Outsourcing 3D drafting works best when it is clear in advance which part goes out and which part stays with your own team. In practice, you keep the design decisions, the coordination with your end client and the engineering, and the modelling and drafting work goes out. That is exactly the split we work with.
We are OutsourceCAD: we draft and model, and engineering is not part of our work, so no calculations, no structural advice and no permit procedures. What we do handle is 3D modelling, working it up into 2D drawings, as-built drawings and revisions, usually at high volume and with a lot of repetition.
Our clients are engineering firms, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers in the Netherlands. Around the table sit managers, team leaders and owners, and the trigger is almost always capacity. The work is done remotely from our own office, on our own licences, within the drawing conventions you supply. Clients are welcome to visit, but the work itself stays remote.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What outsourcing 3D drafting actually covers
The focus is on modelling work and the drawings that come out of it. We build 3D models from the data supplied, work them up into floor plans, sections, elevations and details, and handle the revisions when changes come in. As-built work is part of this too, often as an addition to a model that deviated from the design during construction. What is not included is engineering. We do not make calculations, give structural advice or handle permits. That boundary is deliberate and is set down in the first conversation, so there is no misunderstanding later about who decides what.
Within modelling work, most of the return lies in repetition. Components that come back in dozens of variants pay off as soon as they have been set up properly once. In greenhouse construction this is very clear: if you need a valve in 90 and in 110 and redraw it by hand each time, you lose time that almost disappears with a smart component. For that kind of work we build parametric Revit families, components that adapt to a new situation or a different size. In that type of work it saves at least seventy per cent of the time.
Cleaning up or rebuilding existing families and templates is also part of the work that gets outsourced. Which is wiser depends on the state of the existing set, and we only assess that after we have looked at it. We give that assessment with a brief rationale, so you can weigh up for yourself whether to make that investment now or carry on with what you have. For a one-off project, that trade-off often turns out differently than for a product line that will run for years.
Software, versions and formats when you outsource 3D drafting
Our core software is Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino. We also use Inventor and Grasshopper, and to a limited extent Dynamo and Vault. Which of these packages we use follows from your existing set, not from a preference of ours. If there is a Revit model, we continue working in it. If the work comes from a Rhino environment in which forms have been set up that are hard to capture in a family structure, that remains the starting point.
We always work with the latest versions. If your set runs on an older version, we agree the exchange format before any modelling starts, so no conversion problems arise halfway through the project. Exchange takes place in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP files, and in practice in any common CAD format. STEP is especially relevant when there are fabricators in the chain who work with other packages. We work in our own environment on our own licences, not in yours.
That means no workstations, accounts or access rights need to be set up and no licences need to be made available. Files go back and forth by email. Larger projects, greenhouse construction projects for example, run on our side in software you can log into to follow the project. Fitting into the existing set matters more when you outsource 3D drafting than with standalone drafting, because a model that does not fit cannot simply be repaired. That is why we pin down the software, the version and the exchange format in the same conversation in which the assignment is scoped.
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.
Your drawing standard as the starting point
We work to your standard and drawing conventions. You provide them, and with a model that goes further than just layers and line weights. It covers the naming of families and types, the organisation of the project browser, the structure of views and sheets, the templates used and the way parameters are set up. If a model deviates from that, it may not be immediately obvious in the drawings, but it comes back to bite as soon as your own team continues working with it. If there is no documented standard, we reconstruct it from the set supplied and present that reconstruction before we start producing volume. That takes little time up front and prevents half a model having to go back through the structure later. With existing families and templates there is an additional trade-off.
If a family set is very messy, rebuilding is sometimes faster than repairing. We always present that choice to you, because it is your decision, not ours. A second point is the material schedule. With parametric families it updates automatically, so if the component changes, the schedule changes with it. That only works when the parameters match the way you build up your schedules. That is why we include it in the same round in which we set down the drawing conventions, not only at the first delivery. Restructuring a family setup afterwards to get a schedule right is considerably more laborious than setting it up properly in advance, especially once the model has already been rolled out across a large number of sheets.
The delivered set after outsourced 3D drafting
What the delivery includes is agreed in advance. As a rule it consists of the model itself, the drawings generated from it in the agreed format, the families and templates used or adapted, and the associated schedules. We do not deliver everything at once at the end. The project runs in stages: we deliver, collect feedback, process it and move on to the next part. That means you can already continue with part of the set while the rest is still in progress.
The follow-on process often determines what the delivery looks like. If the model goes on to a work preparation engineer, the structure of the views and the numbering matter more than the visual side. If material goes to a manufacturer, what counts most is whether the exchange files open without errors in their software.
We ask about this at the start, because adjusting a complete set afterwards is more work than setting it up properly in advance. Every stage goes through at least three review layers before it goes back: the drafter produces it, a second team member checks it, Sam as team leader reviews it next and Barry as project manager checks it last. That keeps errors to a minimum in practice.
The intellectual property of everything we make belongs to you, including the families we have built along the way. They remain usable in future projects, even without us. We also tell you which assumptions we made where the source material was incomplete, so your own team knows what the model rests on. In practice that overview proves useful more often than expected, especially when a colleague has to implement a change months later.
Frequently asked questions about outsourcing 3D drafting
Hand your 3D modelling and 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.