Permit set · Floor planWashington, DC2025
Single-Family Residence
A whole-house renovation in NW DC. Existing conditions, demo, and proposed plans coordinated across cellar, first, and second levels: full permit submission, comment-response ready.
Built by your clients · Revit BIM Management + AutoCAD · DMV
Your vision.Your ideas.Our hands.
A drafting partner for DMV architects, interior designers, and design-builders. We model in Revit or AutoCAD against our own 55-page production manual: your title block on every sheet, a US-hours PM running the engagement, and a team that has been on the buying side of 150+ permit sets in DC, MD, and VA.
0+DMV residential projects
$99/hrPartner-pack rate
9 daysFree Fit Brief · business days
SHEET A0100 · DMV RESIDENCEREVIT 2025
Currently drafting · 3 firms
FLOOR PLAN · A0100Three levels · permit set
Selected partners
Drafting capacity for firms across the DMV.
HALLDEN & CO
ARCHITECTURE
NORTHFIELD
DESIGN BUILD
KESTREL STUDIO
INTERIORS
M·R PARTNERS
ARCHITECTS
BRENNAN HOUSE
RESIDENTIAL
AXIS / EAST
STUDIO
* Placeholder marks: real client logos will replace these once partners approve attribution.
Most asked for
See an actual permit set we drafted.
Ten sheets from a real DC permit submission: floor plans, elevations, sections, wall sections, framing, the MEP plans, kitchen and bath interiors. De-identified. The fastest way to find out if our work is at your bar.
Services
Every kind of drawing. Drafted to our standards.
Architects, interior designers, and developers all need different documentation. We produce all of it, to one consistent house style with your title block on every sheet. Click any card to see a sample.
What we work in
Built for how you actually work.
We have our own Revit and AutoCAD seats and work off our own production manual. Your title block goes on the sheet. ArchiCAD is on the roadmap for firms running Graphisoft.
Revit
NativeNative BIM. Full template integration: title blocks, families, view templates, detail libraries.
BIMFamiliesView templates
AutoCAD
NativeSheet sets, layer standards, blocks, xref discipline. For firms on AutoCAD or hybrid workflows.
Sheet setsLayer standardsXrefs
ArchiCAD
Coming soonNative ArchiCAD modeling. For firms running on Graphisoft’s BIM workflow.
GraphisoftBIM
We bring
- Revit & AutoCAD seats
- The QA process
- A project manager
- Our production manual
You bring
- Your title block
- The project decisions
- Jurisdictional knowledge
- Your stamp
Selected work
Plans you can build from.
Sheets are de-identified; names and lots changed. Real drawings, drafted by us.
Permit set · ElevationsWashington, DC2025
Two-Sided Building Elevations
East and west elevations with full envelope callouts: siding, gutters, lighting, railing detail, and grade datum. All measurement and railing keys cross-referenced to schedules.
SMEPF coordinationWashington, DC2025
Whole-Floor Electrical Plan
Drafted from the engineer’s design intent: fixtures, GFCI outlets, switching, smoke and CO devices. Permit-only; final layout deferred to the licensed electrician.
Interior elevationsBethesda, MD2025
Kitchen: Four Interior Elevations
Cabinet by cabinet, appliance by appliance. Four interior elevations of a high-end residential kitchen with full appliance and millwork schedules, ready for the millworker.
Wall section · DetailArlington, VA2025
Building Wall Sections
Three full-height wall sections from foundation to roof, fully annotated for membrane, insulation, framing, and assembly types. Drafted in Revit to our standard wall-type library.
Reinforcement planSection3D isometricConcrete · cast-in-place
How you buy
Buy hours. Not headcount.
Hours-based packs you buy upfront. Subscribe when you need the capacity; pause when you don’t. Hours buy capacity, not a deliverable: we report progress weekly; you direct what gets drawn.
Your $1,000 trial credits toward any pack.If you move forward after the trial, the $1,000 you paid for it credits to whichever pack you pick next.
Trial
A 25-hour engagement covering standards onboarding plus a sample sheet, ending with a 30-minute review.
25hours
$40/hr
25hrs
$1,000
$40/hr
$1,000
60-day validity · one-time engagement
Payment plan
Single $1,000 payment at engagement start. Credits forward to your first pack if you continue.
- Standards onboarding + sample production
- Free Fit Brief in 2 business days
- Hourly drafting against the pack
- Auto-reload
- Dedicated project manager hours
Walk away if it isn’t a fit. Credits forward if it is.
Payment plan
Single $1,000 payment at engagement start. Credits forward to your first pack if you continue.
Project Pack
Sized for a single project: an addition, a renovation, or one deliverable cycle.
