensible depends on the state of the set. If a family set is very messy, with duplicate variants and parameters that no longer drive anything, rebuilding is sometimes quicker than repairing. We only give that verdict after we have looked inside, because it can't be judged from the outside. We discuss the outcome with you before we start on anything, so no hours go into a repair that solves nothing. If you supply a clean set, we build on it rather than introducing something new.
Software, versions and formats our Revit drafters work in
Revit is our main focus, but it doesn't stand alone. We use AutoCAD and Rhino daily, and we also use Inventor and Grasshopper where the project calls for them. We use Dynamo and Vault to a limited extent. We always work with the latest versions, so you will rarely run into an outdated build with us. If you supply files in an older format, we handle that conversion on our side rather than burdening you with it.
We exchange files in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format. We work in our own environment with our own licences, not in yours, which saves a lot of hassle with accounts and access on a temporary assignment.
We fit in with the existing set through the drawing conventions your firm gives us: the layer structure, hatching, title blocks, naming of views and the way families are organised. We follow those conventions, even when we are used to something different in-house. That way the work of a temporary drafter doesn't stand out as a foreign element in your archive.
For standalone drafting, files are exchanged by email. On larger projects we work in software that lets you log in and follow the project. What we don't do is persuade you to switch to software we happen to prefer. Your set leads and our work adapts to it. That makes temporary hiring easy to start and just as easy to wrap up.
Frequently asked questions about hiring a Revit drafter temporarily
Hire a Revit drafter for as long as you need
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.