What to Send a Drafting Partner
Send the most complete source file you have in its native format, a statement of what the drawings are for, the jurisdiction or standard they have to satisfy, any survey or field data, and an honest note on which design decisions are still open. Those five things are enough to scope and start. Everything else can follow. The single most useful item is the native file, because without it the first phase becomes a redraw.
The handoff is where drafting projects are won or lost on schedule. We have seen well funded projects sit idle for weeks because the file everyone assumed existed did not, and we have seen small ones start the same day because the client sent the messy version instead of curating. This checklist is what we ask for before starting drafting work.
The core five
1. The source material, in its native format. DWG, RVT, DXF, SKP, whatever exists. If only PDFs exist, say so plainly rather than sending them as though they were drawings, because that changes the scope. If only sketches or photographs exist, send those. The worst source is more useful to see than the best one, because it defines the actual starting point.
2. What the drawings are for. Permit, construction, bidding, marketing, leasing, as-built record, or handoff to another consultant. This determines the level of detail, and it is the difference between a set that works and a set that has to be redone.
3. The governing standard. The jurisdiction that will review the set, or the drawing standard, layer convention and title block you need matched. If your firm has a CAD standard, send the template rather than describing it.
4. Survey and field data. Boundary or topographic survey, point cloud or scan data, field measurements, or existing conditions notes. For anything involving an existing building or a site plan, this is not optional.
5. Design status. Which decisions are final and which are still open. An honest no is more valuable than an optimistic yes, because it lets the sheets that depend on open items be sequenced last instead of drafted twice.
Useful but not blocking
- Consultant drawings, or the names and schedule of the consultants producing them
- Photographs of the existing building or the site
- Prior submittals and any review comments already received
- Product cuts or specifications for anything that has to be drawn accurately
- Your target dates and the fixed ones among them
The things that stall projects
A PDF sent in place of the native file, when the native file exists somewhere and nobody checked. This is the one we ask for most often, and it is usually recoverable with one email to a previous consultant.
Multiple versions of the same drawing with no indication of which is current. Send the current one and label it, or send all of them and say you do not know.
A model with unbound external references or missing fonts, which opens with content missing on any other machine.
Units and scale left unstated. A mismatch here is silent and surfaces late.
No named decision maker, which turns every question into a round trip through several people.
How to send it
One folder, one transfer, with a short note naming what is current. Piecemeal delivery over several days is where files get missed. If the material is sensitive, say so and we will handle the transfer accordingly.
What comes back is covered in drafting deliverable formats, the schedule that follows in how long architectural drafting takes, and what these inputs do to the price in what architectural drafting costs. If the building exists and you are not sure whether you need documentation or a new set, start with as-built documentation.
Send us the folder as it is today and we will tell you what is usable, what is missing and what it takes to start.