Architekwiki
  • Home
  • WIKI
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Other
    • Reading List
    • Ochre >
      • Ochre
      • Ochre KB
      • Ochre FAQs
      • Ochre Help
    • Details
    • The 3 Aspects
    • About
    • Subscription FAQs
    • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • WIKI
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Other
    • Reading List
    • Ochre >
      • Ochre
      • Ochre KB
      • Ochre FAQs
      • Ochre Help
    • Details
    • The 3 Aspects
    • About
    • Subscription FAQs
    • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe

Architekwiki

A Resource For Architects
Click here to get good stuff in your inbox

Categories

All
Business Development
Business Management
Design
Detail
Miscellaneous
Project Management
Resources

Archives

January 2023
November 2022
October 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
June 2021
May 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012

Outsourcing / Off-shoring

2/25/2019

 
Outsourcing / Off-shoring
Architects Outsource all the time.
​These are some benefits.

The issue of outsourcing to offshore companies is mostly an emotional issue. Feelings and beliefs aren't debatable. The reason to offshore is economic. There isn't much to debate there either. It simply saves money. But there are other benefits, too.

Architects have been outsourcing for at least a hundred years. By this I mean using consultants for engineering design, for interior design, for landscape design, for renderings, for signage, for 3D digital models.

We were contacted by a firm based in Lithuania back in the early 2000s. They were offering to do digital 3D work and rendered images for about 25% of the 'normal' price. They had a British manager that made communications easy. We found ourselves in the position of being able to offer this type of service on almost every project because of the low cost. 

For a number of years I investigated ways to outsource detailing and drafting tasks as well. Here is what I learned.
​
  • None of the outsourcing firms know how the process should work; they are just as disorganized as you are.
  • The work must be assigned in steps or the Re-Work will be time-consuming and frustrating.
  • Glen Wiggins' book, A Manual of Construction Documentation, is a great resource in tackling the organizational aspect. This is true even if you don't outsource/off-shore. (The book is based in the hand drafting era. Beware.) 
  • Outsourcing to North American firms only provides the economic advantage of being able to handle the occasional busy periods without staffing for that level of intensity.
  • Off-shoring has an economic advantage of about 5:1 for the same labor. The increased management time is about offset by being more effective.
  • Outsourcing forces you to be better organized, but pays off in both efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Keeping extra in-house staff busy often causes you to have things done that end up leading to re-work because the task was not thought through or it was premature.
  • The planning that is necessary in order to outsource effectively is a benefit even if you don't outsource.
    
When I started working for a local college making office modifications and expanding toilet facilities, I was all set to try out what I had learned. The year before, when I was searching for an offshore company to do some 3D work, I found a firm with experience with US architects. I engaged this Indian firm to do drafting for $10/hr (2008-2012 timeframe). 

An example of the detailed instructions is at the bottom of this post.

This proved very effective for creating CAD drawings of the original hand drafted building floor plans. The cost was usually about $100 per floor.

​Once I had a base sheet that matched our needs, ​I usually asked them to create layers containing electric and HVAC existing work that would come into play with the remodeling.

Next came a series of other steps to complete the construction documents.
  • Partition layout with doors
  • Toilet room layouts at larger scale
  • Reflected ceiling plan
  • Toilet room wall elevations
  • Dimensions
  • Room Finish Symbols and Key
  • Door Schedule 
  • Door Details
  • Interior Details
  • Notes and Keynote symbols
  • Pochè

The point of all these steps is to eliminate as much potential for revisions as possible. The reason for that isn't to minimize the Offshore Drafter's time, but to eliminate your time in finding and conveying the revisions that are needed.

​During this process, which I repeated about six times, it began to dawn on me that this process shouldn't be confined to working with offshore drafters. I should be doing this for all projects including the ones that are done 100% in-house. So I began working on developing all the tasks that would be needed, especially the sequence in which they should be completed to minimize rework. This proved to be the major benefit of learning to outsource basic drafting.

The result of this major process for project management is described in Trello-PM, an ebook. It uses Trello as the tool for managing the process.

Trello is free. Get an account and then copy my system into your account.

​Most of the ebook has been published in this blog, just search for Trello-PM. 

Or, purchase the ebook.
Outsourcing / Off-shoring
EXAMPLE:
    The first task is to develop an architectural base plan. Our dwg file that we always start from is attached along with two Tiff files.

  "i-037 Third Floor Plan.tif" is the original floor plan from the original construction.

    The area of this project is bounded by column line "11" plus 15' (toward "12") on the north; the exterior wall and stair on the east; column line "7" on the south; and column line "B" plus 15' (toward "A") on the west.

    Show all interior partitions as 5" thick unless dimensioned otherwise, and put all these partitions on a layer called "EXIST WALLS". Exterior and core walls should go on this layer also.

From the i-037 file show:
  • all exterior walls
  • all interior partitions 
  • stair layouts
  • drinking fountains (D.F.)
  • lockers
  • door swings
  • column centerlines and bubbles
  • etc. ...

From the i-037 file DO NOT show:
  • room numbers
  • door numbers
  • partition type symbols
  • interior elevation marks
  • dimensions
​
Picture

Comments are closed.
    Resources

    Start Here

    YouTube Channel

    Join The Mailing List

    Terms of Use
    Your use of Architekwiki is implicit agreement with the 
    ​
    Terms of Use.
    Thank You for your donation

    x
    Get Good Stuff in Your Inbox
    Picture
    Subscribe

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Business Development
    Business Management
    Design
    Detail
    Miscellaneous
    Project Management
    Resources

Picture

Picture
VISIT ARCHITEKWIKI'S RESOURCES
​
START HERE
ABOUT
SIGN UP
TERMS OF USE
Architekwiki | Architect's Resource | Greater Cincinnati 
© 2012-2022   Architekwiki​