With us, a Revit modeller for a project usually takes over a clearly defined work package, for example producing all the detail sheets within one section of the building or rebuilding a cluttered family set. That is more concrete than buying loose hours, because you hand over a piece of work and get it back complete.
We provide outsourced CAD drafting to companies that lack sufficient drafting capacity of their own, with Revit as one of our main packages alongside AutoCAD and Rhino.
We model, detail and process revisions, and we leave engineering to you. The work is done in our own environment with our own licences, always on the latest versions. Everyone who models for us has more than ten years of CAD experience. Every sheet passes at least three review layers before it comes back. We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days, after which we go through the work package in a conversation. A short job is fine, so you can first see how we model.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What a Revit modeller for a project delivers with us
The work package varies, but the output is always tangible. We model building components and MEP components, develop them into sheets and set up the associated elevations, sections, floor plans and details in the model. That produces general arrangement drawings and material schedules, and those schedules update with the model instead of someone maintaining them separately. Where you come to us with existing drawings, we carry out the revision round. We incorporate changes that arose during construction, and the set comes back consistent. As-built work is part of that too. For Firefly we received as-built material in which someone had printed the existing drawings incorrectly and drawn parts in by hand, making it hard to read and messily structured.
We worked it out ourselves instead of calling the project lead every day, and still delivered a clean set. Besides sheets, we also deliver components. We build parametric Revit families from scratch or clean them up, depending on the state of the existing set. A smart component like that adapts to a different size, so the drafting happens once and each placement afterwards takes a single action.
In greenhouse construction, that saves at least seventy per cent of the time on components such as valves in piping systems. What a Revit modeller for a project does not deliver with us is engineering. Calculations, structural advice and permits remain outside our scope, and we would rather say so up front than halfway through. The size of a package ranges from a handful of sheets to an ongoing programme with hundreds of drawings. For Firefly we have now completed more than twenty projects, almost all of them in that kind of volume work.
Working with a remote Revit modeller
The work is done remotely from our own office, and that only works if communication is tight. That is why you have a fixed point of contact with us. Barry, our project manager, picks up the new enquiry and goes through the work package in broad terms. Sam, our team leader, then takes over the technical side, and he remains available for as long as the project runs. Sam built up well over fifteen years of background in architecture, worked in Iran for seven years, ran his own design firm in the Netherlands and is still an engineer. A question about a detail therefore ends up with someone who assesses the model himself.
We agree the meeting rhythm with each client. One client wants contact every two days, another is happy with a weekly check-in, and that mainly depends on how fast the project needs to move. In between, day-to-day contact runs via email and phone. You can also follow along. On larger projects, such as greenhouse construction projects, we use software that you log into to follow the project's progress. For standalone drafting, the files simply go back and forth by email, which works fine for manageable packages.
Visits in both directions are possible, as we are happy to come to you or have you come to us. Our working area is the Netherlands and our clients are based here, so scheduling a meeting is rarely a problem. The work itself stays remote in the meantime, because that is where our speed comes from. What we do ask is that someone on your side makes the decisions, otherwise feedback stalls and the schedule slips anyway.
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.
File ownership and confidentiality
The intellectual property of all our work lies with you. That applies to the model, to the sheets and also to the families we build specifically for the project. We deliver the source files and not just an export, because a set that can only be opened at our end is worthless to you. We therefore keep the naming of families, parameters and sheets logical, so your in-house team can still work with it a year from now. We build in no dependencies and tie nothing to our own licences. We arrange confidentiality in consultation with you. So far we have not signed a non-disclosure agreement, simply because clients have not asked for one. If there is an NDA on the table, we are open to it and will sign it before the first documents come in.
Material we receive stays within our own office. We do not work in your environment, so no access to internal systems is needed either, which limits the number of open doors. We set out agreements on ownership, use and return of files in the first conversation, together with the scope and the schedule. That prevents discussion when the project ends and the model goes back to you. If the collaboration ends, you keep a complete set. We do not hold back components as leverage for follow-up work, because that does not fit the way we work. We treat draft material that may not yet be made public in the same way.
The process with a Revit modeller for a project
The process starts with a conversation. In it we go through what needs finishing, which documents already exist, which drawing standard applies and which deadline is fixed. You then supply the details, usually together with existing drawings that need a revision. We first read through that set in full and look at how the model is put together before anyone starts producing.
We work to your standard and drawing conventions, which you provide to us. If there is an internal manual, we follow it. If there is none, we derive the conventions from a representative drawing and put our assumptions to you. We can start as soon as we have enough information.
Delivery happens in stages. We send a first package, collect feedback, incorporate it and move on to the next part. That rhythm brings deviations to light early, which is exactly the point, because a correction on ten sheets is manageable and on two hundred sheets it is not. Internally, our own review runs on top of that. A drafter delivers, a second team member checks, Sam then reviews it as team leader and Barry closes the line as project manager.
As a result, errors hardly ever occur in practice. A short job is fine, and we can also start with a small first package so you can assess our speed and accuracy before handing over more. If you are happy with that, we scale up with as many modellers as needed from our large, flexible team. If the project then continues, the same people stay on it, so the knowledge built up about the set is not lost.
Frequently asked questions about a Revit modeller for a project
Hand your Revit modelling 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.