If you need an AutoCAD drafter, you are rarely looking for a hiring procedure and usually just want drafting capacity that is up and running within a short time. We take that work on from our own office, with our own licences and an established team that is already in place. You supply the details, plus in many cases existing drawings that need a revision round, and we continue drafting in the standard you are used to.
We do drafting and modelling, not engineering, calculations or permit procedures. That keeps the boundary clear, because we supplement your drawing office and you keep control over the content.
Everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and Sam, our team leader, directs the technical side. We respond within 1 to 2 working days of a new enquiry, and then we go through the project with you. A short assignment is also possible, so you can first judge our speed and accuracy for yourself. This page describes exactly what we deliver, in which software, and how our set connects to the next steps in your process.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What we deliver when you need an AutoCAD drafter
The question behind this topic is usually very concrete: there is a pile of drafting work and too little time to finish it yourself. We then take over the 2D drafting, from floor plans, elevations and sections to detail sheets and schematics. Where the project calls for it, we also model in 3D, so elevations and sections come from a single source. As-built drawings make up a large part of our work, as do revision rounds on sets that have drifted out of step over the course of a project. We have now completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings for Firefly, and a good share of that consisted of exactly this kind of revision work.
One example from that collaboration: an as-built file came in that had been printed incorrectly and partly drawn over by hand, hard to read and messy. We worked it out ourselves rather than calling the project leader every day, and still delivered the set neatly. What we deliver is complete, checked drawings in the format you use, not half-finished files your drawing office still has to complete.
We draft and do not do engineering, so calculations, structural advice and permits stay with you or your consultant. That boundary keeps the process clean and avoids discussions about responsibility. High volume and repetition are no problem for us; on the contrary, that is exactly where you gain the most. If you need an AutoCAD drafter for twenty almost identical sheets, with us you pay for genuine drafting hours and not for start-up time on each individual sheet.
Software, versions and formats our AutoCAD drafters work with
We work in our own environment, with our own licences, and always with the latest versions. AutoCAD is the basis for this type of assignment, and we also draft and model in Revit and Rhino. We use Inventor and Grasshopper where that is the fastest route, and Dynamo and Vault to a limited extent. That range is not for show but a matter of practice, because a piping schematic in greenhouse construction demands something different from a set of production drawings. We deliver files in DWG and DXF, in Revit formats and as STEP files, and in practice we can handle any common CAD format.
So if you need an AutoCAD drafter for an existing set, you do not have to convert that set first. We work with what is there and continue drafting in the same file structure. On larger projects we work with software you can log into to follow progress, and for standalone AutoCAD drafting the delivery simply goes by email. We do not work inside your environment, so nobody needs to arrange licences, workstations or accounts for us in advance. That saves your IT department a process that sometimes takes longer than the drafting itself.
If it turns out during the work that a component would be better handled in Revit, for example because it recurs dozens of times in different sizes, we will raise it with you. The choice stays with you, and we provide the reasoning and a time estimate. That way you keep control of your own software landscape while our capacity works alongside it.
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 CAD standards and layer structure
We do not have a house standard that we impose on clients. We work to your drawing conventions, which you provide: layer structure, lineweights, hatching, title blocks, file naming and the way you number sheets. If there is a CAD manual, we read it before the first line is drawn. If there is not, we derive the conventions from a representative existing drawing and present our assumptions at the first meeting. That step takes half an hour and prevents a whole series of sheets having to be redone later. In practice we often see that a set has fanned out over the years, with three variants of the same layer and a title block filled in differently on each project. We then stick to the variant you designate as valid and flag the rest without cleaning it up unasked.
Our work goes through at least three review layers: a drafter draws, a second team member checks, Sam then reviews it as team leader, and Barry, our project manager, carries out the final check. As a result, the number of errors stays minimal in practice, even on sheets that look very similar and are easy to skim over. We deliver in stages so you can adjust course early, and we agree the meeting rhythm together, from once every two days to weekly. For a deadline that could not move, we worked through evenings and weekends to meet the commitment.
The set our AutoCAD drafter delivers and what comes next
The delivery contains what you need to move forward, and nothing you still have to fix afterwards. That means drawings in the agreed format, with the correct layer structure, completed title blocks and sheet numbering that matches your existing set. Where we have modelled in 3D, we include the model so your own people can build on it.
We mark revisions the way you are used to, with the changes traceable to the source documents supplied. We deliver in stages, so a first series of sheets comes back early and you can see immediately whether our interpretation is right. We process your feedback and then move on to the next part, which prevents a misunderstanding from spreading across a hundred sheets.
The intellectual property of everything we make belongs to you, so you can pass the files on to your contractor without restriction. We have not signed a non-disclosure agreement so far because clients have not asked for one, but we are open to an NDA if the project calls for it. If you work with a supplier who requires STEP files, we simply supply those as well.
If you need an AutoCAD drafter for the final round before construction, what you mainly want is a consistent set that raises no questions from the contractor. That is what we aim for, checking every sheet before it leaves the building. We work across the Netherlands and carry out the work remotely, although a visit to our office is always possible.
Frequently asked questions for when you need an AutoCAD drafter
Let us handle your AutoCAD 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.