If you have a technical drafting office carry out your drafting work, you first want to know where the assignment starts and where it ends. We are clear about that. We draft and model, and that describes the assignment. What comes out is 2D drawings, 3D models where needed, as-built drawings and processed revisions.
What we do not do is engineering, so no calculations, no structural advice and no permits. We do not take over the design either. The design decisions stay with you, and we make sure those decisions end up on paper correctly and consistently, following the drawing conventions we are given.
That scope is not a limitation but the core of what we offer. It is what allows us to handle volume, such as series that resemble each other, revision rounds on existing DWG files and files that need updating sheet by sheet. The work is carried out remotely from our own office, with our own team and our own licences. We respond to enquiries within 1 to 2 working days.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
Clients who use a technical drafting office
We receive enquiries from engineering firms, architecture practices, contractors and manufacturers. What these companies have in common is that drafting is a production factor for them, not a side issue. As soon as the order book grows, the number of sheets grows with it, and faster than the drawing office's staffing. The people at the table are managers, team leaders and owners. They look at the schedule rather than the individual drawing, and they notice that more work is consistently coming in than going out. The trigger is almost always capacity, meaning too little time, too few drafters or a peak the in-house team cannot get through.
A second trigger is when an experienced drafter gets bogged down in routine work. When that person spends days updating an existing set, the work they were actually hired for comes to a standstill. A third trigger is a deadline that cannot be moved. For one such deadline, our team worked through evenings and weekends, with days of fourteen to fifteen hours, and that project even carried on during a planned holiday of Sam, our team leader.
Manufacturers also have a pattern of their own, because variants of the same product with slightly different dimensions require a new set every time. That work in particular lends itself well to outsourcing, because the structure is fixed and only the content changes. We started this service because a client asked for it, and in the conversations that followed, it turned out the same need was much more widespread. Our focus is on the Netherlands and that is where our clients are based too.
Scaling up when a technical drafting office takes over your drafting
We have a large, flexible team and scale up or down per project, from a single drafter for a small assignment to as many drafters as a large project needs. What you notice most as a client is speed at the front end. Nobody needs to be recruited, there is no application round and no onboarding programme needs to be set up. The team is already in place and we deploy what the project requires. When something is urgent, we add people straight away. That is possible because we do not buy in people per assignment, but work with a team that is already well attuned.
At least as important is the other side, namely scaling down. Once the peak is over, staffing is reduced without an employment contract having to be wound down. That is the fundamental difference with a permanent appointment, where the costs continue even when the work drops off. In case of illness or holiday, we replace someone so the work keeps moving. For you, that means no waiting time and no half-finished set. Because the work passes through several hands anyway, a colleague can take over a task without the project having to be explained all over again.
Management stays the same throughout. Sam keeps the technical side and project supervision in hand, regardless of how many drafters are involved. Everyone who works for us has more than ten years of CAD experience, so scaling up does not mean adding inexperienced people who still need to learn the standard. If you want to test how that works out first, start with a small assignment and assess the speed and accuracy before more work is handed over.
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.
What it costs to have a technical drafting office do your drafting
By the hour or per project at a fixed price, both are possible. Both options are available and we decide which in consultation with you. The choice depends mainly on how precisely the scope can be defined in advance. If there is a set with a known number of sheets and a fixed structure, a fixed price makes sense, because the risk of surprises is small. If a project continues with varying sub-assignments and revisions that only emerge along the way, billing by the hour is fairer for both sides. We only charge genuine working hours. If someone wanders off for five minutes for a cup of coffee, the clock stops. That may seem like a detail, but over hundreds of drawings it makes a noticeable difference to the final invoice. What further keeps costs down is the state of the material supplied.
A complete set with clear drawing conventions can be processed faster than a file that has partly been drawn by hand and has missing sheets. Repetition also works in your favour, because the more sheets share the same structure, the faster the series runs once the first one has been agreed. A third factor is the number of correction rounds. By delivering in stages and gathering feedback early, we prevent a deviation from only being spotted at the end and having to be fixed across the entire set. There are no ongoing payroll costs on top, and we do not work with prepaid hour bundles or a monthly hours subscription. We would rather go through the time involved in a specific file with you beforehand than afterwards.
One fixed point of contact and a fixed meeting rhythm
With us, you have one fixed point of contact. Barry, our project manager, is usually the first point of contact for a new enquiry, after which Sam takes over the technical side. So you do not have to coordinate with changing people and you never have to ask a question twice. Day-to-day contact runs via email, phone and meetings.
What comes up there is concrete work, not status reports. We match the meeting rhythm to the pace of the project, so every two days on a tight schedule and weekly on a calmer project. We visit you or you come to us, although the work itself is carried out entirely remotely.
For standalone AutoCAD work, files go back and forth by email. On larger projects such as greenhouse construction, we use software that lets you log in and follow progress. Being able to follow along takes the uncertainty out of an outsourced project, because progress is visible without you having to ask for an update. We deliver in stages, gather feedback, make adjustments and move on to the next batch.
We incorporate that feedback into the existing set rather than a separate list, so no second administration builds up alongside the drawings themselves. What else is recorded depends on your wishes. To date we have not signed a non-disclosure agreement because nobody has asked for one, but we are open to an NDA. The intellectual property rights to our work belong to the client.
Frequently asked questions about our technical drafting office
Let our technical drafting office take it on
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.