Clients who hire an Inventor drafter keep the design in-house and outsource the detailing to us. That is a sensible split. The thinking, the decisions and the responsibility for the product stay with their own people, while we take over the drafting and modelling work that takes a lot of time and involves little debate.
We do not do engineering and we do not carry out calculations. We draft, model, update revisions and turn as-built material into a set that is correct.
All our drafters have more than ten years of CAD experience, and Sam, our team leader, oversees the technical side and project guidance. We work remotely from our own office, with our own licences and always with the latest versions. The drawing conventions we use come from the client, not from a house style of our own. We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days, after which we discuss in a conversation which part of the work suits us.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What we deliver when clients hire an Inventor drafter
The work that comes to us is almost always detailing work. There is a concept, an existing set or a series of parts that someone needs to draw up, and the client's own team cannot get round to it. We model parts, build assemblies and derive from them the drawings the client needs for production and handover. We also take on 2D drafting, process revisions to existing sets and produce as-built drawings of material that has been modified in practice. Much of that work recurs in high volume, with a lot of repetition, and that is exactly where we add value for the client.
We take care of the views, the dimensioning, the bill of materials data and the neat finishing of the set. What we do not do is just as important. We do not run calculations, we do not give structural advice and we do not handle permits. We keep that boundary sharp, because otherwise the client might think he has handed over responsibility that still lies with him. Before we start, we record which drawing types are included in the delivery and at what level of detail.
That way, the project leader knows exactly what he will get back, and we do not have to rebuild half a set afterwards. We deliver in stages, so he can adjust course early. If the first stage shows that a view needs to be different, we change it before the rest goes the same way. This way of working keeps the correction workload small and prevents a discussion at the end of a project about a set that is almost finished. Throughout, we stick to what we have agreed.
Software, versions and file formats around Inventor
Our main software is Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, and we also work with Inventor and Grasshopper. We use Dynamo and Vault to a limited extent. We always work with the latest versions, so a file that will not open is no big deal for us. Exchange takes place in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format the client gives us. In this type of work, STEP is often the bridge between parties.
A manufacturer supplies a component, we incorporate it into the assembly and the client gets it back in the format their own supply chain can handle. We work in our own environment with our own licences, not logged into the client's environment. That saves the client a workstation, a machine and a licence, and it saves both sides hassle with access rights. For one-off drafting work, files go back and forth by email. For larger projects, such as greenhouse construction projects, we use software the client can log into to follow progress.
If we are given an existing set that comes from several software packages, we first look at what is usable before we build on any of it. Sometimes a half-broken conversion is quicker to rebuild than to repair, and when that is the case we say so. We make that call together with the client, not quietly behind our screens. We show where the conversion breaks down, so the client can weigh up whether to invest time in repair or in a clean rebuild. That way the choice stays with the client and we keep the pace up.
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.
Drafting to the client's standards and conventions
We do not have our own CAD standard that we impose on clients. We work to their standard and drawing conventions, which they supply to us before we start. Specifically, that covers layer structure, naming of files and parts, title blocks, dimensioning style and the way a set is numbered. If part of those conventions is missing, we ask for it. That is not a formality, because a set that does not fit internally will later cost the drawing office more time than the outsourcing saved. On a first assignment, we often deliberately take on a small part, show it and fine-tune the details. After that, we can handle the volume without anyone needing to check every drawing. Our work then passes through at least three review layers. A drafter draws, a second team member checks, Sam reviews it as team leader and Barry, our project manager, closes the chain.
As a result, the number of errors stays minimal in practice and the set arrives at the client in the form they are used to. We also flag it when we come across something in the supplied documents that is not right, such as a dimension that differs between two drawings. We do not make anything up; we put the question back. If a detail remains unclear, we first work it out ourselves as far as possible, so we do not call the project leader every day about small things. We bundle our questions and put them forward in one go during the meeting. That keeps lead times short and spares him a string of separate messages arriving in the middle of his own work.
What the delivered Inventor set contains
We deliver source files, not a flattened end product that nobody can work in any more. You receive the model and the drawings in a format your own people can open, modify and carry forward to the next stage. That matters, because the intellectual property of what we create belongs to you. So you are not tied to us for the next revision round, although we often do it anyway because we already know the project.
The delivery contains the drawings we agreed in advance, in the agreed formats, built up according to your standard. We deliver in stages and process the feedback per stage, so the final delivery holds no surprises.
How we coordinate this varies per project. On one project we speak every two days, on another weekly, depending on the pressure on the schedule. After that, the set goes into your own chain: to production, to a supplier or into the project file. When building the set, we take into account that someone else will need to continue working with it later. So we do not leave messy layers, loose references or half-finished constructions in it.
If you come back a few months later with a change, we pick up the same set again and keep the numbering intact. That way, the dossier keeps growing rather than a new variant being added alongside it each time. For a drawing office that works with several suppliers, that saves a lot of investigative work, because there is only one valid set. We record at delivery which files belong to it.
Frequently asked questions about hiring an Inventor drafter
Hand your Inventor 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.