What Does a Draftsperson Do?
- Tiffani Hardie
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Top 3 Reasons to Hire One for Your Home Design
What Is a Draftsperson?
I started a house design company with—and married—a draftsperson. He came up through the trades, building homes with his carpenter dad long before he ever picked up CAD or BIM software. He learned to read blueprints before he learned to create them.
After two years directing operations at Papa Draftsman, I’ve realized most people don’t actually know what a draftsperson is—and more surprisingly, how many people need one.
Maybe that’s because the role of a draftsperson can lead to a wide range of specialties: HVAC layout, site plans, civil engineering, mechanical parts—you name it. But there’s also a special kind of draftsperson who focuses on residential design, and they can provide the blueprints you need to get a building permit.
Here’s the short answer to a question we get all the time:
“So… you do what anarchitect does?”
Yes—up to 6,458 sq ft (600 m²) in Canada, as long as the building is:
No more than 3 storeys
Non-complex (think homes or small commercial buildings)
Not high-occupancy (like hospitals or stadiums)
What Types of Projects Can a Draftsperson Help With?
Custom homes
Renovations, reconfigurations & additions
Carriage houses & garden suites
Duplexes, triplexes & small multiplexes
Small commercial projects
As-built drawings
The Drafting Process
From Zoning Check to Permit-Ready Blueprints
Most draftspeople start by checking your zoning and hearing what you’re hoping to build. Sometimes the design fits within existing zoning; sometimes you’ll need a variance (permission to bend the rules a bit). Your draftsperson helps with both—drafting the drawings needed for a permit or a variance application.
And it’s more than just layout. Your blueprints will include:
Elevations (front, back, sides)
Site plan showing building placement
All the technical info a builder needs to break ground
For renos or additions—like new windows or wall changes—we’ll pull the original plans from the city and draw both “existing” and “proposed” layouts. It’s basically your LEGO instruction manual for building a house.
👉 Check out our process here for a better understanding.
How Much Do Drafting Services Cost in Canada?
Like any trade, you’ll want to get a quote—some charge by the square foot, some by the hour, and others by the project. Either way, they’ll need to understand your goals to price it properly. And yes, pricing can vary by tens of thousands for a custom home. It’s worth the time to shop around.
How House Design Has Evolved
From Hand Drafting to BIM and VR
Just 25–30 years ago, hand-drafting was still common in residential design. By the late '90s, CAD had taken over, and manual drafting faded out by the early 2000s.
Now? The standard is shifting again—to Building Information Modeling (BIM), where we create digital twins of buildings before they’re even built.
I recently met with SENTIO VR—they have a platform that lets you upload a Revit file into a VR headset and walk through the space. Yes—before construction even begins. They even use tools like Twinmotion to generate photorealistic renderings—complete with people swimming in your backyard pool and cars pulling into your driveway.
For anyone who struggles to visualize designs? You don’t have to anymore. Now you can experience your home before it exists.
Papa Draftsman is working on some big innovations to take this even further—but more on that another day.
How to Choose the Right Draftsperson for Your Home Project
Experience is key. But experience on-site is a game-changer.
A draftsperson with experience in house design who has worked in construction brings a whole different level of insight. They don’t just create nice-looking floor plans—they know how buildings go together in the real world. That means fewer headaches for your builder and a smoother, often more resource-conscious, build overall.
Top 3 Reasons to Hire a Draftsperson
For Your Next Build or Renovation
1. You can shop builders more effectively
Having permit-ready blueprints makes it easy to get clear, competitive quotes from multiple builders—so you can compare apples to apples and find the right fit for your budget and timeline.
2. It’s more affordable than hiring an architect
Unless you’re designing a museum or a hospital, you probably don’t need an architect. If you’ve been pinning dream home ideas for the past decade and now you’re ready to build—we’re your people. Drafting and design services are often 30–50% less than hiring an architect.
3. Direct collaboration—no broken telephone
Skip the game of telephone between contractors, architects, and draftspeople. When you work directly with us, we refine your design together, then prepare the technical drawings you’ll need for permits and construction.
Final Thoughts
You Might Not Need an Architect—But You Do Need a Plan
If your project is under 6,458 sq ft, you probably don’t need an architect.But you do need detailed, permit-ready plans—and a draftsperson who understands how homes are really built.
The right draftsperson brings together design, technical know-how, and builder-friendly drawings that help you move from vision to reality—without the red tape or runaway costs.
Let’s shape the spaces that shape your life.
