The Guide to Streamlining Drawing Processes

The manual creation of drawings and designs can incur significant labor costs for engineering and construction firms. Drafters and designers must painstakingly draw each component, system, and detail by hand using CAD software. For a major construction project, thousands of drawings may be required showing the architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.

Manually drafting all of these drawings requires extensive staff time across multiple disciplines. Firms must employ large drafting teams, with each drafter working for weeks or months to develop the needed set of construction drawings. At typical billing rates of $50-150 per hour for design professionals, the labor costs quickly add up. These sizable labor costs are magnified if drawings need to be frequently revised. Any design changes require drafters to manually update drawings across multiple views, schedules, and sheets. This inefficient process results in projects going over-budget due to higher than anticipated labor costs for drafting.

This white paper covers the inefficiencies in document management, analytics to improving drawing efficiency, and streamlining repetitive tasks.