For many drawing offices, outsourcing modelling work is the way to absorb a peak without expanding the permanent team. We take on 3D modelling work in Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, from a single component to a complete model that has to tie in with existing drawings. Some requests come to us as a revision to an existing model, others as an entirely new component with no existing basis.
We work fully remotely, with a large, variable team that scales up or down per project.
Everyone who works on a model with us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and the core of our team brings around twenty-five years of combined experience. Barry, our project manager, is the first point of contact for a new request, after which Sam, our team leader, takes over the technical side. That way you do not have to switch between several contacts yourself. We deliver a model that we have checked before it goes back to you, built according to the conventions you supply.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What outsourcing modelling work involves in practice
In practice, outsourcing modelling work covers a broad package, from a single 3D component to a complete parametric model that recurs throughout a larger project. Our drafting team works in Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino as its main software, and in Inventor or Grasshopper where a project calls for it, with Dynamo and Vault to a limited extent. We receive and return files in DXF, DWG, Revit formats or STEP, and in practice in almost any common CAD format you supply. A recurring example comes from greenhouse construction, where companies usually work in AutoCAD and build a piping system with valves they redraw by hand every time, for example a valve in ninety and in one hundred and ten.
A parametric Revit family, by contrast, is a smart component that adapts to the size, which we build once, after which it is in the right place in a single action. The material schedule updates automatically, so if the component changes, the schedule changes with it without any extra manual work. In that kind of work, it saves at least seventy per cent of the time compared with redrawing every time.
We clean up an existing family set when it is still usable, or build a new set when the old one has become too messy to repair. We also deliver as-built models based on existing documents that are sometimes messy or partly drawn by hand, as well as revisions to a model started elsewhere. Our starting point always remains the same: we draft and model, we do not engineer, and you remain responsible for the technical justification and the calculations behind the design.
The process when you outsource modelling work
When you outsource modelling work to us, the process always starts with a conversation in which you explain the situation and tell us exactly what modelling work is on the table. Usually you supply existing drawings or a model that needs a revision, and sometimes it concerns an entirely new component with no previous basis. Barry usually handles that first intake, after which Sam takes over the technical side of the project and decides which drafters we deploy.
Once the assignment is clear and we know your drawing conventions, we get to work and deliver in parts rather than all at once at the end. After each partial delivery we gather feedback and process it straight away before picking up the next part, so that small deviations do not carry through to the end of the project. Our meeting rhythm varies per client: on one project we speak every two days, on another weekly, depending on how fast the project needs to move.
We usually exchange files by email, and on larger projects, such as in greenhouse construction, we work with software you can log into to follow the project. Before we start, we need enough information to get going, and we respond to a new request within 1 to 2 working days. Day-to-day contact runs by email, phone or meetings, and we come to you or you come to us, even though we carry out the modelling work itself remotely.
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.
When outsourcing makes sense
Outsourcing modelling work makes most sense when the demand for drafting structurally exceeds your permanent team, for example when a peak period coincides with a deadline that cannot move. A set of Revit families that has become clogged over time with duplicate and outdated components is another such moment, because cleaning it up takes time your own drafters often do not have alongside ongoing projects. For a short, well-defined model, you can often arrange outsourcing faster than recruiting and onboarding someone new. Your own team is better off keeping the work in-house when it involves knowledge closely tied to a specific, unique design that requires consultation with other disciplines all day long. For the repetitive part of modelling work, where the same components keep recurring in slightly different sizes, outsourcing almost always works out better than continuing to do it yourself with a team that is not set up for it.
We work to the CAD standards and conventions you supply, so our result fits into the existing set and does not come back as a foreign element. A short, clearly defined first assignment is a way to judge how we work, without immediately committing to a large project. If there is little repetition in the work and intensive daily consultation is needed with several internal departments at once, your own team often remains the more practical choice.
Freelancer, permanent employee or outsourcing
If you outsource modelling work to us, you do not get a lone freelancer working only on their own piece, but a team that already exists and moves with the size of the project. A freelancer usually works alone and often simply comes to a standstill in case of illness or a full diary, whereas we deploy someone else in case of absence or holidays so the work continues.
The work of a single freelancer also rarely gets a second pair of eyes, whereas with us every piece passes through at least three review layers before it goes back to you. A new permanent employee, in turn, brings ongoing salary costs, even in periods when there is temporarily no drafting work, and first needs time to get up to speed.
With us, you only pay for the pure working hours we actually spend on the project, with no monthly hours subscription or prepaid hour bundle behind it. Where a single freelancer quickly hits the ceiling of their own diary, we scale up quickly with our large, variable team when a peak arrives.
Management also stays straightforward, because Barry is the first point of contact and Sam then takes care of the technical side, instead of you having to manage several individuals yourself. The intellectual property of the model we deliver belongs to you, just as it would with your own employee, and we are open to a non-disclosure agreement if you ask for one.
Frequently asked questions about outsourcing modelling work
Hand your modelling work 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.