OUTSOURCE DRAFTING SERVICES: SPEED, SAVINGS AND CONTROL

It’s not unusual for architects to encounter numerous setbacks throughout the project development process. One of those is the need to quickly produce architectural drafts and correct them when a client requests changes in design. Or if some unexpected technical issues prevent the implementation of the original concept. Moreover, multiple design iterations are often needed as well. Fortunately, there is a rather simple way to deal with all that: outsource drafting services.

Contents:

• 7 ways outsource drafting speeds up a project
• Outsource architectural drafting: what studios hand over
• What home builders outsource
• Construction drafting and shop drawings
• Why large projects outsource drafting
• How outsourcing cuts the drafting budget
• Real examples of outsourced work
• How to monitor an outsourced team
• Outsource Drafting FAQ

While an architectural firm might not have enough resources to create high-quality drafts in-house, a specialized outsource architectural drawing services does. Therefore, working with one can eliminate the problems of insufficient human resources, expertise, and technical capacities. This way, architects can fully focus on developing breathtaking concepts, while CAD specialists work on the drafts remotely. Now, let’s take a closer look and learn 7 ways outsource drafting helps to speed up the process of project development.

#1. Outsource Drafting Requires Minimal Involvement on a Client’s Side

First things first, using outsource drafting services allows to minimize the involvement of an architect’s team in this process. After setting the task and submitting the necessary references, they only need to check the results once those are ready. So, as drafts are being taken care of, architecture professionals can concentrate on perfecting the design, selecting materials, working on interiors, etc. As a result, a great number of tasks can be done simultaneously, which helps to speed up project development.

#2. CAD Companies Provide a Great Variety of Drafting Services

Next, outsource CAD companies usually provide a great variety of services. That includes the creation of construction and interior drafts, digitizing of scans and sketches, etc. The most common types of architectural drafts are dimension plans, dismantling/mounting layouts, furniture layouts, utility systems plans, and wall elevations. Plus, digital drafting allows to produce 3D floor plans as well. With all that, using outsource CAD services means the drafts are always made by highly skilled, experienced professionals.

#3. Outsource Drafting Studios Deliver Results Within Short Time

Another benefit of outsourcing the drafting process is a short turnaround time. Specialized studios achieve high speed of delivering results by employing many well-trained drafters, using professional software and hardware, and being available to their clients 24/7. Furthermore, it’s usually possible to rush an order for some extra cost. Which, undoubtedly, comes in handy when an architect needs drafts ASAP. For instance, if there is an unexpected need to change the design due to technical issues or at a client’s request.

#4. Remote CAD Services Allow for Impeccable Accuracy

One of the main advantages of CAD is that it leaves no place for human errors. Because professional drafting software has an impressive array of features for calculation, tracing the designs, layering, copying, altering them, etc. So, using outsource drafting services, an architect can get impeccably precise drafts based on submitted references. The latter can include hand-drawn drafts and sketches, photos, site maps, existing plans and blueprints. Laser scans and drone photography make some of the most reliable references as well.

#5. Drafting Companies Make Corrections Quickly and Efficiently

Making small corrections in drafts is an integral part of the project development process. And outsource drafting companies definitely consider that. Normally, they have an efficient way of communicating with their clients. For instance, within their own CRM system. This allows them to receive all the comments from their clients in an organized way. Then, drafters start working on corrections right away. At this point, advanced digital tools and automatization of simple tasks offered by CAD software allow them to complete the assignment in no time.

#6. CAD Studios Produce Drafts in Convenient Digital Formats

Another benefit of using outsource drafting services is getting the results in convenient digital formats. For instance, PDF, which is lightweight and can be easily viewed on any device. One can effortlessly share such files among all the project stakeholders, from investors to construction workers. If need be, it’s also possible to print out the drafts in any desirable size. At the same time, keeping raw files as well allows to get back to the designs at any moment to change them or copy certain elements from them.

#7. Outsource Drafting Services Include 3D CAD Design

Finally, outsource drafting services include 3D drafting, which can be useful for making project presentations. Three-dimensional floor plans, as well as full 3D models of buildings with their surroundings, are easily created based on 2D drafts. Having such visuals, an architect can be sure that a client will fully understand and appreciate the concept. As a result, one can even expect to get project approval faster than in the case of explaining it with technical drawings and sketches alone.

