Hire a VA · 3D CAD designer VA
3D CAD designer virtual assistant: cost per part, per drawing and per revision
$8.00–$14.00 an hour · $1,280–$2,240 a month full-time
That's the agency example below for a dedicated 3D CAD designer VA working only for you: no recruitment or setup fee, billed monthly for hours worked. Part-time (80 hours) comes to $640–$1,120 a month.
On this page
- What this role draws, and what it doesn't
- The receipts: drafter, designer, VA
- Where a hire lands in $8–$14
- Price per part, per sheet, per revision
- One product release, priced
- Who approves what
- Calculator: your monthly CAD load
- Three businesses, worked through
- Software by type of work
- Licences, files and IP
- Numbers to track every week
- The extras on both sides
- How the agency example bills
- Tests before you hire
- The first month
- CAD terms, in one line each
- How to hire one here
- Questions about the cost
What this role draws, and what it doesn't
A 3D CAD designer VA turns your sketches, specs and markups into the files a product needs to get made: parametric part models, assemblies, 2D manufacturing drawings, bills of materials, supplier files and product images. It works in your CAD software, to your drawing standards, as one dedicated person on your team rather than a pool of freelancers.
This page prices that role for product, mechanical and industrial design: machined and sheet metal parts, plastic housings, machines and fixtures, furniture and millwork, consumer products and parts for 3D printing. Drafting for buildings (floor plans, Revit models, MEP and civil sheets, permit sets) is a different job with different tests; it has its own page, what an architecture and engineering VA costs.
| Hours a month | Typical use | Cost a month | Cost a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 h | Revisions and supplier files for a small product line; overflow before a launch | $320–$560 | $3,840–$6,720 |
| 80 h | One engineer's drafting and revision load, plus renderings | $640–$1,120 | $7,680–$13,440 |
| 160 h | A full production seat: new parts, drawings, ECOs and library upkeep every week | $1,280–$2,240 | $15,360–$26,880 |
What the VA doesn't do: decide the design, choose materials and tolerances on its own, sign off analysis, or certify a product. Your engineer does those and approves every drawing that leaves the building. The table further down sets out the split line by line.
The receipts: drafter, designer, VA
US government pay data has two job titles close to this role. Mechanical drafters turn engineers' designs into drawings; industrial designers develop the product itself. The first slip prices a full-time mechanical drafter at the national median, the second a full-time industrial designer, and both add what an employer pays on top of the wage. Then comes the agency line for the same production work done remotely.
Mechanical drafter, US
Full-time, per month
- Median pay ($71,550 a year)a$5,963
- Paid leave1$499
- Supplemental pay (overtime, bonuses)1$266
- Health and other insurance1$507
- Retirement plans1$185
- Payroll taxes and required insurance1$636
Monthly total$8,055
Per year$96,655
- About $46.48 an hour loaded (monthly total ÷ 173 hours). Drafters across all specialties had a median of $68,090 ($32.74 an hour). A CAD workstation and software seat are extra.
- Benefit costs are the average for private employers with 1–49 workers; your own package may differ.
Industrial designer, US
Full-time, per month
- Median pay ($83,910 a year)a$6,993
- Paid leave1$585
- Supplemental pay (overtime, bonuses)1$311
- Health and other insurance1$595
- Retirement plans1$217
- Payroll taxes and required insurance1$745
Monthly total$9,446
Per year$113,352
- About $54.51 an hour loaded. Shown because product firms often have their designers doing production CAD; this slip prices that hour.
Published by Outsourcing Insider, a VA MASTERS company. The agency slip uses VA MASTERS' published 3D CAD designer VA rates, shown because they're public; other agencies' prices vary. About us
3D CAD designer VA, agency example Parent company
VA MASTERS, Design & Creative Arts
- 160 hours at $8.00–$14.00$1,280–$2,240
- Recruitment or setup fee$0
Monthly total$1,280–$2,240
Per year$15,360–$26,880
- Part-time at 80 hours: $640–$1,120 a month. Works in your CAD seats; the subscriptions stay on your bill. Card or PayPal payments add 4%; USD bank transfer has no fee.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 median pay: mechanical drafters $71,550 a year; drafters (all specialties) $68,090 ($32.74 an hour); industrial designers $83,910 ($40.34 an hour). Checked Nov 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 6. Checked Oct 2026.
