average time for drawings

Hi, I am wondering what the average time is to draft a commercial site plan using the city website for information. I know I will have to trace it off their site using the measurement tool provided and then hand draw it then plug in the information to auto cad. I know I need the building perimeter, adjacent and parallel streets plus parking and so on. If I gave my self a goal of 6 hours from start to finish is that to long ? I'm wondering for billing purposes. I am an interior designing doing plans for a commercial renovation. This is my first job out of school and on my own !! thanks for the help

I can tell you that if you can tell me how much the average bag of groceries costs.

I'm not being a jerk. I'm just pointing out the fact that the time it will take is related to how much you have to draw and how you do your drawings. There is no set average. I can tell you that based on my work history it takes me roughly 6-8 hours per sheet to draw a house plan and about 4-8 hours to design and draw a cabinet fixture depending on the complexity. Those figures are based on hundreds of projects though.

You are missing something, some better way to get your info.

I don't understand why the Interior designer is working on a site plan.

In any case, your client/owner needs to get with the program and talk to their general contractor to get you a copy of actual drawings in Cad form. Unless this is an extremely small DIY project, There should be drawings already done for permit issuance, and dwg file versions provided by the general contractor to ALL sub-contractors who need to add drawings to the construction package.

Having said all that, six hours sounds very optimistic considering the way you are gathering your information.

I can tell you that if you can tell me how much the average bag of groceries costs.

 

I'm not being a jerk. I'm just pointing out the fact that the time it will take is related to how much you have to draw and how you do your drawings. There is no set average. I can tell you that based on my work history it takes me roughly 6-8 hours per sheet to draw a house plan and about 4-8 hours to design and draw a cabinet fixture depending on the complexity. Those figures are based on hundreds of projects though.

Just last month, a lot owner acting as his own GC was taking bids on plans for a 4 bdrm 3 bath 2 car 3,200 sq ft house he wants to build. He has real estate flyer plans.

I figured, since it included probably 3 days of design and imagineering work, landscaping plans, 2 decks and a large irregular patio, that it would take about 16 pages of drawings, 12 for the house, 4 for the yard. That's two plus weeks of work.

The guy threw a hissy fit. He got so insulting that I walked away in mid rant. A couple of weeks ago, he started calling me. When I saw his caller ID I let it drop to voicemail. He's called me four times and I have not returned any.

Trace, hand draw then transfer to AutoCAD. That sounds pretty inefficient to me. You are going to include the property line, building perimeter, adjacent streets and parking (as in the parking lot layout?). What else does the city require to be shown on the site plan? Have you checked with the building department and/or planning and zoning?

No drawings have been provided for me. I had to measure out everything myself, existing and showing the new changes. The city has approved things but needs a site plan clearly to show where the work is being taken place .. from what I was taught in school for this situation, its as basic as outlining the scope of work and any neighboring buildings along with the streets.. From other site plans I have seen there have been complex drawings showing everything possible and there have been drawings as simple as a square with streets beside it, which is what I was told is needed, the basic type... so I guess my question is more or less doing a basic plan from scratch just showing the building and the information around it... I guess I will find out for my self today !! thanks

Well unless the project is in some backwater town where no one cares what you do I'd still find out what the minimum requirements are as required by the two departments I mentioned. Go to them with anything less and you'll come back with egg on your face.

No drawings have been provided for me. I had to measure out everything myself, existing and showing the new changes. The city has approved things but needs a site plan clearly to show where the work is being taken place .. from what I was taught in school for this situation, its as basic as outlining the scope of work and any neighboring buildings along with the streets.. From other site plans I have seen there have been complex drawings showing everything possible and there have been drawings as simple as a square with streets beside it, which is what I was told is needed, the basic type... so I guess my question is more or less doing a basic plan from scratch just showing the building and the information around it... I guess I will find out for my self today !!

thanks

Not knowing the conditions, there is no way we could give you a number. This must be a fairly small job.

Since this has to be done from as-built conditions, what I would do is merely quote the client an hourly rate that you feel comfortable with, and perform in all due diligence to complete it as quickly as possible.

