When clients come to us needing a structural drafter for a project, it is rarely part of a long-term plan. There is a peak, a deadline that is getting closer, or a vacancy that has stayed unfilled for months. We then provide someone who joins the project, or several drafters if the work calls for it.
We draft and model; we do not calculate or check structures. Your structural engineer keeps that responsibility, and we turn their decisions into sheets and models. Our work usually starts from existing documents: a set that is lagging behind, a revision that still needs to go in or an as-built file that does not add up.
Everyone on our team has more than ten years of CAD experience and all work passes through at least three review layers. Our large, variable team scales with each project, and if someone is off sick or on holiday, we replace them. The work is done remotely from our own office, in our own environment. We answer every enquiry within 1 to 2 working days.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
An as-built file a structural drafter had to untangle
At Firefly we received an as-built file that looked complete on paper. In reality the sheets had been printed incorrectly and part of it had been updated by hand. It was hard to read and messy, and in places the dimensions contradicted each other. We could have called the project leader every day. We did not. We sorted it out ourselves and still delivered a clean set. That choice says something about how we work. A drafter who stops at every uncertainty shifts the work back onto the client. We prefer to present open points in one batch, at a moment that suits you.
We mark assumptions visibly in the drawing, so nobody misses them later. What we learned from that project is now standard practice for us. We read through a file in full before changing a single line. We set contradictions side by side and work out where they come from. Only then do we start drawing. So far we have completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings for Firefly. That volume makes the pattern visible, because the same errors keep turning up in files like these.
A sheet with a missing section, a title block that has not been updated, a revision letter that does not match anything. We recognise that faster than someone opening a file like this for the first time. Our work on a deadline that could not move is part of that picture too. Our team worked through evenings and weekends, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours. We do not call that standard, but it shows what is possible when a date is fixed.
What a structural drafter for a project produces with us
We produce 2D drawings and model in 3D where the project calls for it. In practice that means floor plans, sections, details and elevations, plus revisions to an existing set. As-built drawings are a regular part of what we do. Where components repeat, we build parametric Revit families. A smart component like that adapts to a different size or situation without anyone having to redraw it. The material schedule follows the component. If the dimension changes, the schedule changes automatically.
On a project with many variants, that saves a large share of the drafting time. What we do not do is just as important. We do not carry out calculations, give structural advice or handle permits. Our trade is drafting and modelling, in high volume and with a lot of repetition. The software we use depends on the project. Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino form the basis, with Inventor and Grasshopper alongside, and Dynamo and Vault to a limited extent. We always work with the latest versions.
We deliver the output as DWG, DXF, a Revit format or a STEP file. We can handle any common CAD format. One of our drafters is up to speed with the ongoing series of drawings within a day. For that we ask for the existing files and the conventions your team already uses. If anything is missing, we fill it in based on what the set itself contains. At the start we go through with you which drawing types the project needs. That way we do not draw anything that ends up in a drawer.
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 delivered set and the next stage of the project
The set we deliver has to fit into the process that follows. That is why we ask in advance where the drawings are going. A set for work preparation needs different details from a file for facility management and maintenance. We deliver the updated sheets including the revision marking, in the layout you use. The source files are always included, not just a PDF or a printout. That means your own team can carry on with them straight away, even after we step off. Everything we produce is your intellectual property. That also applies to families and templates we build during the project. We briefly document the parameters, so an in-house drafter can adjust them. Delivery is in stages. After each batch we gather feedback and incorporate it before the next batch begins.
That way you spot a deviation at ten sheets rather than a hundred. On larger projects you can log into the software in which the project runs. For standalone AutoCAD work, files go by email. Before any part leaves the office, at least three people look at it. A drafter draws, a colleague checks, Sam, our team leader, then goes through it and Barry, our project manager, signs it off. At the end we go through the complete set once more to check consistency between the sheets. A drawing that does not fit your own structure costs hours again on your side. We want to avoid that, because it would wipe out the benefit of outsourcing. What comes out fits in with the rest of your file.
Working to the project's CAD standards and layer structure
We work to your standards and drawing conventions. We receive them from you, and we do not deviate from them lightly. We adopt the layer structure, lineweights, colours, text heights and title blocks as they appear in the existing set. We also follow your file naming and folder structure. For a project leader, that is the difference between a set that is usable straight away and one that someone first has to rework.
Not every client has documented their standard. In that case we derive it from what exists and briefly record what we are following. We send that note along, so there is no discussion about choices later.
If we come across an inconsistency in the existing set, we report it. Two sheets with the same layer name but a different meaning, for example. We do not choose ourselves, but put the question back to your project leader. Whatever we agree applies to everyone on our side who works on the project. Sam safeguards that as team leader, even when someone joins halfway through. If we scale up midway with extra drafters from our large team, the set still looks the same.
That is exactly why we record those agreements at the start. We do the work in our own environment, with our own licences. So you do not need to arrange a workstation or access, yet you get work that fits your structure. If you want to know whether it fits, give us a few sheets and judge the result. A small first assignment is enough for that, and a short assignment is always fine with us.
Frequently asked questions about hiring a structural drafter for a project
Let us provide your structural drafter
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.