- SHRM, 'SHRM Releases 2025 Benchmarking Reports' press release (Oct 15, 2025). Checked Oct 2026.
- Agency example: VA MASTERS pricing page and its 3D CAD designer VA page, checked Oct 2026.
Read the drafter slip as the fair price of an in-house production seat. Many small product companies never hire a drafter: the design engineer or the founder does the drawings at night, and that hour is worth more than either slip. The calculator further down takes your own hourly cost.
Neither slip includes software, which costs the same whoever sits in the seat, or the in-house person's ability to walk onto the shop floor and measure a part. Anything that lives in a model, a drawing, a BOM or a supplier email can move to a remote seat; holding the part in your hand can't.
Where a hire lands in $8.00–$14.00
The range is wide because the role is. Someone who redraws legacy prints into your template is a different hire from someone who models injection-molded housings with correct draft and wall thickness. The agency example doesn't publish fixed steps inside the range, so treat this as what moves a candidate up or down, not as a price list:
| Work mix | What it asks of the person | Where in the range |
|---|---|---|
| 2D cleanup, conversions, simple parts | Clean drafting habits, your template and layer rules, careful checking | Lower part |
| Parametric parts, assemblies, detail drawings | Models that rebuild after a change, mates that hold, drawings a machinist can read | Middle |
| GD&T-heavy drawings, plastics, sheet metal for production | Knowing how parts are machined, molded and bent, and asking when the spec is unclear | Upper part |
| Complex surfaces, high-end renderings, CATIA, Creo or NX | Specialist software and a portfolio to prove it | Top, and fewer candidates |
The money between the bottom and the top of the range at full time is $960 a month. One drawing that goes to a shop with a wrong dimension can cost more than that in scrap and lost days, so for production drawings pay for the checking habits, not the lowest rate.
Price per part, per sheet, per revision
The VA's cost is the rate times the minutes. The minutes below are example assumptions for a VA who already knows your software and standards, working from clear inputs. Messy sketches, missing dimensions and a template that changes every project all add time. Time your first month and put your own minutes in.
| Task | What's in it | Minutes (example) | Cost each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple machined part | Modelled from a dimensioned sketch: feature tree named, material and mass properties set, ready for a drawing | 45 | $6.00–$10.50 |
| Sheet metal part | Bends, reliefs and K-factor from your shop's table, flat pattern and DXF for the laser | 60 | $8.00–$14.00 |
| Plastic housing part | Shell, draft, ribs and bosses from your engineer's layout and wall-thickness rules | 180 | $24.00–$42.00 |
| Assembly of about 25 parts | Parts mated, purchased parts placed from supplier models, interference check run and reported | 240 | $32.00–$56.00 |
| Detail drawing, one sheet | Views, sections, dimensions and the tolerances and GD&T your engineer specified, title block filled | 60 | $8.00–$14.00 |
| Assembly drawing with BOM | Exploded or section views, balloons and the bill of materials table to your template | 90 | $12.00–$21.00 |
| Revision on one part and its drawing | Model changed from the change request, revision block and history updated, PDF reissued | 30 | $4.00–$7.00 |
| BOM into your ERP or PLM template | Part numbers, descriptions, quantities and materials checked against the model, one assembly | 30 | $4.00–$7.00 |
| File conversion | STEP, IGES, DXF, STL or 3D PDF exported, reopened and checked for missing geometry | 10 | $1.33–$2.33 |
| Product rendering, one view | Materials, colours and lighting from your spec, background and resolution for web or print | 60 | $8.00–$14.00 |
| Exploded view for a manual | Step views with part callouts for an assembly or service guide | 60 | $8.00–$14.00 |
| Legacy drawing to standard | Old DWG or scanned PDF redrawn or cleaned up into your current template, layers and title block | 30 | $4.00–$7.00 |
| Part from measurements | Modelled from your caliper measurements, photos or scan data, with questions listed for anything unclear | 120 | $16.00–$28.00 |
Two rows deserve a second look. The revision row is where a remote seat earns most of its keep: change requests are small, frequent and boring, and they pile up behind new design work. At the example 30 minutes, clearing 40 revisions a month costs $160–$280. And the drawing row is where cheap gets expensive: a sheet your checker sends back costs its minutes twice, plus your checker's time. Count returned sheets, not just hours billed.
