A search for a steel construction drafting firm in the Netherlands almost always starts with volume. In steel projects, a large share of the drafting repeats itself: the same connection type in dozens of positions, a section that comes back in three lengths, a set of elevations that shifts slightly for each building section.
That part takes little brainpower and a lot of hours, and that is exactly where a drawing office gets stuck. We take over that detailing, so your own drafters can keep working on the connections and the coordination.
We draft and model; we do not do engineering, so calculations, structural advice and permits stay with you or your structural engineer. We cover the whole of the Netherlands and work entirely remotely from our own office, with our own licences and the latest versions of Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino. You are welcome to visit us and we also come to you. Everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years of CAD experience. We respond within 1 to 2 working days of receiving an enquiry.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What we deliver as a steel construction drafting firm
Our work in steel construction lies in detailing and volume, not in design. We draw floor plans with the steel grid, elevations and sections, part drawings and the detail drawings of connections as you have specified them. That includes general arrangements and material schedules, plus opening and interface drawings for other disciplines. Where it helps, we model the steelwork in 3D, so clashes and dimensional deviations become visible before anything is ordered. As-built drawings and revision rounds on existing DWG files are a regular part of our assignments. The substantive decisions do not come from us.
We do not carry out structural calculations or decide on connections, because that is the job of your structural engineer. What we do is convert those decisions into drawings consistently and completely, in the number and at the pace the project requires. For recurring components we build parametric components in Revit, in other words smart components that adapt to a different size. We make such a component once and then place it everywhere, with the material schedule updating automatically.
If the component changes, the schedule changes with it, and in repetitive work that saves at least seventy percent of the time. Our clients are engineering consultancies, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers throughout the Netherlands. The people at the table are usually managers, team leaders and owners who can see the schedule getting tight. The reason is almost always capacity and rarely a lack of knowledge, because that knowledge is simply in-house. We fill that gap with drafting capacity that moves with demand on each project.
Software and formats for steel construction drafting
Our main software is Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino. Inventor and Grasshopper also feature in our work, and to a limited extent Dynamo and Vault. We always work with the latest versions, in our own environment and with our own licences. So you do not have to free up a seat, workstation or server access, which saves a lot of admin during a short peak. We deliver in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP, and in practice in any common CAD format circulating in the supply chain.
In steelwork, STEP files often come in handy for a machine park or a supplier, while DWG remains the language of most drawing offices. More important than the software is how well we fit in with the set that already exists. If a manufacturer works entirely in AutoCAD, we adapt to that and do not push for a switch. If there is a Revit model with its own library, we continue building in it rather than setting up something alongside it. Before the volume gets going, we test the exchange with a single file, so blocks, references, scale and settings are right on both sides.
If you are still running an older version, we agree which version we save to. We prefer to sort out that coordination at the start rather than on delivery, because a set that will not open costs both sides a day. If there is a clear gain in a parametric approach, we demonstrate it on a component from the project itself.
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.
Working to the client's steel construction standard
We draft to the standard and drawing conventions we receive from you. At the start we ask for your CAD manual, and if there is none we take the conventions from a recent set that is representative of your way of working. From it we adopt the layer structure, the naming of layers and files, the drawing numbering, the title block layout, the line types and the way dimensions, references and piece marks appear on the drawing. In steel construction, the consistency of piece marks and material schedules matters most, because the ordering process depends on them. With the first partial delivery we check together whether our detailing matches what you intended. If something deviates, we correct it at the pattern level, not drawing by drawing.
If a convention is missing, we choose a line ourselves, document it and stick to it consistently rather than doing something different on each drawing. That documentation is also the reason we can scale up quickly. A drafter who joins in week three works from the same document and does not need to ask anything again. That way, a set worked on by many people from our large team still reads as the work of one hand. We also agree in advance how revisions are handled: how a change is shown, which index is used and what goes into the revision schedule. We work in our own environment, so nobody needs to arrange access to your network for us.
Delivered sets for clients in the Netherlands
For us, a set is only finished when someone can carry on with it without calling us. In practice, that means complete dimensioning, unambiguous piece marks, a correct material schedule and numbering that matches the rest of the project. We supply the source files, not just a PDF, because you own the intellectual property of everything we make. Your own drafter can therefore continue working in them straight away and does not remain dependent on us.
Which output makes sense depends on the next step in the process. If the set goes to cost estimating, what matters most is that the items can be taken from the schedule. If it goes to the workshop or a supplier, the detailing and the exchange format are what count.
We ask about this at the start, because a set that has to be reworked afterwards immediately wipes out the benefit of outsourcing. Before anything leaves our office, it goes through at least three review layers. A drafter draws, a second team member checks that work, Sam, our team leader, then reviews it and Barry, our project manager, goes over it last. As a result, errors are kept to a minimum in practice.
We deliver in stages and process the feedback before the next stage begins. Because we work nationwide and carry out the work remotely, contact runs by email, phone and regular meetings, weekly or every two days. On larger projects we use software that you can log in to and follow the progress. For standalone drafting we stick to email, because an extra system adds nothing there.
Frequently asked questions about a steel construction drafting firm in the Netherlands
Hand your steel construction 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.