Business Models For Construction Drawings Delivery

Construction or working drawings are key to any architectural project. They define how the building will be constructed. They also provide specifications about various parts of the building - Mechanical, Electrical and Structural. So what is the best way to produce these drawings - employ the best design professionals or outsource?

Develop In-house Expertise

The obvious choice and the traditional way for a design firm are to hire the best available industry professionals. Architects, engineers and drafters can be trained to produce construction drawings. This model does provide an advantage of having the employees work in a company's own office. Typically the design firm has complete control over its employees. Coordination with various consultants is much easier.

The cost, however, of having in-house employees can be quite high. Scalability may also be a concern. Finding the right people may not be easy and the process of scaling up could require additional space.

Outsource as a Project

A design firm, builder or a developer may choose to outsource construction drawings and sign a one time contract with an outsourcing or drafting company. The benefit of outsourcing as a project are many. This model results in a fixed cost for the design firm. The design firm does not have to recruit employees thus reducing hiring and related costs. Outsourcing can also be great for spikes in workload when there is no internal capacity.

There can be disadvantages though. Any changes in design may add up to additional costs. Communication between the consultants and the outsourcing company may have to be managed very well. Overall, outsourcing construction drawings offers significant advantages.

Outsource Your Studio

Outsourcing your construction drawings through a studio model has been gaining popularity. A studio is nothing but an extension of an office. The drafters are located at the outsourcing company's office and can be treated as employees of the design firm. The advantage of this model is that the contract is signed on a per resource basis and there are no additional costs for design changes. The cost per resource is fixed and therefore this business model offers the advantages and flexibility of the other models. Another advantage of the studio model is scalability. It is easier for the outsourcing company to add resources to the studio with a short notice. Knowledge retention is best in this model. The design firm can request for a dedicated team for its studio and can thus retain the same resources over a long period.

Would you like to know more about BluEntCAD’s Construction Drawings Studio? Please contact us.

About BluEntCAD
Headquartered in Texas and with offices in Toronto, Houston, Delaware  and New Delhi, BluEntCAD is an 11 year old company specialized in providing resources for CAD services, Revit drafting, 3D Rendering and Building Information Modeling for all types of architectural, structural and MEP projects across the world. To know more about BluEntCAD, visit: www.bluentcad.ca.