One product release, priced
Here is one example: a new product taken from your engineer's layout to a release package. It has 32 custom parts (30 machined or sheet metal, two plastic housings), four assemblies, a full drawing set, BOMs, supplier files and launch images. The counts and minutes are example assumptions.
One product release, VA time
Example: 32 custom parts, 4 assemblies
- Custom machined and sheet metal parts modelled, 30 × 45 min22.5 h
- Plastic housing parts modelled, 2 × 180 min6.0 h
- Subassemblies and the top assembly, mated and checked, 4 × 120 min8.0 h
- Detail drawing sheets, 32 × 60 min32.0 h
- Assembly drawings with BOM and balloons, 4 × 90 min6.0 h
- BOMs into your ERP import template, 4 × 30 min2.0 h
- STEP and DXF files for suppliers, 32 × 10 min5.3 h
- Product renderings, 6 × 60 min6.0 h
- Exploded views for the assembly manual, 2 × 60 min2.0 h
VA time89.8 h · $719–$1,258
Per custom part$22–$39
- Not on the slip: your engineer's design work, the review of every drawing, prototypes, testing and any certification. Those stay with your team and your test lab.
At the in-house mechanical drafter's loaded rate, the same 90 hours cost about $4,175; at the industrial designer's, about $4,897. The difference is real, but for most product teams the bigger number is the calendar. When the drawing set waits for the engineer's free evenings, the release slips by weeks. A VA turning the engineer's layout into drawings while the engineer moves on to the next problem is how the release gets shorter.
The slip also shows where the hours go: about two-fifths into drawings. If your engineers already model well but hate drawings, a part-time VA on drawings, revisions and supplier files alone may be all you need.
Who approves what
Put this table in the VA's first-day guide. The VA prepares; your engineer decides, checks and releases. Where your product needs a professional engineer's stamp, a certification mark or a safety listing, that work and that responsibility stay with your people and the bodies that issue them.
| The VA does | Your engineer or compliance lead does |
|---|---|
| Models parts and assemblies from your sketches, layouts and specs | Makes every design decision: geometry, function, materials |
| Places the tolerances, fits and GD&T your engineer specifies | Sets tolerances and datums and owns the tolerance stack |
| Can set up a simulation study your engineer defines and export the results | Checks every FEA or stress result and signs off the analysis |
| Prepares drawings and the release package, checked against your list | Approves each drawing and releases it; stamps it where a stamp is required |
| Updates models and drawings from approved change requests | Approves the change and decides which parts and stock it affects |
| Keeps test reports and certificates filed with the right revision | Decides which standards apply (CE, UL, ISO and others) and deals with the test lab and certifier |
| Sends files to suppliers you've approved | Chooses suppliers and agrees price and terms |
In practice: the approval block on every drawing carries your engineer's name, never the VA's; no drawing goes to a shop until it's released in your PDM system or folder; and nothing on a datasheet or a box says a product meets a standard unless your compliance lead decides it does.
Calculator: your monthly CAD load
Count one normal month: new parts, drawing sheets, revisions, renderings and file exports. The calculator turns them into VA hours at this page's example minutes and prices them at the agency example rate, then compares the same hours at your own people's cost.
- VA hours this adds up to, per month–
- VA cost per month (agency example)–
- The same hours at your cost–
- Difference per month–
- Seat that fits–
With the starting numbers the load comes to about 66 hours, which fits a part-time block with room for library upkeep and questions. Leave that room: a VA booked at 100% on the counted tasks has no time for the uncounted ones, and there are always some.
Three businesses, worked through
Example businesses with example volumes, priced at the agency example rate:
Hardware startup
Two founders, one product in development
- CAD VA, 40 hours a month$320–$560
Per month$320–$560
Per year$3,840–$6,720
- Prototype revisions, STL files for the printer, drawings for the first machined parts and renderings for the crowdfunding page. The founders keep the design.
