If you need a CAD engineer, you are rarely thinking of a job profile but of a specific sheet that has to be ready tomorrow. Usually it is a construction set with floor plans, elevations and sections in which the detailing recurs dozens of times. Or detail sheets and standard details that differ slightly per variant.
We also see a lot of demand for assembly drawings, piping schematics and production drawings with the associated assemblies. On top of that, almost every client has a revision stream running on existing DWGs and a pile of as-built material that still needs to be properly recorded.
On the modelling side, we build building models, parts and assemblies, and derive the sheets directly from them. We draft and model, we do not do engineering, and we work entirely remotely from our own office for clients in the Netherlands. Our team consists of drafters with more than ten years of CAD experience, and Sam, the team leader who directs them, has more than fifteen years of background in architecture and still works as an engineer himself. We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Scaling up when you urgently need a CAD engineer
With us, capacity is not a promise that still has to materialise. The team is already in place and we deploy what the project needs. For a defined series of sheets, one drafter is sometimes enough. If the work grows or a date that cannot move is approaching, we put as many drafters from our large, flexible team on the same project as needed. That scaling up involves no recruitment process and no months of onboarding, because everyone who joins has more than ten years of CAD experience and Sam divides the work as team leader. When it is urgent, we add people immediately.
What helps here is the way we split up an assignment. A set made up of repetitive sheets can be divided without consistency suffering, provided the standard is fixed in advance and checking stays centralised. That is precisely why every sheet goes through the same review layers, regardless of who drew it. A second reason scaling up goes smoothly is that we do not need to set anything up in your environment: no accounts, no workstations and no extra licences, because we work in our own environment.
We cover absences ourselves. If someone is ill or on holiday, we replace them so the work continues and your schedule does not slip. That is fundamentally different from one of your own drafters dropping out, because then the work stalls while payroll costs keep running. With us, you pay no ongoing payroll costs and no idle time. If the volume decreases, we scale back without any contract change. If you need a CAD engineer for exactly six weeks, it stays at six weeks.
Need a CAD engineer, or a freelancer or permanent hire after all?
There are three routes and they solve different problems. Hiring a freelancer works well as long as you need one pair of hands and the volume stays stable. If that freelancer drops out or the work suddenly increases, you are back where you started, because a self-employed professional cannot scale themselves. What is more, quality control then falls back on your own drawing office, which is exactly the capacity that was already scarce. Taking someone on permanently solves a structural shortage, but not a peak.
Recruitment, onboarding and getting up to speed soon take longer than the peak itself, and afterwards the payroll cost remains even when the volume falls back. With demonstrably structural growth, that is still the wisest choice. Many clients combine the routes, by the way, keeping their permanent staff for project work where knowledge of the client matters, while the volume underneath goes outside. Our route sits in between. We provide a team instead of an individual, with team leader Sam directing the work and with checking that stays with us.
You therefore have one point of contact rather than four separate ones. We arrange replacements for absences ourselves and scaling up happens within the same agreement. We work in our own environment with our own licences, so no extra workstations, accounts or software licences are needed. If you need a CAD engineer for a peak, a deadline or a vacancy that just will not get filled, this keeps your fixed costs low.
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 with a CAD engineer remotely
Remote working stands or falls with the rhythm of communication. Barry, our project manager, is usually the first point of contact for new enquiries and hands the technical side over to Sam, so you deal with one permanent line of contact rather than a changing team. We set the meeting rhythm per client. With a tight schedule we talk every two days, on a calmer project weekly. Day-to-day contact runs through email, phone and brief meetings, and we come to you or welcome you at our office. The work itself is carried out remotely. For standalone AutoCAD work, files go back and forth by email. On larger projects, such as greenhouse construction, we use software that you can log into to follow the progress of the project. That saves status questions on both sides.
We also let you know on our own initiative when something is going differently than expected, because a project lead who only hears at delivery that an assumption was wrong can no longer do anything with it. We also deliver in stages, which makes following along concrete. From the first batch, your project lead can see whether the detailing, annotation and layer structure are right, and can adjust before the volume gets going. We carry their comments through to the rest of the set. If the scope changes halfway, we explain what that means for the schedule and the hours before we continue. That way you can always see where your budget is going.
What we need before the first sheet gets under way
To get started, we need three things: source material, drawing conventions and a picture of the outcome. The source material means the existing drawings that need revising, or the details from which we build something new. For the drawing conventions, we ask for the template with title block, the layer structure with colours and linetypes, the naming of files and sheets, and the way revisions are recorded in the table.
A sheet that counts as approved internally completes the picture, because it tells us the required level of detail without endless questions. We also want to know which format and version the receiving team works in, because that determines how we structure and deliver the files.
As soon as that is complete, we can begin. If material is missing or an old set turns out to be hard to read, we first work it out ourselves and present the remaining questions in a single round. We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days, after which we schedule a conversation to go through the project.
A short assignment is fine. If you wish, we start with a small first package, so you can judge our speed and accuracy before more volume comes our way. We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price, and we agree together which form suits. The intellectual property of everything we draw belongs to you. A phone call or the contact form on the website gets the conversation started.
Frequently asked questions about needing a CAD engineer
Let us handle your CAD drafting
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.