Questions and answers

Short answers to the questions design engineers ask before their first project.

What exactly do I send?

Two things: the architect's base drawing as DWG and the utility company's connection conditions. A design brief helps if you have one, and so does a room schedule (XLSX or PDF), because room use speeds everything up. Files over 95 MB go as a link instead of an attachment.

Is this the same as MEP drafting or outsourced electrical CAD?

It is the electrical part of it. MEP drafting bundles mechanical, electrical and plumbing; we do electrical only, and only for residential buildings: single-line diagrams, socket-outlet and lighting layouts, power distribution, earthing and lightning protection, and the bill of quantities. If you outsource electrical drawings elsewhere and want to compare, the sample sheets are there to download. Everything comes back as editable DWG, unstamped and unbranded, for the engineer who signs.

Can we outsource our residential electrical drafting to you?

Yes, that is the service: we work as your external drafting office. You send the architect's base drawing (DWG or DXF) and the utility's connection conditions; we return the complete electrical set and the bill of quantities, editable and in your title block. Per project, per drawing package, or as extra capacity when work peaks. The design decisions and the signature stay with you.

What do I get back?

The drawing sheets you selected in the order — from the site plan and the block diagram through the single-line diagrams of the distribution boards, the power distribution, socket-outlet and lighting layouts, to earthing and lightning protection and the typical details — plus the bill of quantities as a spreadsheet. Everything arrives as editable DWG with PDF, unstamped and unbranded.

Who signs the design?

You do. The sizing arrives done: cable cross-sections, circuit breakers and residual current devices are calculated from the actual current of each circuit, and the voltage drop is verified. What stays with the licensed engineer who signs is the review of those results, their application under the standards in force where the building is built, and the responsibility that comes with the signature. You adjust whatever you want in your own CAD before signing.

Which buildings does this work for?

Residential buildings of any size — from a single house to a multi-storey block or a whole estate. The method reconstructs rooms and apartments from the architect's plan, so it is built for dwellings; mixed buildings with commercial units, garages and common services are handled in the same set.

How long does it take?

Two working days for a house or a small building, up to five for a larger block or an estate, counted from the moment the base drawing has passed the check and you have confirmed the quote.

How is the price calculated?

By gross floor area, per square metre, with nothing hidden. You choose the scope when ordering — the full set or only the sheets you are missing — and the price applies to what you select. The exact figure is confirmed once we have seen the base drawing. Prices exclude VAT.

Is the first project really free?

Yes. If it is your first project with us and the building is up to 5,000 m², there is no payment and no card details. Everything after that is priced on request.

What must the base drawing contain?

Drawing units set (mm or cm), a closed polygon per room on a dedicated area layer, a room tag as a block with attributes (code and, ideally, room use), floors laid out separately along one axis with readable names, a wall layer and, if available, doors. No content on layer 0 and no distant junk entities. The better the base meets these, the faster and cheaper the work.

My base drawing does not meet all of that. Can it still be done?

Usually yes. On arrival we check drawing units, room polygons, room tags, floor layout and wall layers, and tell you exactly what is missing. Most gaps are easy to fix — an open room perimeter, a missing tag, a floor without a name. If something cannot be reconstructed from the file, you hear that before any work starts, not after.

Why do you insist on closed rooms and room tags?

Because every downstream count depends on them. Socket outlets and lighting points are placed per room and per room use; circuits are formed per room; the bill of quantities is derived by counting what each room contains. If a room perimeter is open, no rule can say which room an outlet next to a door belongs to, and from there on everything becomes manual guesswork.

Can I send a PDF instead of a DWG?

The work needs the vector geometry — walls, rooms, tags — so a DWG (or a DXF) is required. A PDF is useful as a reference alongside it, not instead of it.

In which language is the documentation produced?

In the language you choose when ordering: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Serbian or another on request. Text lives in the model, not in the drawing, so legends, title blocks and descriptions come out in the chosen language consistently across all sheets.

Which standards do the drawings follow?

The drawings follow the connection conditions of the utility and the practice of the trade described in the articles on the method. The references to national standards, and their application, are yours: they are replaced with those of the country where the building is built, and that equivalence is established by the engineer who signs there, not by whoever drafts.

How do you count the power of an apartment?

It is counted, not estimated: every socket outlet and every fixed appliance placed on the plan carries its power, the sum is the installed power of the apartment, and a diversity factor gives the demand that has to stay under the limit of the meter. The building's peak then follows the utility's methodology for the number of consumers. Part III of the method describes the whole chain on a real 38-apartment building.

Is the work automated?

Yes — from reading the base drawing to the calculations and the DWG sheets, the chain is a program written by us over the years. Automation does not move the finishing line: every deliverable is re-read by an engineer before it goes out, and the signature remains yours.

What happens with my files?

They are received on this site's server, accessible only to us, and deleted from the server as soon as we have downloaded them. The work itself is done on our workstation. Nothing is shared, published or reused for other projects; the examples on this site carry no project data.

Do you sign an NDA?

Everything you send is treated as confidential without any separate agreement. If your work requires a signed NDA, send us your own form and we sign it before you send the material.

How do I follow the order?

You get an order number and a tracking link the moment you submit. The link shows the status and delivers the files when they are ready — save it.

Can I see an example before ordering?

Yes. The case study shows one real residential building from base drawing to signature, with three sheets and the bill of quantities to download and open in your CAD. The articles on the method explain how such a set is derived.

I am not sure my case fits. What do I do?

Ask before you send anything. Describe the building and the base drawing in a few lines and we answer the same or next working day — whether it fits, what is missing, and what you would get.

How many power sockets and lights should each room have?

There is a working minimum by room type — about five sockets in a kitchen, three in a living room, two in a bedroom, one in a hallway or on a balcony, and a ceiling light in every room. But that minimum is only the floor; the real count follows the furniture. A bed wants a socket on each side, a desk one within reach, a TV wall a small group. We place each point where the furniture asks for it and tag it to its circuit, so the layout shows why every socket is where it is.

How is a single-line diagram derived from the floor plan?

Once every socket and light on the plan carries its circuit tag — board, unit, circuit type, number — the single-line diagram stops being a separate drawing. There is one circuit list, read off the plan, and the diagram is assembled from it: main breaker, cable size and load per circuit. Drawn apart it drifts from the plan; derived, the two always agree.

How is the bill of quantities counted from the drawings?

When every symbol carries its own item — code, description, unit — the bill of quantities is not written but read off the drawing: symbols counted by type, cable lengths summed by conductor cross-section. Change a wall or a circuit and the quantities move with the drawing, so the bill still matches the sheets after the third revision. Waste, vertical drops, prices and the common-sense check stay with the engineer.

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