Fabrication job shop
Sheet metal and welding, ~40 quotes a month
- CAD VA, 80 hours a month$640–$1,120
Per month$640–$1,120
Per quote, at 40 a month$16.00–$28.00
- Customer sketches and PDFs turned into models, flat patterns and DXFs for the laser, shop drawings for the welders and as-built updates. The estimator prices; the shop lead checks.
Product company
Six engineers, two product lines
- CAD VA, 160 hours a month$1,280–$2,240
Per month$1,280–$2,240
Per engineer supported$213–$373
- Detail drawings, change requests, BOMs into the ERP, the standard parts library and service manual views, so the engineers model and decide instead.
Compare each total with the loaded drafter slip ($8,055 a month). The startup pays less a month than the drafter's payroll taxes and benefits alone, for the work it would otherwise do itself at night. The product company pays for a full seat less than half of what one in-house drafter costs. None of the three removes the checking: budget an hour or two a week for questions and drawing review, more in the first month.
Software by type of work
Most candidates list five or six programs. What matters is whether they've done your kind of part in your program. The rate doesn't change with the software in the agency example; how many candidates you see does.
| Work | VA tasks | Usual software | Stays with your team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machined parts and machines | Parts, assemblies, detail and assembly drawings, BOMs, standard parts library | SolidWorks, Inventor, Creo, NX, Fusion 360 | Design, tolerances, material choice, release |
| Sheet metal and fabrication | Parts with bends from your shop's table, flat patterns, DXFs, weldment drawings | SolidWorks, Inventor, AutoCAD | Bend tables, weld specs, what the shop can make |
| Plastic and consumer products | Housings with draft, ribs and bosses from your layout; renderings for review and marketing | SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Creo, Rhino, KeyShot | Wall-thickness and draft rules, toolmaker questions, product claims |
| Furniture and millwork | Models, shop drawings, cut lists and client presentation images | Rhino, SketchUp, SolidWorks, AutoCAD | Joinery decisions, loads, finishes and pricing |
| 2D drafting and legacy drawings | Old prints redrawn to your template, layer and title-block cleanup, DWG and DXF upkeep | AutoCAD, DraftSight | Which old revision is the right one |
| 3D printing and prototypes | STL and 3MF exports, files checked for gaps and thin walls, print orientation notes | Fusion 360, SolidWorks, slicer software | Material and process choice, test results |
| Visuals | Product renderings, exploded views and simple animations from approved models | KeyShot, V-Ray, Blender, built-in renderers | What the images claim about the product |
Specialist platforms such as CATIA or NX narrow the candidate pool; say so in the request so the shortlist is built around it. If marketing images are the main job rather than an extra, compare a design hire; our Canva VA cost page covers the 2D side.
Licences, files and IP
The hourly rate covers the person, not the software. CAD seats, rendering tools, PDM or PLM systems and cloud storage bill you per plan or per named user, whoever does the work. The licences are yours, and the VA works in your seats under your account, the same as an employee would. Before you compare totals, check your CAD vendor's licence terms on a team member using a seat outside your office, and whether one more named user moves you to a different plan.
Keep the files on your side. The VA opens models and drawings in your PDM vault, your cloud workspace or through a remote desktop into your machines, never on a personal copy of your library. Give a named login with only the projects the role needs, two-factor login where your tools offer it, and no access to payments or supplier accounts beyond sending files. Our guide on giving a VA access to accounts walks through it. Remove access the day the role ends; the files never left.
Design files are often your most valuable asset, so put the ownership in writing before the first file is shared. A confidentiality agreement and a clause saying that everything the VA creates for you belongs to your company are the usual pair; your attorney writes them for your situation, and you check that the agency's contract with you says the same. If any of your parts are covered by export-control rules (in the US, ITAR or the EAR), sharing their technical data with someone in another country can need government permission: check with counsel before those files go anywhere.
Test one technical thing during the trial: open your largest assembly over the VA's connection. If it takes minutes, fix the setup (a remote desktop near your vault, a lighter configuration) before you judge the person.
