CAD drafting for licensed land surveyors — you handle the field work, we handle the drawing.
Land surveying and CAD drafting are two different skill sets, and not every survey firm wants to keep a full-time drafter on staff — especially when workload swings throughout the season. We provide CAD drafting services for licensed surveyors, taking the field data you've already collected and turning it into a finished, properly formatted drawing ready for your review and seal.
We're not a surveying firm and we don't collect field data, establish boundaries, or certify survey work — that's entirely your call as the licensed surveyor. What we do is take the data you provide and produce finished drawings from it: boundary surveys, ALTA/NSPS surveys, property division and parcel split drawings, mortgage surveys, topographic surveys, and site plans. We work with survey firms across Michigan and Northern Michigan, including Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Antrim, and Benzie Counties.
You send us your field data, sketches, or CAD files. We have our own complete CAD setup — plot style, title block, line weights, layer standards — and draft to that by default. If your firm already has its own title block or standards you'd rather we use, just send them over with your data and we'll draft to your specifications. And if you don't have a title block of your own yet and want one, we can design and build a custom title block for your firm to use going forward. You stay the licensed professional of record on the drawing; we're producing it to your standards and under your direction.
Most standard survey drafting projects are returned within 24–48 hours of receiving complete field data. Complex drawings — ALTA/NSPS surveys with multiple table A items, large parcel divisions, or projects with significant point cloud or LiDAR data — may take longer, and we'll tell you that upfront when we quote. Rush turnaround is available when closing deadlines require it; reach out directly and we'll tell you what's realistic for your specific project.
Survey data contains your clients' parcel information, legal descriptions, and sensitive boundary data. We treat everything you send as confidential. We work under confidentiality agreements and do not share, retain, or reuse client data beyond the scope of the project it was provided for. If your firm requires a signed NDA before sending data, we're happy to accommodate that.
If your data comes from a total station or GPS collector, it includes field codes or a description key set that tells the drafting software how to draw each point — what's a property corner versus a tree versus a utility marker, for example. Every firm and every piece of survey software handles this differently. If we haven't worked with your specific code system before, we'll likely need to spend time building out or programming that description key set before we can start drafting from your data. This is real time, and it's reflected in the quote for the first project — but once it's built, it carries forward on future work with the same code system, so it's a one-time setup cost rather than something repeated on every job.
Bringing on a full-time drafter only makes sense if you've got steady, year-round volume to justify it. For a lot of survey firms, workload comes in waves — busy season, slow season, the occasional rush job with a tight closing date. Outsourcing drafting gives you flexible capacity without the overhead of another employee, and you only pay for the work that actually comes through the door.
As a survey firm owner, you already understand what an independent contractor rate actually covers — but it's worth spelling out, because the hourly number can look different depending on what you're comparing it to.
If you're comparing it to what you'd pay an in-house drafter's hourly wage, you're not comparing the same thing at all. An employee's wage is the starting point for what they actually cost you — on top of that, you're covering payroll taxes, workers' compensation, health insurance, retirement contributions, paid time off, sick days, equipment, software licenses, and the cost of keeping that person on payroll during slow periods when there's nothing to draft. None of that applies here.
When you work with us, the rate covers everything on our end — taxes, benefits, software, hardware, and the unbillable time built into every project. One number, no hidden costs on your end.
You're also not carrying us between jobs. When there's nothing to draft, you're not paying anything. No slow-season salary, no benefits continuing to run, no equipment sitting idle on your dime. You pay for completed work, and that's it.
The rate is what it is because it's the number that makes independent practice sustainable. If you're used to working with contractors rather than employees, none of this is a surprise. If you're not, now you know what the number is actually covering — and why it's not the same conversation as an hourly wage.
What file formats do you accept and deliver?
We accept most common formats — raw collector files, CSV point files, DWG, DXF, PDF sketches, and hand-drawn field notes scanned to PDF. We deliver DWG and PDF by default. If you need a different format, let us know and we'll confirm whether we can accommodate it before the project starts.
What if my field data has errors or gaps?
We flag them before we draft around them. If we find missing shots, conflicting measurements, or data that doesn't close, we'll contact you before proceeding rather than make assumptions. A drawing built on a problem in the field data just passes the problem downstream — we'd rather stop and confirm than deliver something that comes back as a correction.
Do you work with Carlson Survey?
Yes. Carlson Survey is one of our primary platforms. We can receive and work with Carlson field files directly, which eliminates the conversion step that comes up with some other drafting services.
How do I send my data?
Email works fine for most projects. For large files — dense point clouds, LiDAR datasets — we can arrange a shared folder or file transfer link. We'll confirm the handoff method when we scope your first project.
What if I'm not satisfied with the drawing?
Revisions are part of the process. If a drawing comes back and something isn't right — formatting, linework, dimensions, anything — send us the redline and we'll correct it. The goal is a drawing that's ready for your seal, and we don't consider a project complete until it gets there.
Licensed land surveyors and survey firms who need reliable CAD drafting capacity — whether that's overflow during busy season, coverage so a small firm doesn't need a full-time drafter, or a standing arrangement for recurring volume.