The reason for MEP engineering drafting outsourcing usually arises right there in the drawing office, on the morning two projects both need the same drafter. There is a set that has to be complete next week, a revision round is coming in from site, and the colleague who knows the file best has just started on another project.
The team leader then shuffles people around until something gives, and the work without a deadline gets left behind. We solve that with drafting capacity that moves with you.
Our team is ready, and we deploy whatever the project needs: one drafter for a small job, and at a peak as many drafters as it takes from our large, variable team. Everyone who works for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, so there is no need for months of onboarding. You only pay for net working hours and keep full control over the content of the project. That way the production work leaves your drawing board without your own drawing office having to grow permanently.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Capacity for MEP engineering drafting
Capacity is the direct reason for almost all of our clients. Too little time, too few drafters, or a peak your own team simply cannot absorb. We cover that with a permanent team that is already in place, so there is no recruitment process between the request and the first line drawn. For a small assignment we deploy one drafter. As the volume grows, our large, variable team scales with the project and we put as many drafters on the same project as needed, with a clear division of sheets so nobody gets in anyone else's way.
When it is urgent, we add people straight away. Our team has worked evenings and weekends before, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours, to hit a date that could not slip. Even during a planned holiday of Sam, our team leader, that work carried on. Just as important is what happens when someone drops out. If a drafter is off sick or on holiday, we put a colleague on the file and the work simply continues, without you having to arrange anything.
That is exactly the difference from your own staff, where one sick drafter can tip a schedule over. With us you carry no ongoing payroll costs, because we only bill the hours we actually spend on the drawing. If a team member steps away for five minutes for coffee, the clock stops. So in a quiet month nothing keeps running. For a team leader facing a peak, that is the attractive part: extra hands for as long as the rush lasts, and then back to your own staffing.
Outsourcing compared with an in-house drafter
The comparison with a permanent employee rarely comes down to the hourly rate alone. Hiring a drafter means recruiting, onboarding and retaining, and in a tight market that last step is the hardest. On top of that, a permanent employee is fixed capacity, while work in MEP engineering fluctuates with the order book. In a busy quarter one extra drafter is too few; in a quiet quarter, too many. We move with that fluctuation, because we decide per project how many people work on it. Compared with a freelancer, continuity is the main factor.
A freelancer is one diary, one holiday schedule and one set of skills. With us a second team member always checks the work, Sam oversees it as team leader, and a colleague can take over the file when needed. Knowledge building differs too. A freelancer who leaves after three months takes his experience of your drawing conventions with him, whereas with us that knowledge stays within the team and is immediately useful again on the next assignment. What you do not buy with it is influence over the content. We draft and model; we do not do engineering and do not advise on installation choices.
For firms that want to keep that content role in-house, this is an advantage. The production work leaves your own drawing board, and the technical decisions stay untouched within your organisation. In practice, firms rarely choose entirely one way or the other. They keep their permanent drafters for work that demands continuity and pass peaks and repetitive sets on to us.
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.
Working together on MEP engineering drafting outsourcing
Bringing in an outside party stands or falls on how communication runs. With us, Barry, our project manager, is usually the first point of contact for a new request, and once the project is under way Sam takes over the technical side as team leader. He directs the CAD team and is responsible for the technical aspects and project supervision. That gives you one consistent face rather than a changing series of contacts. We agree the meeting rhythm at the start. With a tight schedule we call every two days; on calmer projects one weekly check-in is enough. In between, we stay in touch by email and phone, and that can stay informal. With standalone AutoCAD drafting, files simply go back and forth by email. On larger projects we use software you can log into to follow progress per component, as on greenhouse construction projects.
We deliberately deliver in stages. That way your project leader gets an early view of the layout and can steer before a hundred sheets contain the same deviation. We process his feedback and then move on to the next block. We come to you or welcome you at our office when a file calls for it, although the work itself is done entirely remotely from our own office. We work in our own environment with our own licences, so nobody has to free up a workstation or account for us. Clients are welcome to visit and see how we work, although that is not necessary for the work itself. We record the arrangements on meetings and delivery at the start, so nobody has to guess halfway through.
How your first package gets started
The first step is a conversation in which we go through the project and decide which part lends itself to outsourcing. We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days, and in that reply we usually already ask targeted questions about the scope. After that we need the existing documents, preferably as DWG, plus the project's design principles and your drawing conventions.
If there is no drawing protocol, we derive the conventions from an existing sheet and briefly present our assumptions for confirmation. As soon as we have enough information, we can get to work. Many clients start with a small package, for example a defined set of revision sheets or one floor of an MEP layout.
That is a comfortable way to judge our speed and accuracy without handing over a large part of the project. We deliver that first section early and explicitly ask for comments on line weights, symbols and sheet layout. If that goes well, more work comes our way by agreement. You can pay by the hour or at a fixed project price, and we make that choice together.
We do not work with prepaid bundles or hour subscriptions, so there is no ongoing commitment. The intellectual property of the work belongs to you, and we are happy to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You can reach us by phone or through the contact form on our website. In that first conversation we also say honestly when a package is less suited to outsourcing, because a poorly matched assignment costs both sides time.
Frequently asked questions about MEP engineering drafting outsourcing
Hand your MEP 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.