No drawings have been provided for me. I had to measure out everything myself, existing and showing the new changes. The city has approved things but needs a site plan clearly to show where the work is being taken place .. from what I was taught in school for this situation, its as basic as outlining the scope of work and any neighboring buildings along with the streets.. From other site plans I have seen there have been complex drawings showing everything possible and there have been drawings as simple as a square with streets beside it, which is what I was told is needed, the basic type... so I guess my question is more or less doing a basic plan from scratch just showing the building and the information around it... I guess I will find out for my self today !! thanks

No drawings have been provided for me. I had to measure out everything myself, existing and showing the new changes. The city has approved things but needs a site plan clearly to show where the work is being taken place .. from what I was taught in school for this situation, its as basic as outlining the scope of work and any neighboring buildings along with the streets.. From other site plans I have seen there have been complex drawings showing everything possible and there have been drawings as simple as a square with streets beside it, which is what I was told is needed, the basic type... so I guess my question is more or less doing a basic plan from scratch just showing the building and the information around it... I guess I will find out for my self today !! thanks

As a beginner, I would tell the boss 2 full days at least. I have been drafting since 1971, and it would take me at least 1 day to do a straightforward simple site plan for a small suburban house, if I had all the info at hand.

The city has a web site called Vanmaps, it provides a birds eye view of the city with layers you can turn off showing property lines, streets, power lines, sewer lines ect..It also has tools like a measuring tape you can get the dimensions of any building. I am using that to get all my information. The building is a hotel, it has 3 sections on the main level. Restaurant, hotel lobby in the middle and nightclub on the other side, which I am working on. the second floor up is all hotel rooms. the space is about 5000 sq ft and has taken me around 30 hours to draft the interior, with no plan provided including measuring time. I have completed a set of the existing plan and a proposed floor plan. which the city has accepted. It is in the city of Vancouver..I feel like the Vanmaps site will provide me with all the information I need that the city will want to see, what I dont have is the floor plans for the hotel or restaurant though.. will that matter being that it is all one building? Or will the perimeter be accurate enough adding the nightclubs floor plan into the whole space and hatching it as the scope of work ?

Sorry for the lack of experience lol Gotta start somewhere !

The city has a web site called Vanmaps, it provides a birds eye view of the city with layers you can turn off showing property lines, streets, power lines, sewer lines ect..It also has tools like a measuring tape you can get the dimensions of any building. I am using that to get all my information. The building is a hotel, it has 3 sections on the main level. Restaurant, hotel lobby in the middle and nightclub on the other side, which I am working on. the second floor up is all hotel rooms. the space is about 5000 sq ft and has taken me around 30 hours to draft the interior, with no plan provided including measuring time. I have completed a set of the existing plan and a proposed floor plan. which the city has accepted. It is in the city of Vancouver..I feel like the Vanmaps site will provide me with all the information I need that the city will want to see, what I dont have is the floor plans for the hotel or restaurant though.. will that matter being that it is all one building? Or will the perimeter be accurate enough adding the nightclubs floor plan into the whole space and hatching it as the scope of work ?

Don't be sorry about inexperience, it is fleeting, so savor it. You know what they say, "Experience is something you will never have until after you need it".

sounds like a plan ! thanks bud

Ahhhhhhhhh "Vanmap", haven't heard that in years. That all started out as an AutoCAD application so if you talk nice to the GIS guys there you might be able to get dwgs already created for the start. Beware that using Vanmap and the measure tools on the web can get you close but not accurate.

If you are still trying to do this - here are some of the things that I do when vendors don't send CAD drawings.

Take a snapshot of the website, drawing, or whatever it is that you can get. (Ctrl + PrtScn)

Paste this into Notepad or GIMP or something that will allow you to select.

Select the area you want in your drawing - Ctrl + C then Ctrl + P into the drawing.

This will bring it in as a picture, but you can scale that picture if you know what one of the dimensions are. This will save you hours of re-draw time.

One could use the IMAGEATTACH command.