drafting subcontractor

When I was doing CAD work for a buddy of mine I did it lump sum. I gave him an hourly bill, but billed on the time (amount) we agreed and not the actual time it took. Being a LS myself, I always made revisions as requested and included them for free... most of them were a matter of preference anyway.

I billed at $15/hr (at least that's what my billing showed), and that was for an LS drafting. I say find a local guy low on work, and sub to him... drafter or LS. I enjoyed the lower stress of drafting at times.

$15/HR???Seriously??
In my area, the "cheap" guys get $40/HR for "at home-after hours" drafting work. Full time drafting services bill out from $60-$90/HR.
Don't seel yourself short, it'll bite you big time later on. :-X
The few that I have checked up on seem to be located in India or "off-shore". They know little or nothing about survey plats and minimum technical standards for plats and do not wish to use your in house drafting standards. They feel that they can send you text and line work and then you can fix it to your standards later. (I can get my 12 year old granddaughter to do that free!!)

> The few that I have checked up on seem to be located in India or "off-shore". They know little or nothing about survey plats and minimum technical standards for plats and do not wish to use your in house drafting standards. They feel that they can send you text and line work and then you can fix it to your standards later. (I can get my 12 year old granddaughter to do that free!!)

Wouldn't it be better to hire a starving person in India who can work a computer than to use child labor especially by your own grandaughter and not pay her anything?

Okay, sorry. It's obvious what you meant and I just "seized" the moment.

I agree, it would be best to pay someone what they are worth, especially if they'll work by the job and have their own computer. It helps the local guy who is willing to work for some money. If you couldn't find anyone locally, I would probably check this web site and see if someone that frequents here and is low on work wanted to do it. In fact that might be a good side-job for someone thinking of retiring.

"I think I'd be too nervous they would screw something up and get me sued"

Don't you think you would review the product several times before releasing it?

I don't see a problem with doing it this way.
I mean you come up with a boundary resolution. Send them an Ascii file and inverse report along with a rough dot to dot sketch.

If the person doing the drafting knew a little something about survey plats, you would probably get a very good draft copy to review and make notes on.

Once they had done several maps for you, future maps would come more quickly and closer to your liking in draft form.

I would not hire outside the country.

Or they might fail to spot something I screwed up and get me sued that way --if we DO screw something up it's usually during the drafting process that I catch it.

I'd never do it this way. I have a hard enough time getting the stuff right when I do everything myself or if the draftsman is right outside my office. I think we tend to oversimplify what we do. It actually is quite complex when you take everything into account. There's more to a nice map than line work and text.

I've just been getting solicited by them via email and wanted to know if anyone used a similar service.

I don't want the work do be done by someone I don't know personally.

What area are you in? Also, this was a buddy of mine. When I first started drafting for him I was billing at $25/hr by the clock. I just got to enjoy the break from the field, but miss it to heck now. I was also within driving distance, so we could do things face to face if needed. I'd definitely do it again... if I can get my focus and concentration to cooperate for me to get things done.

I know numerous small shops around my town used to sub out the drafting back when it was done by hand.
It usually went to the same person, who also drew house plans.
It all depends on the person and communication. Comfort is all important in a good nights sleep.

> I don't want the work do be done by someone I don't know personally.

Just as much as I don't want the work to be done by some of the people I know personally. B-)

If you send the work overseas, your daughter misses out on the work and money.
Consider if your client is overseas and has a reduced survey drafting cost because you
used an overseas contractor. Maybe you charged the same price for the survey and
the increased profit will be kept in your pocket. However, if your daughter can spend
that profit, she and you may have retained more money here in the US.

Of course, making a profit for you and your daughter may not be politically correct.