How much does technical drafting cost when a drawing office can no longer handle the work on its own? Before we talk about hours, we define clearly what we do and what we do not do. We draft and model, in 2D and in 3D where needed, including as-built drawings and revision rounds on existing sets. We do not do engineering, we do not produce calculations and we do not advise on structures or permits.
That separation keeps the cost side clear, because you know exactly which part of the project sits with us. The work that suits us is often high in volume and repetitive: think of series of detail drawings, piping schematics, floor plans and changes that keep coming back.
Our clients are engineering firms, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers in the Netherlands. We work entirely remotely from our own office, with our own licences and the latest software versions. We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days, so the project leader quickly knows where they stand. This is followed by a conversation in which we go through the project and decide which form of billing suits it.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Who outsources technical drafting
The question of what technical drafting costs usually comes to us from a company that would like to do the work itself, but does not have the people for it. Engineering firms run into a peak for which they do not want to hire a permanent drafter. Architectural practices have a set that needs to be worked up quickly while their own team is already fully booked. Contractors have as-built material lying around that nobody updates any more. Manufacturers want their product documentation in order, but the drawing office keeps putting it off.
The people we talk to are managers, team leaders and owners, and their problem is almost never a lack of knowledge. It is capacity. There is too little time, there are too few drafters, or there is a peak that the in-house team cannot handle. We take on that part without you having to open a vacancy. Because we take over the drafting and not the engineering, control over the content stays where it belongs. The project leader keeps the decisions, and we deliver the drawings. That also makes the cost question easier to answer, because you are not buying an advisory programme but drafting capacity with a clear start and finish.
We notice that companies often call later than would be ideal, usually when the pressure is already high. Early contact gives us more room to divide the work properly. We can also start with a small first assignment, so you can judge our speed and accuracy before sending a larger volume our way. What ultimately determines the costs is mainly the size of the set and the amount of repetition in it.
Scaling up without ongoing salary costs
The number of drafters we put on an assignment depends on what the project requires. For a small assignment one drafter is often enough, and for a large project we deploy as many drafters from our large, variable team as needed. The team is already in place, so when something is urgent we add people straight away without having to recruit first. For you, that means a different cost structure from hiring a permanent employee. No salaries keep running in a quiet month, there is no induction period of several weeks and no desk sits empty when the project comes to a halt.
If someone on our side is off due to illness or holiday, we replace that person and the work continues. A drawing office notices that difference most at peak times. A revision round on a large DWG set rarely comes in evenly, and that is exactly when it helps to have more hands available at short notice. Everyone who works for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, so we do not have to spend months supervising a junior before any output appears. Sam, our team leader, divides the work and keeps track of progress.
We do not use a prepaid block of hours or a monthly hours subscription, because that does not suit work that varies so much in scope from project to project. A short assignment is just as welcome as a project lasting months. You decide how much capacity you take, and we make sure that capacity is actually there at the agreed moment. If you already know several peaks are coming, you can mention that in the first conversation.
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.
How much does technical drafting cost in practice
What technical drafting costs depends first and foremost on how we bill. We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price, and we decide which form fits in consultation with you. For a set with a clear scope and a fixed drawing type, a fixed project price is the obvious choice. For revision work whose scope only becomes clear along the way, an hourly basis is fairer for both sides. We only log pure working hours. If someone steps away for five minutes for a coffee, the clock stops, and meetings that are not about the drafting do not appear on the timesheet. As a result, you pay for output, not for presence. What further reduces costs is repetition. The more similar drawings an assignment contains, the faster our drafters work per drawing, because the CAD standards and layer structure are already fixed.
A complete dossier also saves time. If we have the right source drawings, dimensions and agreements straight away, we do not have to wait or reconstruct things ourselves. We would rather resolve ambiguities ourselves than call you every day, but a good starter package remains the fastest route. The choice of file format also plays a part, because a clean DWG needs less clean-up work than a drawing that was half made by hand. We do not give amounts on this page, because every set is different. In a first conversation we go through the material and indicate which form of billing is realistic.
Working together during the drafting work
During the drafting work, you keep one fixed point of contact. Barry, our project manager, is the first to pick up new enquiries and remains available afterwards, while Sam takes over the technical side once the project is under way. Sam has more than fifteen years' background in architecture, worked in Iran for seven years, ran his own design firm in the Netherlands and still works as an engineer himself.
He directs our drafters and safeguards the technical side. We match the meeting rhythm to the pace of the project. One client wants to catch up every two days, another is happy with a weekly check-in.
We deliver in stages, gather feedback, process it and carry on, so you are never presented with months of work in one go. Day-to-day contact runs via email and phone, and on larger projects such as greenhouse construction projects we use software that you can log in to and follow progress. For standalone AutoCAD drafting we simply deliver by email. Clients are welcome to visit us and we also come to them, but the work itself is done remotely from our own office.
We work in our own environment with our own licences, so your IT department does not need to set up accounts or workstations. The intellectual property of our drawings passes entirely to you. Clients have not asked for a non-disclosure agreement so far, but we are open to signing an NDA. If you want to know how many drafting hours a specific project needs, call us or use the contact form.
Frequently asked questions about how much technical drafting costs
Hand your technical 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.