CAD drafting for permit-ready construction documents

What permit CAD drafting includes

The work is construction documents: plans, elevations, sections, and schedules drawn from the markups you already have. Typical starts are a designer’s PDF that is not drawn to a consistent scale, a contractor’s redlines on an old permit set, or a sketch of an addition that still needs to become sheets. The deliverable is a coordinated PDF, with CAD files when you need them for the next revision.

Drafting does not replace engineering judgment. Where a sheet shows structure, HVAC, or power that must be engineered, that scope is reviewed by a licensed PE before it is represented as sealed. Sheets that are only architectural linework are drafted and left unsealed.

How CAD drawing quotes work

Open the quote tool on drawings. The price follows the floor area and the drawing package, not the page count used for stamping. That matches the work: a small addition and a full building are not the same drafting job even when someone exports them as a similar number of PDFs.

If you already have finished drawings and only need a PE seal, do not use this page. Upload them on a stamping quote. Paying for drafting you do not need, or asking for a stamp on sketches that are not drawings yet, both waste a review cycle. The intake question is whether the set exists.

Revisions, redlines, and as-built updates

A common drafting job is not a blank page. It is updating a permit set after plan-check comments, or recording what was built when the field changed the permit drawings. As-built sheets should be labeled as a record of construction, not resubmitted as the original design without saying what changed.

Send the comment letter or the field markups with the previous CAD or PDF. Drafting from a scan with no dimensions takes longer than drafting from a file, and the quote should be based on the file you actually have. Say if the only source is a paper set.

When the drafted set still needs a PE stamp

Building departments accept drafted sheets and still ask for an engineer on the structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, or fire protection scope. Those seals come from the matching service: residential, commercial, structural and civil, electrical, mechanical, or fire protection. The drafter and the sealing engineer are coordinated so the title block, the code edition, and the details agree.

Start with a drawings quote if you need the sheets produced. Start with a stamping quote if the sheets are done. If you need both, say so in the notes and the two scopes are priced separately instead of being buried in one number.

FAQ

Is CAD drafting the same as PE stamping?

No. Drafting produces the drawings and is priced by floor area. PE stamping is a licensed engineer sealing drawings that already exist, priced by sheet count. Many permits need both, and they are quoted separately.

Can you draft a permit set from markups?

Yes. Redlines, sketches, and older permit PDFs can be turned into a current set. Engineering sheets are sealed only after a licensed PE reviews them.

Do you update drawings into as-builts?

Yes. Field markups can be drafted back into the CAD set and labeled as a record of what was built. Send the previous files and the marked-up pages together.

Can the same project be drafted and stamped?

Yes. Drafting is quoted by area. Stamping is quoted by sheet once the drawings are ready for an engineer to take responsible charge. Ask for both in the quote notes.