When a technical drafter is wanted, there is almost always a concrete piece of work behind it. A stack of existing DWGs that needs a revision round, an as-built file that has to be processed, a series of detail sheets that must come out of a model, or a range of variants that keep being drawn from scratch.
That work does not wait for a recruitment process. OutsourceCAD provides outsourced CAD drafting to companies that lack drafting capacity of their own, with a permanent team working entirely remotely from our own office.
We draft and model, and we do not do engineering. Our main software is Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, and we always work with the latest versions. Everyone who works for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, and the core of the team has roughly twenty-five years of experience combined. We respond to a request within 1 to 2 working days, after which we go through exactly what work is waiting in a conversation.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Technical drafter wanted? This is the drafting work we take over
The question is rarely asked as a standalone job opening, but as a concrete backlog that needs clearing. We deliver 2D drafting, 3D modelling where needed, and also as-built drawings and revisions. In practice that means floor plans, sections, elevations, detail sheets and schematic drawings, built within the existing set and according to your drawing conventions. Revision work makes up a large share of it, because almost every project has a set that has fallen behind reality. In Revit we build parametric families, smart components that adapt to a different size or situation.
A component like that is built once and can then be placed in a single action, with the material schedule updating automatically as soon as the component changes. That makes the difference with high volumes and lots of repetition, and it is precisely that type of work that makes companies look for someone. Besides Revit, AutoCAD and Rhino, we use Inventor and Grasshopper, and to a limited extent Dynamo and Vault. We deliver in DXF, DWG, Revit formats and STEP files, and in practice in any common CAD format circulating in the project.
The source files are included, because the intellectual property of everything we create belongs to you. Calculations, structural advice and permits fall outside our scope. We turn what has been designed into drawings and models that are correct, and that is exactly the part that gets left in the drawing office. We can also clean up or rebuild existing families and templates, depending on the state of the set. If it has become very messy, rebuilding is sometimes faster than repairing, but we only give that judgement after reviewing the files.
Companies where a technical drafter is wanted
Our clients include engineering consultancies, architectural practices, contractors and manufacturers, as well as companies with technical drafting work in a broader sense. The people at the table are managers, team leaders and owners. The reason is almost always capacity: too little time, too few drafters or a peak the in-house team cannot handle. The difference from a vacancy lies in the lead time. Recruiting, selecting and onboarding takes months, while the peak for which someone is needed often plays out within weeks and then subsides.
If nothing happens in that period, the schedule of the entire project slips. At an engineering consultancy we see the detailing work being left first, because the experienced people are needed at the front end and the detailing piles up in the meantime. At manufacturers, the volume grows because of variants that have to be redrawn over and over again. Contractors come to us with files that still need to be properly recorded after construction. We work for companies in the Netherlands and focus on the Dutch market.
For Firefly, the client we have worked with so far, we have completed more than twenty projects and hundreds of drawings. We launched this service last year because a client asked for it and then started offering it as a permanent service. What these companies have in common is that their need is temporary or fluctuating, while a permanent employee creates a structural obligation that does not move with the amount of work. With us, you pay no ongoing salary costs and we arrange our own cover for illness or holidays. That changes the calculation, because the question is no longer whether there is enough work for a permanent drafter, but what needs to be finished in the coming months.
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.
From request to delivery when a technical drafter is wanted
After your first request, we respond within 1 to 2 working days. Barry, our project manager, is usually the first point of contact and goes through what is happening, after which Sam, our team leader, takes over the technical side. That keeps one fixed line of contact, so you do not have to keep explaining what the intention is. In that conversation we establish what work is waiting, which drawing conventions apply and in what order it needs to be delivered. You then supply the details and the existing files. We start as soon as we have enough information. We then deliver in stages. That first partial delivery is a benchmark, because it shows in concrete terms whether the structure, layer setup and detailing match your in-house standard. Based on the feedback we make adjustments and move on to the next part, so corrections do not pile up until the end of the project.
We set the meeting rhythm together and it varies per client, from every two days for urgent work to weekly for a longer-running project. Files go back and forth by email. On larger projects, such as in greenhouse construction, we work with software you can log in to and follow progress. We deliver standalone AutoCAD drafting by email, because a separate environment adds nothing there. If it turns out along the way that there is more work than expected, we scale up rather than let the schedule slip. We work in our own environment with our own licences, so nothing needs to be set up on your side. At the end of the project the source files come back to you, because ownership of everything we create lies with you.
Three review layers before a set leaves our office
Extra capacity is of little value if the work then has to be checked as if it were being done again. That is why everything we do passes through at least three review layers. A drafter draws, a second team member checks that work, Sam then reviews it and Barry gives it a final look. As a result, errors are kept to a minimum in practice. Sam spent more than fifteen years in architecture, worked in Iran for seven years, ran his own design practice in the Netherlands and is still an engineer as well.
He leads the CAD team and is responsible for the technical side and project supervision. What those layers prevent in practice is above all rework in your own drawing office.
Think of a sheet layout that departs from the standard, a detail updated on one drawing but not on another, or a revision in which it is not clear what has changed compared with the previous version. Those are exactly the points that would otherwise end up with your internal checker, and then the benefit of outsourcing is gone. We work out ambiguities ourselves before we call, as with the as-built material that had been printed incorrectly and partly drawn by hand.
When a deadline could not move, the team worked through evenings and weekends, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours, without skipping those review steps. Because we deliver in stages, the reviews are also broken down into manageable steps rather than one big final round. If you want to know how the review would be set up on a specific project, you can go through it with us beforehand.
Frequently asked questions about finding a technical drafter
Hand your drafting backlog 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.