If you outsource as-built drafting, quality control is essential, because a revision file records how something was actually built and that document stays in use for years. That is why our work passes through at least three review layers. A drafter produces the drawing, a second team member checks that work, Sam, our team leader, then reviews it, and Barry, our project manager, assesses it last before it leaves the office.
That set-up is not just for show. With an as-built file, the source is often incomplete, outdated or partly updated by hand, and assumptions then creep into the drawings that nobody spots again.
A second reader will usually catch them. Because we deliver in parts, that review also runs several times per project rather than once at the end. As a result, the number of errors stays minimal in practice. We draft and model, but we do not do engineering or give structural advice. The work is done fully remotely from our own office, with our own licences.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
When it makes sense to outsource as-built drafting
Outsourcing as-built drafting is not the best move in every situation, and we would rather say so beforehand than afterwards. It pays off mainly when there is volume behind it. A file with dozens or hundreds of drawings that all need updating is work that ties up your own drawing office for months while ongoing project work stays on the shelf. It also pays off when the work cannot be postponed. A revision round linked to a handover cannot wait until someone becomes available internally.
A third situation is a peak that will not recur structurally, where taking on a permanent employee makes little sense because the salary costs keep running when the work drops off again. Outsourcing makes less sense when it concerns a handful of drawings involving a lot of internal consultation. The handover then takes more time than the work itself. The same applies when knowledge of the as-built situation exists only in a site manager's head and has not been recorded anywhere, because the drafter then depends on daily contact.
What does work is having that knowledge recorded first and then outsourcing the drafting. In many cases a mixed approach is the wisest. Your own team keeps the parts that involve substantive decisions and we take on the volume. The right split emerges in the first conversation, when we go through the file and the planning. We are not out to take over work that is better kept in-house.
What you get when you outsource as-built drafting
When you outsource as-built drafting to us, we deliver all the drawings a revision file needs. At its core, that means updated 2D drawings showing the as-built situation, with floor plans, elevations, sections and detail drawings. Where a project calls for it, we also bring that situation back into a 3D model, so the file can be reused later for a renovation or extension. We include material schedules when they can be extracted from the model. We update existing drawings that need a revision in the format they are already in, so DWG stays DWG and a Revit set stays a Revit set.
Exchange also runs via DXF, Revit formats and STEP files, and in practice we handle every common CAD format. We deliver the source files, so you can carry on with them in-house without involving us. What we do not deliver are calculations, inspection reports or permit documents, because that is engineering and we do not do it. When a file you supply has been printed incorrectly or partly drawn by hand, as we encountered at Firefly, we work it out ourselves rather than calling you constantly. We only put forward the points where a real decision is involved.
If a set is so messy that repairing it takes longer than rebuilding it, we raise that as a trade-off. The delivered set is structured according to your drawing conventions and therefore fits straight into your existing library. We agree at the start exactly which drawing types the file must contain, so there is no uncertainty at delivery about what is still missing.
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.
Repetitive work in as-built drafting
A revision file contains a lot of work that repeats itself, and that is also where the time savings lie. The same change that has to be applied across dozens of sheets. A component that recurs in a handful of sizes and is redrawn every time. A stamp, a legend or a revision marker that has to appear consistently on every sheet. That work is not complicated, there is just a lot of it, and that is precisely why a drawing office gets stuck on it. We are set up for that volume and use smart components wherever possible. A parametric family adapts to a new situation or a different size, so the component is built once and then placed everywhere. The associated material schedule moves with it, so a change to the component automatically carries through to the schedule. You can see this clearly in greenhouse construction, where companies often work in AutoCAD, which is not smart at building components such as valves in piping systems.
If you need a valve in 90 and in 110 there, you draw it by hand every time, whereas a smart family places it in a single action. In that kind of work, it saves at least seventy per cent of the time. The same logic applies to an as-built file, because an installed system consists largely of repeated components in varying sizes. The speed gain also carries over to the next revision round, because the components built remain in the library and can be reused. We can clean up or rebuild existing families, depending on the state of the set. We determine which part of a file lends itself to this on the basis of the files supplied, not on gut feeling.
Point of contact and meeting rhythm during the project
A revision project stands or falls with short lines of communication, because questions nobody anticipated always come up along the way. With us, those lines stay short. Barry picks up the new request, then Sam takes over the technical side, which gives you one fixed point of contact instead of a changing line-up of contacts. As team leader, Sam directs the drafting team and handles project supervision, even when more drafters join the work.
We set the meeting rhythm together, and it differs from client to client. On a tightly scheduled revision round we speak every two days, while for calmer work weekly contact is enough.
Day-to-day contact runs by email and phone, supplemented by meetings whenever something needs deciding. We come to you or welcome you at our office, whichever is more practical, although the work itself stays remote from our own office. Files are generally exchanged simply by email. On larger projects, such as greenhouse construction projects, we work with software you can log into to follow progress. For standalone drafting work that adds nothing, and we simply deliver by email.
Because we deliver in parts, you can see the result throughout, and you do not receive a pile of corrections all at once at the end. We respond to a new request within 1 to 2 working days, followed by a conversation in which we go through the file. You can reach us by phone or through the contact form on the website, and a short description of the scope is enough to make that conversation worthwhile.
Frequently asked questions about outsourcing as-built drafting
Hand your as-built 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.