So, those were the 7 ways outsource drafting services help architecture professionals to speed up the process of project development. One can say for sure that, in this case, outsourcing gets a lot of weight off an architect’s shoulders. It allows to get a variety of high-quality drafts without having a whole in-house drafting department. Furthermore, outsource CAD offers a short turnaround time, fast correcting, and convenient output formats. This way, architects can fully focus on developing amazing designs.

Are you interested in using drafting services for your own projects? Then contact us and get top-quality results right on time. Bring your concepts to life with no extra efforts!

Outsource Architectural Drafting: What Studios Hand Over

Architecture studios rarely hand over a whole project. What leaves the office is production work: turning an approved design into a complete set of plans, elevations, sections, details and schedules that someone can actually build from. Concept, client meetings and code decisions stay where they were.

That split changes how you write the brief. Send the design intent, the standards your sheets follow, your title block, and one finished sheet from a past project. A drafter who has all of that will match your line weights and layer names instead of inventing a set of their own.

Two things we do not take on, so nobody finds out the hard way. We do not prepare permit sets, and we do not draft MEP. Our side of the work is architectural and millwork drafting, plus the Revit modeling behind it.

Still weighing whether the work should leave the office at all? We put that decision through five criteria for keeping drafting in-house or sending it out.

What Home Builders Outsource

Production builders have a different problem from architects. The design was settled long ago, sometimes years ago, and the volume lives in the variations: elevation A, B and C of one plan, the garage flipped for a corner lot, a bonus room where the standard model has attic space.

All of it is repetitive, and that is precisely what a remote team handles well. You keep a base plan library, and every new lot comes back as a marked up version of a file the drafter has already worked in. A variant usually turns around in a day or two rather than a week.

The second job builders send out is cleaning up an inherited library. Plans drawn by three different people over ten years, no shared layer standard, dimensions that no longer match the current spec. Redrawing all of that once costs less than paying for the confusion on every lot.

Whoever takes the library will be living in your files for years, so it pays to be picky at the start. We wrote out seven checks to run before picking a drafting company.

Construction Drafting and Shop Drawings

Contractors and fabricators arrive later and need something else again. The architect’s set says what the building should be. The construction side needs sheets that say how one specific piece gets made and installed: shop drawings for casework and millwork, coordination views where a cabinet run meets a structural column, as-builts once the work is standing.

This work almost always starts from somebody else’s drawings, and half of it is reading them properly. A field measurement that contradicts the design set is not something to quietly average out. It is a question that goes back to the architect before anything gets cut.

Millwork shops were the first group to send this work out at scale, and their reasons still hold: ten things a millwork shop gains from outsourced AutoCAD drawings.

Why Large Projects Outsource Drafting

The reasons clients name in their briefs repeat from year to year. Money comes first: an outside team costs less than an in-house drafting department once you count salaries, software seats and slow months. Speed is second, a dedicated team picks up a package without pulling architects off design work. Then expertise: a studio that drafts daily has seen your building type before. Quality control is built into the workflow, every sheet passes an internal check before the client sees it. And communication runs through one project manager instead of a dozen email threads.

How Outsourcing Cuts the Drafting Budget

A few habits squeeze real money out of an outsourced project. Keep the same team from order to order, they learn your standards once and stop billing hours for relearning them. Write a detailed brief, every question a drafter does not have to ask is minutes saved on both sides. Reuse template libraries, typical units and repeating details should be drawn once. Catch errors on intermediate checks, corrections on an approved sheet cost triple. And ask about volume discounts, most studios, ours included, price large packages below the standard rate.

Real Examples of Outsourced Drafting Work

These sheets went through exactly that outsourced loop: drafted remotely, checked in rounds, delivered as DWG plus PDF. Flip through:

A facade elevation with height marks, a third and fifth floor plan at 1 to 100, a stair section, a renovation plan where red marks the walls to be built, and a ceiling plan with every light fixture dimensioned. Different projects, one process.

How to Monitor an Outsourced Drafting Team

Remote does not mean out of sight. Ask the client manager everything at the start, that is what they are for. Talk to the project manager during the work, not after it. Check intermediate results on a schedule instead of waiting for the final delivery. Hand over references and site photos as soon as they exist, guessing is slower than asking. And request corrections the moment something looks off, an early fix costs minutes, a late one costs a redraw.

Outsource Drafting FAQ