Outsource CAD Drafting

Companies that outsource CAD drafting and what they are dealing with

Enquiries come from engineering firms, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers, and also from companies where technical drafting is simply part of production. Around the table are managers, team leaders and owners. They are the people who guard the schedule and know exactly which week is going to be tight. In almost every case, capacity is the trigger. There is too little time, there are too few drafters, or there is a peak your own team cannot absorb without other work slipping. Recruiting is rarely the answer, because a new employee only becomes productive after months and then keeps costing money, even when the peak has passed.

Companies that outsource CAD drafting are therefore looking for capacity that can be switched on and off. With us that is possible because the team is already in place and we decide per project who works on it. If someone on our side is off sick or on holiday, we replace that person and the work carries on, which is not a given with a single external contractor.

We do not work with a prepaid hours card or a monthly hours subscription, so there is no credit balance to use up. We focus on the Netherlands, because that is where our clients are. The work is carried out entirely remotely, although you are welcome to visit us when a meeting in person works faster than a string of messages back and forth. What ultimately wins clients over is rarely the price, but the certainty that the work keeps moving in the weeks when it really matters.

What we take on when you outsource CAD drafting

Most of our work is 2D drafting: floor plans, elevations, sections and detail drawings, worked up to the level at which the next party in the chain can move forward with them. If a project calls for a model, we model in 3D, so variants come out of that model instead of being redrawn sheet by sheet. As-built drawings and revisions are a regular part of our output. Building parametric Revit families is also part of it, where a component adapts to a different size and the material schedule automatically follows whatever changes.

Everything is done to your drawing conventions and CAD standards, including layer structure, title blocks, naming and sheet numbering. You supply them and we stick to them, even when we are used to something different internally. Our core software is Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, supplemented by Inventor and Grasshopper and to a limited extent Dynamo and Vault, always in the latest versions. We deliver in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format.

We work in our own environment on our own licences, so nothing needs to be set up on your side. What we do not do is engineering, and we hold that line strictly, even when a project changes direction halfway through. The intellectual property of drawings, models and components belongs to you, and we do not use that work anywhere else. We deliver editable files, so your own team can carry on working with them without an extra step.

The cost side of outsourcing CAD drafting

Billing can be by the hour or at a fixed price per project, and we make that choice together with you. It depends mainly on how sharply the scope is defined. If there is a defined batch of sheets to be detailed in the same way, a fixed project price is logical and everyone knows where they stand in advance. If it is a revision project whose size only becomes clear once the existing files are opened, an hourly rate is fairer, because nobody then has to build in a risk premium. We bill exclusively genuine working hours. If someone goes to get a coffee for five minutes, the meter does not run during those minutes. Internal discussion that brings you nothing does not appear on the timesheet. That is deliberate, because a timesheet should be verifiable without any argument afterwards. What further reduces the cost of outsourcing CAD drafting lies at the front end.

Complete drawing conventions save investigation, clear priorities prevent work on the wrong part, and bundled feedback per partial delivery saves correction rounds. Building repetitive work parametrically saves time again later on, because a component is only made once. On top of that, you pay no ongoing payroll costs, no workstation and no licences, and the engagement stops as soon as the package is finished. We only give an estimate after we have looked at the documents, because an estimate based on a description alone says little about the real scope. A small first assignment also provides a concrete benchmark for the hours a following package will take.

Your fixed points of contact

Project manager Barry leads the first conversation, team leader Sam keeps a firm grip on the technical side

You never have to explain the situation all over again. Getting acquainted takes a short fifteen-minute call.

Get acquainted Send your documents

Getting started with a first work package

Everything starts with a conversation in which we run through the assignment and the schedule. For that we need the details and usually the existing drawings that require revision, together with the drawing conventions that apply within your firm. We can also handle incomplete material. We sort out sheets that were printed incorrectly or partly drawn by hand ourselves, instead of calling your project lead about them every day.

Above all, we want to know up front which version of a set is current, because that is where most confusion arises. As soon as the information is complete enough, we start.

A short first assignment is a good way to start, because it shows how quickly and accurately we work without a complete package leaving the building straight away. If you are considering outsourcing CAD drafting, you can call us or use the contact form. That is followed by a conversation in which we go through the project and tell you what we expect from the package.

Frequently asked questions about outsourcing CAD drafting