Behind the search for a structural drafter wanted, there is almost always a calculation. There is more drafting than there are hours, and the question is what the cheapest route to a complete set is. A vacancy costs recruitment, onboarding time and then a fixed payroll item, even in the months when volume drops.
We offer the other side of that calculation: capacity that moves with the project. We charge by the hour or per project at a fixed price, agreed in consultation. We only bill pure working hours.
If someone steps away for a five-minute coffee, the clock stops, and that makes our timesheets an account of the work rather than an estimate. There are no ongoing payroll costs, and no prepaid hours card or monthly subscription either. We draft and model, we do not do engineering, and within that scope we take over the volume that is squeezing your own drawing office. Our large, variable team works remotely from our own office and scales with whatever the work requires on each project.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What we deliver when a structural drafter is wanted
The work that comes to us is almost always drafting in volume with a lot of repetition. In concrete terms, we deliver 2D drafting and, where needed, 3D modelling, as-built drawings and revisions. In 2D that means floor plans, sections, elevations, detail sheets and standard details that recur in variants, plus updating existing sheets after a change. Revision work makes up a large part of our practice: a set that already exists but no longer matches because of changes on site or in the design. We straighten it out, keep the revision marking the way you are used to and return the sheets in the existing structure.
In 3D we model parts and assemblies, and we build parametric Revit families that let a component adapt to a different size without anyone redrawing it. The material schedule is linked to it, so if the component changes, the schedule changes automatically. For a series of valves in a piping diagram in greenhouse construction, that saves at least seventy per cent of the time. We also take on as-built work when the source is messy and partly hand-drawn.
We are just as clear about what we do not do: no engineering, no calculations, no structural advice and no permit procedures. That boundary keeps our role sharp and prevents you from expecting something you need to get from an engineering consultancy. Our added value lies in speed and accuracy on the repetitive part, exactly the part that holds up your own drawing office the longest. We have completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings for Firefly in this way.
Software, versions and formats our drafters work in
Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino are our main software. We also use Inventor and Grasshopper, and to a limited extent Dynamo and Vault. In effect, you decide which package we use, because we fit in with the set that already exists. A firm that has its entire history in AutoCAD will not be pushed into an unrequested switch to Revit by us. We always work with the latest versions and deliver backwards-compatible files where needed, so a file opens on the other side without an error message.
The file formats that go back and forth are DXF, DWG, the Revit formats and STEP, and in practice we handle any common CAD format. For work that moves on to fabrication, STEP is often the format the chain is waiting for. If a file comes in from a package we do not use every day, we first test one sheet back and forth. An important detail: we work in our own environment with our own licences, not logged into your systems. That saves you accounts, access rights and discussions with your own IT department, and it means we can start as soon as the files arrive.
For standalone AutoCAD drafting, exchange simply runs by email. For larger projects, such as greenhouse construction projects, we use software you can log into to follow progress. We agree on the most practical route at the start, because a project lead who can check for themselves needs to call less. We prefer not to switch halfway through, as a second route makes the version history needlessly complicated.
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 structural drafter follows your layer structure and drawing conventions
A drawing that is correct in content but does not follow your house conventions is only half a win. That is why we start with your conventions, not our own preferences. We ask for the layer structure, the templates, the block and file naming, the plot styles, the scale conventions and the way the revision box should be filled in. If there is a CAD manual, we read it before the first line is drawn. If there is none, we reconstruct the conventions from a representative sheet and briefly present our assumptions. That step takes half an hour and prevents a correction round across the entire set. At the first partial delivery we explicitly check whether the structure matches: are the objects in the right layer, are the line weights correct, does the title block match, and does the numbering run as is customary internally?
Only once that is settled do we put the volume on it. That sequence keeps rework small, because a deviation then sits in one sheet rather than the whole series. That way our set is not recognisable as external work, which is exactly the point. For the drawing office, it means an incoming file can go into your own folder structure without a clean-up round. Whoever opens the set a year later recognises the structure and does not have to work out who drew what. If a convention changes halfway through the project, for example because you switch to a new title block, we work it into the ongoing set and keep the older sheets consistent. We adapt to your standard, not the other way round.
What the delivered set contains
On delivery you receive the source drawings in the agreed format, not just an output file. That means editable DWG, DXF or Revit files, supplemented by the export format the next process requires, such as STEP for fabrication or a PDF set for work preparation. The sheets are numbered according to your internal system, the revision box is updated and the families or blocks used are embedded in the file rather than in a separate folder.
Where we have built parametric families, we include them, along with the parameters a colleague can use to adjust them later. The material schedule is linked to them. The intellectual property of everything we make belongs to you, so no part is left behind that you cannot freely use later.
Because we deliver in parts, the set does not arrive all at once but in blocks your project lead can already use while the next part is in progress. Every partial set has gone through at least three review layers before it is sent. The drafter produces the sheet, a second team member checks it, Sam, our team leader, assesses the consistency and Barry, our project manager, signs it off.
We also provide a brief explanation of choices we made ourselves where source material was unclear, so nobody has to guess why a detail was resolved the way it was. If a change comes in after delivery, we pick the set up again in the same structure. A drawing that fits the next process ultimately saves more time than a drawing that merely looks good.
Frequently asked questions about a structural drafter wanted
Hand your structural 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.