Price follows scope: building size, number of disciplines, condition of source files, level of detail, and deliverable format. A single-story as-built costs far less than a multi-story condo set. Send your files and we quote against them.
Drafting Services - Florida
A house on a canal in Naples and a warehouse near the Port of Jacksonville share almost nothing, except a plan reviewer who wants wind, flood, and structural information shown clearly on the sheets. Drafting Buddies provides drafting services in Florida for teams that need those sheets prepared cleanly and on schedule: architectural sets, permit drawings, Revit models, MEP and structural documentation, shop drawings, and as-builts. We take design intent from your architect, engineer, or contractor and turn it into coordinated CAD and BIM files. From our Austin headquarters, 100+ drafters have delivered 500+ projects since 2014, and qualifying jobs can move in 48 hours.
Review
Most states ask drawings to describe a building. Florida asks them to describe a building under load: wind pushing on the envelope, water rising toward the lowest floor, and salt air working on every exposed connection. That changes what a drafter has to keep track of.
Take a waterfront remodel. The plans must show the existing structure, the proposed work, and where both sit relative to the flood zone and its elevation datum. If those lines drift between the site plan, the floor plans, and the sections, a reviewer notices, and the permit comes back with comments instead of an approval.
Wind works the same way. Openings, roof assemblies, and structural connections carry notes and details that must agree from sheet to sheet, and product approval references have to match what the schedules say. In the high-velocity hurricane zone of South Florida, review is stricter still.
Then there is the code itself. Florida applies a statewide building code, currently the 8th Edition (2023), and cities and counties layer on amendments and their own submittal rules. Those rules vary by location, building type, and scope, so we draft to what your design team and jurisdiction specify. Code decisions and any signing and sealing stay with the licensed professionals of record. We prepare the drawings; we do not certify designs or promise approvals.
A waterfront remodel has to show the existing structure, the proposed work, and where both sit relative to the flood zone. Those lines have to agree from the site plan through the floor plans and sections.
Openings, roof assemblies, and structural connections carry notes and details that must agree from sheet to sheet, and product approval references have to match the schedules.
In the high-velocity hurricane zone of South Florida, review is stricter still. The same opening or connection cannot be described one way on one sheet and another way on the next.
Florida applies a statewide building code, currently the 8th Edition (2023), and cities and counties add amendments and submittal rules. We draft to what your design team and jurisdiction specify. We do not certify designs or promise approvals.
Service Index
Stage
Description
All stages
The everyday workhorse: plans, details, and schedules in clean, layered DWG that your team can keep editing.
Design
Floor plans, elevations, sections, and wall assemblies that let a builder price and frame the job without calling for clarifications.
Construction
The full working set a contractor builds from, with sheet organization that follows your office standards.
Permitting
Plans, site data, and required notes arranged for a specific building department's checklist, and updated fast when comments arrive.
Coordination
A shared model for projects where coordination matters more than any single sheet, with schedules and views that stay consistent.
Construction
Foundation, framing, and connection drawings that translate the engineer's calculations and markups into buildable detail.
Coordination
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing layouts sized to the architecture, so ductwork, panels, and risers meet reality before they meet the ceiling.
Fabrication
Trade-level detail for steel, railings, millwork, and other fabricated items, sized for shops that need dimensions and no guesswork.
Renovation
Field measurements, photos, and older records reconciled into a drawing set that shows the building as it actually stands.
Design
Models and visuals from existing drawings, useful for owners, HOAs, and design review boards who need to see the result first.
Renovation
Point cloud data modeled into Revit, best for complex or older buildings where tape-measure surveys fall short.
Looking at a single discipline? See our pages on architectural drafting, BIM services, or as-built drawings.
Project Types
Coastal and waterfront homes need site, elevation, and structural notes to line up. Additions and remodels need accurate existing-condition plans first.
Fast-moving buildouts depend on tidy plans, reflected ceiling plans, and MEP layouts that match a landlord's base building.
Repeating units, stacked systems, and phased construction reward consistent typical details and strict revision control across many sheets.
Renovations happen around live operations, so phasing plans, room-type drawings, and finish coordination matter as much as the base plans.
Dense mechanical and electrical systems and strict layout requirements make coordinated architectural, MEP, and structural sets essential.
Slab, racking, dock, and equipment layouts drive these sets, and expansions need as-builts that match the building on the ground.
Coverage
We work remotely, so distance is not a barrier. Here is how the state tends to divide by drafting need.
Region
Cities
Focus
Southeast coast
Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach
Waterfront residences, condominium towers, and hospitality renovations, where wind, flood, and dense review processes shape the drawing set.
Southwest Gulf
Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota
Custom coastal homes, additions to existing houses, and small commercial work, often starting with incomplete older plans that need as-builts.
Tampa Bay
Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater
Waterfront renovations, multifamily infill, and commercial interiors, and frequently redrafted plans from older buildings.
Central and North
Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee
Orlando's hospitality and attraction-adjacent work, Jacksonville's logistics and industrial space, and Tallahassee's institutional projects, each placing different weight on MEP, structural, and shop drawings.
Support
Capacity is the first thing. Range and plain communication follow: one organization across disciplines, questions asked early, and assumptions written down.
A firm with a permit deadline and three other jobs can hand us a set and keep its own people on design. We scale up for a rush and back down when the queue clears.
Architectural, structural, and MEP drafters sit in one organization, so a change to a wall does not orphan a duct or a footing. Revisions are logged, and comments from reviewers are answered sheet by sheet.
We ask questions early, list what we assumed, and tell you which dimensions need field verification. Engagements can be one project, overflow support, or a standing arrangement.
How We Work
Every job starts with PDFs, sketches, surveys, photos, a prior permit set, and jurisdiction comments. We note what is missing before drafting begins.
We agree on scope, formats, and a schedule before production starts.
Drafting or modeling follows your standards where you have them.
Before anything reaches you, a second person checks dimensions, callouts, and sheet-to-sheet consistency.
You review, we revise, and the final files arrive in the formats you asked for, typically DWG, RVT, IFC, or PDF, plus the sets themselves. Only formats that fit the agreed scope are delivered.
Before permit day
Older Florida homes and commercial buildings are often modified without updated drawings. We build accurate existing-condition sets, so the design starts from fact.
Some jurisdictions apply rules tied to the cost of work relative to a building's value. Clear scope drawings and phased plans help the design team present the project accurately.
Structural changes that never reach the mechanical set are a classic source of field conflicts. Coordinated updates close the gap.
Owner changes and plan review comments arrive in waves. Tracked revisions keep the whole set current instead of just one sheet.
Checklists differ by department, so we structure sets around the one you are filing with.
Scans and blueprints become editable CAD, freeing your team to revise instead of retrace.
Questions Florida clients ask
Price follows scope: building size, number of disciplines, condition of source files, level of detail, and deliverable format. A single-story as-built costs far less than a multi-story condo set. Send your files and we quote against them.
Next step
Send the plans, the sketch on the napkin, or the reviewer's comment letter. We will tell you what it takes to get to a clean, coordinated set, and how soon. Drafting Buddies works from Austin, Texas, and supports Florida projects from the Keys to the Panhandle.