Numbers to track every week
CAD work is easy to measure, because every model and drawing has a revision and a check. Ask for these in a one-page weekly report. Set your own targets; there's no honest industry benchmark to copy.
| Number | How it's counted | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Revision turnaround | Hours from approved change request to reissued drawing | Whether changes still wait behind new work |
| Sheets returned by the checker | Drawings sent back with wrong or missing dimensions, notes or views | The real cost of a sheet, checking included |
| Models that fail to rebuild | Parts or assemblies with errors after a dimension change | Whether models are built to be edited |
| BOM errors found downstream | Wrong quantities or part numbers caught by purchasing or the shop | Whether BOMs are checked against the model |
| Supplier questions per drawing | Calls or emails from shops asking what a drawing means | Whether drawings can be made from without help |
| Parts released | Models and drawings released this week | Output, read together with the four above |
| Engineer hours on drafting | Your engineers' own estimate, once a month | Whether the role does what you hired it for |
The extras on both sides
| Cost | In-house drafter or designer | 3D CAD designer VA |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring | Ads, interviews, a CAD test, weeks of an engineer's time | No recruitment fee; you interview a tested shortlist |
| Workstation | A CAD-capable computer, graphics card and monitors, which you buy | The VA's own computer, or a remote desktop into yours |
| Software seat | One more subscription | One more subscription |
| Shop floor and samples | Can measure a part, talk to the machinist, see the prototype | Works from your measurements, photos and scans |
| Sick days and holidays | Paid, and the drawings wait | Billed for hours worked only; agree cover in advance |
| If it doesn't work out | A new hiring round | 30-day trial, then 30 days' notice; replacement at no extra cost (agency example) |
How the agency example bills
- Billed monthly after the work, for hours worked only
- Nothing to pay before you choose your hire
- 30-day trial with each new hire: end it right away, no notice
- After the trial, 30 days' written notice
- Replacement at no extra cost
- A one-time advance payment once you choose your hire, credited against your first invoices and refundable
- Recruitment, placement or setup fee: None
- Bank transfer in USD: No processing fee
- Credit card or PayPal: 4% processing fee
Tests before you hire
A portfolio shows what someone made with unlimited time and help. A short test in your software shows what they make with your inputs. Run these on your shortlist, paid or not as the agency's process allows.
Modelling test (45 minutes):
- Part from a drawing: a dimensioned 2D drawing of one real part from a finished product. Modelled in your software. Then change two key dimensions: does the model update, or break?
- Feature tree: are features named, sketches fully defined and the design intent clear to the next person who opens the file?
- Manufacturing sense: one feature that can't be made as drawn (a sharp inside corner on a milled pocket, no draft on a molded wall). The right response is a question or a note, not a silent fix.
Drawing test (30 minutes):
- Detail drawing: the same part, dimensioned for machining in your template, with the tolerances you give them. Check for missing and doubled dimensions, the right views and a clean title block.
- Revision: a marked-up PDF with five changes. Picked up, revision block updated, nothing else touched.
One question for every candidate: "The engineer is away and the shop needs the drawing today; one tolerance is missing. Would you add one?" The right answer is no: flag it, hold the release and wait. Our interview questions template has more.
The first month
| Week | 3D CAD designer VA | You |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Learns your template, part numbering, folder or PDM rules and standard parts on one live product | Seats, logins, the approval table, a 15-minute daily handover |
| 2 | Revisions and file exports on that product, every drawing checked | Check everything; write repeat mistakes into the drafting standard |
| 3 | First new parts and detail drawings; first BOM into your ERP | Spot-check instead of checking everything if returned sheets are falling |
| 4 | First weekly report with the numbers above | Agree turnaround times and targets for month two |
CAD terms, in one line each
Useful for the job description and for checking a candidate knows the work.
- Parametric model
- A model driven by dimensions and relations, so changing one value updates the part.
- Design intent
- How a model is built so that it changes the way the designer meant it to.
- GD&T
- Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing: symbols that say how much a feature's form and position may vary (ASME Y14.5 in the US).
- Datum
- The reference surface or axis that a part is measured from.
- BOM (bill of materials)
- The list of parts, quantities and materials in an assembly.
