AutoCAD Versions

I work for a small construction business and sometimes it is necessary for us to make drawings for as-built drawings or when building a small project without an engineer. We probably make one drawing a month at the most usually something like a parking lot or site layout. We usually just draw by hand when we need to. I would like to get AutoCAD LT, but at $1200 I can't see us using it enough to justify the expense. Is there a step down from that or is that is basic as I can get? I also tried Google sketchup, but I did not think it worked well for 2D drawings. Any thoughts on an alternative?

You can get an AutoCAD clone like DraftSight, ZWcad, IntelliCAD or ProgeCAD for far less money and any one of them should be able to do the job. DraftSight is free for the downloading. How can you beat that price?

Doublecad XT is also free, as is Google Sketchup. Either will produce files that autocad can read, so you could send them to customers that use it if needed. Doublecad will also read autocad files, so they could send stuff to you too.

TurboCAD isn't free but very reasonably priced.

I would not recommend the use of SketchUp for what you want to do. Stick with a CAD program.

I appreciate all the input. I am familiar with AutoCAD, is it a pain trying to use one of these programs, after learning on AutoCAD?

No. Most of them look very close to AutoCAD in many respects. Not sure how they got away with that. They will be minor difference in some names and how a few of the commands work but a Line is a LIne and Erase is still Erase no matter which program you use. If it comes down to a matter of saving money believe me, you'll get used to it fast enough.

Agreed, there are as many programs available as there are reasons

Autodesk Products are the industry Standard.

Freestyle is an Autodesk product, and from the literature i've seen might be suitable for what you're doing. Amazon sells it for about 85 bucks, but Doublecad will do everything it will do for free.

edit...forgot to attach the link: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=15053214

2nd edit...told you wrong on the price...it's gone up..$139 now. Sorry. Looked at it a couple months ago. Obamanomics strikes again.