mlaubacher

Does anyone have any tips or good general practices when starting a set of plans based on imported CAD drawings?  My computer has all the horsepower it needs, but it has a hard time with real involved drawings from Auto Cad.

Thanks!

Hey, does anybody have any tips or suggestions for importing DWG files and starting a chief plan with them?  My computer has all the horsepower it needs, but it has a hard time with real involved CAD drawings.

This is exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks David!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good, affordable (dare I say, free?) PDF editor?  I'm mostly looking for something that will allow printing to larger sheet sizes than normal.  OCR and editing capabilities would also be quite helpful.

Thanks!

-Matt

Thanks everyone!  I had been under the impression that I had to be selling and marking up materials in addition to my plans in order to really make a decent living.  Sounds like I can be comfortable with just the plans as my product.

Thank you so much, David!  That's great feedback.  Do you provide take-offs for bidding/estimating or facilitate any of the permitting?  Do you sell them any of the materials?

I have been drafting and designing for design-build firms for the last 5 years.  I'm used to the client signing a design retainer with a deposit for the design services, and then any time overages being made up for with margins on materials and labor during construction.  I am now striking out on my own to design and draw plans as my own company for other contractors.  I would seriously appreciate any feedback on how you more experienced freelancers structure your rates.  Do you apply an hourly rate to drafting work that is already designed and a flat rate (like a design retainer) to work that you're designing as well?  What else do you typically sell to your clients?  Do they buy materials and cabinets through you, the designer, and leave the contractor to mark up the labor and rough materials?  Any reading material you can recommend on the subject would also be greatly appreciated.

Just a young designer/draftsman looking for some advice from the abundance of experience we have here.  Thank you, everyone!

-Matt