House Plan Permit Set Case Study

A reputed architect from the Midwestern US got in touch with The Magnum Group (TMG) by email, expressing interest in getting permit drawing sets for single family homes drafted by TMG.

After confirming TMG’s interest in the project, he sent TMG sample input sketches and sample output drawings. The sample output drawings, inter alia, embodied his layer definitions and his sheet template.

The architect discussed the possibility of TMG charging on a square foot basis. TMG willingly agreed to this for several reasons :

• The time taken for TMG to give quotations for new projects was totally eliminated, since the client knew the square foot area, and TMG’s drafting cost would be immediately apparent from that. This in turn would enable the architect to quote his client faster
• It eliminated all possibilities for variations in TMG's overall project pricing, allowing the architect to budget his costs with zero costing risk
• It increased traction between TMG and the architect, since the architect was now a a co-author of one of TMG's pricing policies.

The architect readily accepted TMG's square foot rates, which constituted an almost negligible fraction of the rate to his client. A delivery date was agreed upon for the first home, and drafting started with the intense involvement of the TMG team designated for the purpose.

There were many questions as the work progressed, for example: Were the notes to be positioned to the left or right of the images? How much free space was preferred between the images and the edges of the sheets? What were the guidelines for scaling enlarged details?

The questions exponentially declined to zero and the drawing set was completed according to schedule. Because of the immense price benefits the architect enjoyed by outsourcing drawings to TMG, he proceeded to send several houses every month on a regular basis; TMG added to its team to ensure timely deliveries.

The architect kept refining his style over the course of time, communicating fresh guidelines to TMG in every instance. TMG was able to immediately update it's drafting guidelines on account of its highly evolved system for recording and implementing customer preferences.