Comparing drafting quotes is harder than it looks, because two firms quoting the same package are often quoting different work. Before comparing the numbers, make sure you are comparing the same scope.
The three common pricing models
Per sheet or per package. A fixed price against a defined deliverable. Best when the scope is clear and you want budget certainty. The risk is that anything not named in the scope becomes a variation.
Dedicated resource. You pay for a person, or several, for a month at a time. Best when you have continuous work and want capacity that learns your standards. The risk is paying for idle time in a quiet month.
Hourly. Simple, and appropriate for irregular or exploratory work. The risk is obvious: you carry the efficiency risk rather than the supplier.
What changes a price legitimately
A quote should move with the things that genuinely change effort:
- Drawing complexity, not just sheet count. A dense enlarged plan is not a site plan.
- Input quality. Clean CAD backgrounds cost less to work from than a scanned PDF at an angle.
- Whether you have documented standards or need them set up.
- How many review rounds are included.
- Whether the deliverable is drawings only or a coordinated model.
Where cheap quotes get expensive
A low price usually buys one of three things: a junior drafter with no supervision, no internal checking step, or a scope narrow enough that half the work becomes a variation later. All three land back on your desk. The honest comparison is not fee against fee, it is fee plus your own review time against fee plus your own review time.
Ask any prospective partner how much of your time they expect to need per package. A team that says none is either very good or not paying attention.
Questions that make quotes comparable
- What exactly is included at this price, sheet by sheet?
- How many revision rounds are covered before it becomes chargeable?
- What do you need from us, and in what format, for this price to hold?
- What is explicitly excluded?
- Who reviews the work internally before it is issued?
Budget for the first project differently
Your first package with any new partner costs more in your own time than the tenth will, because standards, templates and expectations are being established. Judge the relationship on the third project, not the first. If it is not getting cheaper in your own effort by then, something is wrong.
The useful measure is not price per sheet. It is the total cost of getting a set to issue, including everything you had to fix.