Finding the Best CAD Service in Austin, Texas

When you want the best results, you need the best partner. Looking at CAD work, there are a lot of companies to choose from. The problem is that a lot of them will overcharge, under-deliver, and ignore your requests.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to find the best CAD service in Austin, Texas. We’ll give you important criteria to consider, and a few avenues to look for different companies.

What is a CAD Service?

A CAD service is an outsourced company that handles various engineering and drafting work. They are a third-party outfit that you would sign a contract with and pay for various engineering.

The CAD service would do the engineering and drafting work that you assign to them. It could be as simple as creating a bracket, or as complicated as designing a full process line. Other times, you might choose a CAD service to digitize your old hand drawings or update your floorplans.

There are a lot of CAD service companies across the globe, but a lot of them are located outside of America, and few of them are in Austin, Texas. If you want to find the best CAD service in Austin, Texas, it’s a bit more difficult.

What makes the best CAD Service?

If you want to find the best CAD service near you, there are a few criteria to consider. Let’s go through some of the bigger decision-makers when it comes to finding the best CAD service for your company.

Turnaround Time

Almost every project that we deal with has a very specific timeline. When you’re facing aggressive schedules, you need a CAD service that can keep up and offers great turnaround times.

At CAD/CAM Services, we offer turnarounds as low as 24 hours for certain projects. We know that your timeline matters, and we don’t want to be the reason why you miss a delivery date.

Don’t let a CAD service talk you out of your proposed timeline. If they don’t have the manpower or expertise to keep up, that’s not your fault — it just means that maybe they’re not the right fit.

Typical Pricing

Pricing is going to vary a lot from project to project, but CAD service companies tend to stick with similar pricing across the board. Some companies start pretty heavy and overcharge for everything.

Other companies don’t have the right expertise and they undercharge for services — another indicator that you shouldn’t choose them.

The best CAD service in Austin, Texas will fall somewhere in the middle. They will still value the expertise that their team offers, but they won’t overcharge for their services.

After all, CAD services are there to help you save money and time on your project. If you have to overpay, then what’s the point?

Can Handle Various Projects

Versatility is a big selling point for top-level CAD services. This team of engineers and draftsmen needs to have a wide skillset so the CAD service can offer a lot of different projects.

For instance, the best CAD service might offer 3D scanning, digitization, raster to vector conversion, engineering, drafting, and floor plan services all under the same company.

Other companies will be pickier about the projects they accept. This means that their staff isn’t diverse and can’t handle a lot of different projects.

We’ve worked on countless projects over the decades, spanning across almost every industry, and highlighting a wide variety of different applications. The bottom line? We can handle a wide variety of projects and deliver the same CAD Perfect solution, no matter what.

Available Manpower

Next up, let’s talk about available manpower. This refers to how many people are on the team that can handle your project.

Most CAD services have dozens of engineers and draftsmen that are ready to take on projects. However, some of these services also have a running list of regular clients that occupy most of their staff.

You need a team that is able to handle your project and assign plenty of engineers. You should ask questions about the staffing during your initial screening call with the CAD service you’re talking to.

From past contracts, we know that it’s hard to estimate exactly how many engineers you’ll need. As the project picks up or slows down, that number will change. Having plenty of extra manpower is never a bad thing for a great CAD service.

Availability for Support

For your engineering company, there’s no telling when you’ll need support. The best CAD service in Austin, Texas will always be available to take your call, answer your email, and respond to your questions.

Let’s say there’s an urgent need for engineering support in the middle of the night. What are you supposed to do? If you pick a 24/7 engineering CAD outsource team, then you don’t have to worry about this.

We’re speaking from experience when we say that not all CAD services are there to help you. They might roll their eyes and ignore your call, then get back to work.

The best option will help you, no matter what time you reach out.