100hours
$35/hr
100hrs
$3,500
$35/hr
$3,500
180-day validity · split into 2 payments
Payment plan
2 payments of $1,750. Second auto-bills when you’re within 25% of the first half running out.
- Hourly drafting against the pack
- Auto-reload at 25% remaining
- Project-manager time billed at $35/hr (no included allotment)
- Message + meeting response SLA
- Rate lock + capacity guarantee
Payment plan
2 payments of $1,750. Second auto-bills when you’re within 25% of the first half running out.
Partner Pack
For firms with steady project flow. PM time and response SLAs are included.
250hours
$35$30/hr
250hrs
$7,500Save $1,250 (14% off)
$30/hr
$7,500Save $1,250 (14% off)
180-day validity · split into 2 payments
Payment plan
2 payments of $3,750. Second auto-bills when you’re within 25% of the first half running out.
- Hourly drafting against the pack
- Auto-reload at 25% remaining
- 15 hours of project management included ($450 value); $30/hr beyond
- Message response within 2 business days
- Meeting scheduled within 2 business days
- Named drafting team + quarterly review
- Rate lock + capacity guarantee
Payment plan
2 payments of $3,750. Second auto-bills when you’re within 25% of the first half running out.
Studio Pack
We act as your in-house drafting team. Named drafters, fastest response times, lowest rate per hour.
500hours
$35$27.50/hr
500hrs
$13,750Save $3,750 (21% off)
$27.50/hr
$13,750Save $3,750 (21% off)
12-month validity · split into 3 payments
Payment plan
3 payments of ~$4,583. Each auto-bills when you’re within 25% of the prior segment running out.
- Hourly drafting against the pack
- Auto-reload at 25% remaining
- 25 hours of project management included ($687.50 value); $27.50/hr beyond
- Message response within 1 business day
- Meeting scheduled within 1 business day
- Named drafting team + quarterly review
- Rate lock + capacity guarantee
Payment plan
3 payments of ~$4,583. Each auto-bills when you’re within 25% of the prior segment running out.
Auto-reload on by default. Unused hours roll forward up to 25% with renewal. Project-manager time over the included allotment is billed at your pack’s drafting rate. Payment plans available. If more than 30 days have passed since the last work session, a 5-hour restart fee applies to re-onboard your active sheet set.
On the record
The firms we draft for, on camera.
Architects and developers we work with, talking unscripted about what changed after they stopped trying to staff drafting in-house.
“They moved faster than we could load AutoCAD. We forgot what staffing drafting in-house even felt like.”
Marisol ChenPrincipal · Chen + Park Architecture12-unit townhouse · Washington DC
“Sheets came back ready to submit. First round. Every time.”
Daniel OkoyeDirector of Design · Forge StudioMixed-use renovation · Bethesda MD
“We used to lose Fridays to title-block fixes. Now Fridays are project intake calls.”
Riya KapoorFounder · North Field ArchitectsThree concurrent projects · Northern VA
* Placeholder videos and copy. Real testimonials coming soon.
Why this is different
We’ve been on your side of the table.
You get a pitch like this every week. Most are a contact form in Karachi or Manila with no idea what a Type V wood-frame row house has to do for DCRA. We were that firm’s client first.
Sixteen years. Roughly 150 properties developed across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Every set we draft for you, we’ve also had to build, permit, and sell ourselves. That’s not a credential; it’s how we know which lines on a drawing actually matter in the field.
0+Properties developed
0yrsOn the buying side
DC·MD·VAPermits pulled, not just drawn
How we staff your work
Built like a studio, not a freelance pool.
Every engagement runs the same way: a primary drafter on the work, a project manager on US hours, and a team lead who reviews each set before it leaves our hands. Longer engagements add a second drafter for continuity.
Studio · project staffing2 + 1
Project manager
US hours · reviews every set
Primary drafter
75% of work
Backup drafter
25% · long engagements
Continuity built in
On engagements that run longer than a few weeks, a second drafter shadows the work at a 75/25 split. Both know the manual and your title block. If the primary is out, sick, on vacation, even leaving for another role, the backup is already on the project and the work doesn’t restart.
No single point of failure on long engagements.
Project manager on US hours
Our team lead runs the work on US hours: same calendar, same channels. Partner and Studio packs include project-manager time on us, billed at your pack’s drafting rate beyond the included allotment so you only pay for what you use.
Talk daily, weekly, or only when you need to.
Built by clients, for clients
We’ve been the client on drafting work hundreds of times: about 150 properties over the last sixteen years. So when you ask what a permit set has to look like in DC, MD, or VA, we’ve been the ones submitting them.
16 years · 150 properties · DMV.
House style
Adopt our standards. Keep your title block.
You adopt our standards. Not the other way around. Most firms believe their conventions are unique, and arguing line weights for three weeks is how outsourced drafting dies. We default to our manual so the work ships, not so we win the taste debate.
