CAD Services: You Have Your Hopefuls List, Now What?

This is the second in a series of posts detailing how to zero in on a good CAD services provider to whom you can outsource your engineering or architectural drawings with confidence.

In our last post, we listed several forums that can offer up service provider names worth checking out. Now comes the task of evaluating the names and choosing the top three. Here’s the first step.

Message Them

Send each provider an email asking for information. Specifically, ask them:

• If they use your favored CAD platform (AutoCAD, Pro-E, SolidWorks, whatever)
• If they have experience in your branch of engineering/architecture
• If they are interested in your type of work. Be specific, e.g., “We are air-conditioning installers and would like our sketches of duct layouts converted to CAD and superimposed on an architectural plan that we will provide” or “We have sketches of architectural plans and elevations that we need drawn in CAD with coordination between plans and elevations”

Wait for a response to this message. If and when it arrives, there is an incredible amount of information about the service provider that you can derive from it. The next post on the subject will tell you exactly how to mine that information. Be sure to grab it!

It’s a pleasure writing for you —