A shortage of drafting capacity rarely lies in the difficult work, but almost always in the volume. The pile consists of variants of the same detail, revisions to a set that has already been updated three times, and production drawings that come back with every order. That work does not require design decisions; it requires hours and accuracy.
That is exactly where we deploy our team. We draft and model, in high volume and with a lot of repetition, and we leave engineering with you. We deliver 2D drafting, 3D modelling, as-built drawings and revisions, following the drawing conventions and standard you give us.
Everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and the core of the team has around twenty-five years of combined experience. Our large, flexible team scales with each project, and when it is urgent we add people immediately. The work is done remotely from our own office, with our own licences and in our own environment. We respond within 1 to 2 working days of an enquiry.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Firms facing a shortage of drafting capacity
Firms facing a shortage of drafting capacity come to us mainly from engineering, architecture, contracting and manufacturing. The people at the table are managers, team leaders and owners, and their problem can be summed up in one sentence: there is more drafting work than there are drafters. Sometimes that is due to a job that turns out bigger than expected, sometimes to two projects entering the construction phase at the same time. The result is almost always the same. The experienced drafters get used up on revision work, the project lead keeps pushing internal deadlines back and the firm turns down work it actually wants to take on.
Hiring staff does not solve that in the short term, because recruitment takes weeks and onboarding takes a few more. On top of that, a peak is by definition temporary, while a permanent contract is not. That is why firms end up with us. We take over the volume that is squeezing your own drawing office and leave the design work where it belongs. For Firefly we have completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings in this way, largely consisting of repetitive work.
Our clients are based in the Netherlands and our focus is on the Netherlands. The work runs remotely from our own office, and we visit you or you come to us when a project calls for it. Whatever is on the table, we start by asking which part of the pile suits us and which part your own team is better off keeping. We would rather make that split up front than halfway through the project.
Scaling up as the shortage of drafting capacity grows
Our team is ready and waiting, so scaling up takes no recruitment time. For each project we deploy from our large, flexible team whatever the job requires, and we scale up or down whenever needed. When it is urgent, we add people immediately. That is not a promise on paper: for a deadline that could not move, our team worked evenings and weekends, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours, even during a planned holiday of Sam, our team leader. When the crew grows, the checks stay in place.
Every piece of work passes through at least three review layers: a drafter draws it, a second team member checks that work, Sam then reviews it as team leader and Barry, our project manager, gives it a final check. As a result the number of errors stays minimal in practice, even with a large crew on a short turnaround. If someone on our side is off sick or on holiday, we replace that person and the work carries on. You will not notice anything in your schedule. If volume drops, we scale back down and the hours stop, without any notice period.
There is no idle capacity left over and no payroll costs keep running. We do not work with prepaid hour bundles or a monthly hours subscription, because a shortage in the drawing office is rarely the same size in two consecutive months. That means a short job is just as possible as a project running for months. Sam directs the CAD team as team leader and remains responsible for the technical side and project supervision, regardless of how many drafters are involved at that moment.
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.
The cost of hiring drafting capacity
A fixed project price or hourly billing are both possible, and we make that choice together. For a defined set with known drawing types, a fixed price is the obvious choice, because we can then estimate well how much work is involved. For a revision round whose scope only becomes clear once someone opens the files, an hourly rate is fairer to both sides. We only bill productive working hours. If someone steps away for five minutes for a coffee, the clock stops, and the same applies to waiting for an answer from you. What keeps costs down most is the quality of the input. A complete set with a clear standard, a working template and clear details translates directly into drafting output. If those documents are missing, we work it out ourselves, and that costs hours that would otherwise have gone into drawings.
The way the work is built up also matters: in piping work, smart Revit families that adapt to a different size save at least seventy per cent of the time compared with redrawing every component by hand. In addition, you pay no ongoing payroll costs, no recruitment costs and nothing for idle time. We only give an estimate once we have seen the documents, because an estimate without drawings is guesswork and nobody benefits from that. If you want to try us out first, give us a small first job and then judge for yourself the balance between the hours billed and the result delivered. That step costs little and says more than a quotation on paper.
A fixed point of contact and a fixed meeting rhythm
Barry is usually the first point of contact for a new enquiry. As soon as the technical side comes up, Sam takes over and remains your regular contact until delivery. So you deal with one person, not five separate drafters. That saves time above all when many drafters are working on a project at the same time. The project starts with a conversation in which we go through the job.
You supply the details and usually existing drawings that need revising, and as soon as we have enough information we start. We deliver in stages, gather feedback, make adjustments and move on to the next block. That way your project lead sees early on whether the structure is right, rather than only at final delivery.
The rhythm varies per client, from meetings every two days on a tight schedule to weekly on a calmer project. Day-to-day contact runs via email, phone and meetings, and we come to you or you come to us. Files go back and forth by email. On larger projects, such as greenhouse construction projects, we work with software you can log into to follow the progress of the project.
For standalone AutoCAD drafting we keep it simple and deliver by email. If we see that a part is taking longer than estimated, we tell you at that moment and not only when the invoice arrives. A shortage in the drawing office does not go away with surprises afterwards, so we keep the lines short, the meetings concrete and the status of every block visible to you.
Frequently asked questions about a shortage of drafting capacity
Let us close your drafting capacity gap
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.