Our 55-page production manual covers sheet organization, line weights, annotation, schedules, Revit-modeling rules, and the QC protocol we run before a sheet leaves our hands. Your title block stays yours; the conventions underneath are ours, which is exactly why we can swap a drafter without restarting the project, and why every drafter on your account ramps against the manual, not your firm’s institutional knowledge.
Sheets run the §17 self-check (screen plus an 11×17 print pass) before the team lead reviews the set. The §19 catalog names recurring style failures: composite drawing, phantom dimension, schedule orphan, title-block drift; so reviewers can cite a section number instead of arguing taste.
0Sections
0Pages of detail
0Named failure patterns
0Worked examples
The full manual ships with active engagements only. Sample pages are de-identified excerpts: cover, contents, title block, sheet composition, line weights, and three sheet-by-sheet examples.
How it starts
We listen. Then we earn the trial.
We don't optimize for a fast yes. We optimize for clients who stay.
01
Free · 1 hour
Discovery call
An actual conversation about your firm and the work coming up. We ask about your software, the projects on your desk, and where the bottleneck is. No deck.
02
Free · 2 business days
We send a Fit Brief
A written summary of what we heard on the call, where we think we’d plug in, and what a trial engagement would look like for your firm specifically.
03
$1,000 · 25 hours
Trial production
Standards onboarding plus actual sample drafting on a project we agreed on. The team lead runs the engagement and the sample is drafted to the manual. Closes with a 30-minute review of what we produced.
04
Your call
Decide what’s next
If you want to continue, the $1,000 trial credits to your first pack. If not, you keep the drawings, you keep the Fit Brief, and there’s no further commitment.
01
Free · 1 hour
Discovery call
An actual conversation about your firm and the work coming up. We ask about your software, the projects on your desk, and where the bottleneck is. No deck.
02
Free · 2 business days
We send a Fit Brief
A written summary of what we heard on the call, where we think we’d plug in, and what a trial engagement would look like for your firm specifically.
03
$1,000 · 25 hours
Trial production
Standards onboarding plus actual sample drafting on a project we agreed on. The team lead runs the engagement and the sample is drafted to the manual. Closes with a 30-minute review of what we produced.
04
Your call
Decide what’s next
If you want to continue, the $1,000 trial credits to your first pack. If not, you keep the drawings, you keep the Fit Brief, and there’s no further commitment.
The math
Letting go of the production work is the hard part. The math makes it worth it.
You bill what you bill: call it $150 to $250 an hour. Most architects we talk to spend 10 to 15 hours every week on sheet assembly, refining details, chasing line weights, formatting schedules.
A third of your week, gone to work that could be done to your standards for $30 an hour.
That’s the cost-savings story. The real story is what you do with the reclaimed hours.
Run your own math
Production hours per week15 hrs
Average project fee$70,000
Extra clients you could land per year5 clients
Your annual upside$327,500
Return on pack16×
Even with conservative numbers, the math runs overwhelmingly in your favor.
Outsourcing cost: hours × 50 weeks × $30 (Partner-pack rate). Revenue: extra clients × project fee. Time you reclaim but don’t bill is bonus on top.
One in-house drafter runs about $131,000 a year fully loaded. A Partner pack with us is $7,500. You pay for the drafting you actually need.
Hiring in-houseYear-one cost
With Potomac250 hrs · $30/hr
Base salaryMid-level drafter, DC metro · Pearl Meyer 2025 AEC comp data
$75,000Partner-pack rateCapacity by the pack · no payroll obligation
$30/hrBenefits, payroll tax, equipment, software~30% loaded cost
+ $22,500No overheadSoftware, hardware, taxes: our problem
$0RecruitingWithout retainer, your time · 60–100 billable hours lost
+ $8,000No recruitingActive in two weeks
$0Onboarding & ramp3–6 months at 30–50% productive output
+ $15,000Trial covers ramp25-hr Trial · credits forward to your first pack
$1,000Annual turnover risk14% × replacement cost · built into year-one math
+ $10,500No lock-inPause or change packs anytime
$0True year-one cost$131,000+
Partner pack · all-in$7,500
0+DMV residential projects
$99/hrPartner-pack rate · all-in
Contact
Your next permit set doesn't have to be yours.
Book a 1-hour discovery call. We listen, we ask about your firm, and within 2 business days we send a written Fit Brief. The trial is optional; you decide after the brief lands.
StudioPotomac DraftingServing DC · Maryland · Virginia · Remote across the US
Phone+1 (631) 880 · 0320Monday–Friday · 9am–6pm ET
Emailhello@potomacdrafting.comReplies within one business day
Schedule directlytidycal.com/potomacdrafting/discoveryBook a discovery slotFree · one hour · no template required