Willingness to Help

Going hand-in-hand with availability, what about willingness to help? Unfortunately, a lot of CAD services aren’t willing to go the extra mile. They view the contract as a very one-dimensional thing, and they’re just there to engineer and that’s it.

At CAD/CAM Services, we go above and beyond. We’re trying to build engineering partnerships, not just get one-off contracts. Our goal is to do such a great job, we’re the only name you think of next time you need CAD help.

In a lot of cases, one of our engineers can help answer your other questions that might not have to do with the project. We’re here to help, and we love talking shop with fellow engineers.

How Many CAD Programs They Use

As you probably know, there are plenty of CAD programs to choose from. Siemens NX, CATIA V5, SolidWorks, and Inventor are some of the more popular options used today. What you might not realize, is that these programs aren’t great at transferring files between themselves.

There are common file types, like STEP files, but these fall short in a lot of categories. Getting a STEP file doesn’t let you go through the feature tree and change an extrusion, for example. You’re stuck with the solid part and you have no way of efficiently changing it.

The best practice is to have the CAD service use the same CAD program that you use. If you have a master 3D plant layout in Siemens NX, then ask our team to do all the modeling and designing in NX. It gives you compatible files that can be dropped into your model with no issues.

Ask the CAD service account manager which CAD programs they use, and if they’re willing to use the same CAD program that your company uses. If they say no, you should think twice.

Reliability and Honesty

We hate to bring it up, but there’s a lot of dishonesty across the board in different CAD service companies. They’ll look to overcharge you, lie about how many hours they spent, and deliver a sub-par final product. Since you’re bound to them through a contract, it’s hard to get away.

You should only deal with companies that are upfront, honest, and reliable. When you have a deadline, you need to be confident in your CAD service.

At CAD/CAM Services, we have an open-door policy and we’re always going to be honest. You can visit our headquarters anytime in Austin, Texas, and we’ll have the conversation face-to-face. If we can’t do something, we’ll tell you. If a deadline would be too aggressive, we’ll let you know what that means.

The bottom line? We’re here to help you, not trick you. We earn our customers through hard work and delivering CAD Perfect drawings.

Finding the Best CAD Service in Austin, Texas

When you’re looking for the best CAD service in Austin, Texas, you have a few options. None of them are great, but it’s a good starting point.

Word of Mouth

Word of mouth is probably the biggest way to screen a CAD service. If you have a buddy in engineering who used a certain company and appreciated the service, then you might want to give them a try.

Testimonials are great for companies, and they can tell you a lot. Having first-hand experience means that you can learn a lot about the company.

Look Online

You could also do a Google search in your area. Looking for the best CAD service in Austin, Texas might take you to a few options. From there, you’ll have to do your own screening.

You can look through their site, see if they have a good blog, read more about the company, and look for case studies or testimonials. While you’re there, see what services they offer and learn if they’re the right partner for you.

Roll the Dice?

Another option is to roll the dice and try a company at random. This can lead to a disaster, though. If you can’t afford to be late or over budget, then this might be too risky.

Trust CAD/CAM Services

Another great option to find the best CAD service in Austin, Texas is to trust our team at CAD/CAM Services. We’ve been in business for decades, and we take a lot of pride in our work.

We’re a full-service CAD and CAM outsourced team. We have more than 100 engineers and draftsmen on our team, and we’re dedicated to delivering CAD Perfect drawings, every time.

We’re open 24/7, and always around to answer your questions. Our staff is diverse so we can handle a wide range of projects, and we offer a number of different services from 3D scanning to making full 3D digital twins of your operation.

Our pricing is fair, and we really focus on delivering the best turnaround times in the business. Our reliable team is here to help however we can. If you run into any issues, just let our owner Scott Shuppert know, and he’ll fix it for you.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for the best CAD service in Austin, Texas, you don’t need to look any further. Allow our team at CAD/CAM Services to show you why we’re the best around. Trust us with your 2D or 3D CAD project and we’ll exceed your expectations. Get a free quote today to get started.