- ECO / ECN
- Engineering change order or notice: the approved request behind a revision.
- Flat pattern
- The unfolded shape of a sheet metal part, cut before it's bent.
- STEP
- A neutral 3D file format that most CAD programs can open, used to send models to suppliers.
- PDM / PLM
- Systems that hold CAD files, revisions and approvals in one controlled place.
How to hire a 3D CAD designer VA here
Requests from this site go to our recruiting partner, the agency in the example above, at $8.00–$14.00 an hour:
- Tell us the work: your software, what you make, the hours to cover and the tasks from this page.
- Meet a shortlist: candidates with product and mechanical CAD backgrounds, with a practical test in your software, usually in about 2 business days.
- Choose and start: nothing is paid before you choose; billing is monthly, after the work, for hours worked.
The trade-offs: an agency costs more per hour than hiring a freelance drafter yourself, in exchange for screening, payroll handling and free replacement. The first weeks need your engineer's time for standards, checking and the daily handover, and a remote seat can't touch the part.
More: job description templates, part-time vs full-time VA cost, VA vs freelancer vs agency and outsourcing vs hiring in-house.
Questions people ask about the cost
How much does a 3D CAD designer virtual assistant cost?
In the agency example on this page (our parent company's published rates), a dedicated 3D CAD designer VA costs $8–$14 an hour: $320–$560 a month for 40 hours, $640–$1,120 for 80 hours and $1,280–$2,240 for 160 hours, with no recruitment or setup fee. Drawing cleanup and file conversions sit lower in the range; GD&T-heavy production drawings, plastic parts and specialist software such as CATIA or NX sit higher.
How does that compare with an in-house mechanical drafter?
The US median pay for mechanical drafters was $71,550 a year in May 2025, and for drafters across all specialties $68,090 ($32.74 an hour), according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Payroll taxes and benefits come on top; the slip on this page adds them line by line from BLS employer cost data. A full-time CAD VA in the agency example costs $15,360–$26,880 for 1,920 hours a year. An in-house drafter can walk the shop floor and measure a part; a VA works from your measurements and photos.
And against an industrial designer?
Industrial designers had a US median of $83,910 a year ($40.34 an hour) in May 2025 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook), before payroll taxes and benefits. That job covers developing the product itself. A CAD VA isn't a replacement for that judgment; it takes the modelling, drawings, revisions and files off the designer's or engineer's desk.
What does one part, one drawing or one revision cost in VA time?
Rate times minutes. At this page's example times, a simple machined part modelled from a dimensioned sketch (45 minutes) costs $6.00–$10.50, a one-sheet detail drawing (60 minutes) $8–$14, and a revision on one part and its drawing (30 minutes) $4.00–$7.00. Plastic housings, large assemblies and messy inputs take longer. Time your own first month and use your minutes instead.
What does a whole product release cost?
The example release on this page (32 custom parts, four assemblies, 32 drawing sheets, BOMs, supplier files, renderings and manual views) takes about 90 hours of VA time, roughly $719–$1,258, or about $22–$39 per custom part. Your engineer's design and review time, prototypes, testing and certification are not included and stay with your team.
Will the VA approve or stamp our drawings?
No. The VA prepares models and drawings from your sketches and specs; your engineer approves every drawing and releases it, and where a professional engineer's stamp is required, only that engineer applies it. The VA can set up a simulation your engineer defines, but your engineer checks every FEA or stress result. Which standards and certifications apply to a product (CE, UL, ISO and others) is for your compliance lead to decide.
Which CAD software can a 3D CAD designer VA use?
Common ones are SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Inventor, AutoCAD, Creo, NX, CATIA and Rhino for modelling and drawings, and KeyShot, V-Ray or Blender for renderings. Most candidates know several. Ask for a short test in your own program on your kind of part; specialist platforms narrow the shortlist but don't change the agency example's rate.
Who pays for SolidWorks, Fusion 360 or the other licences?
You do, as you would for an employee. The hourly rate covers the person; CAD seats, rendering tools and PDM or PLM systems bill you per plan or per named user. The licences belong to your business and the VA works in your seats. Check your CAD vendor's licence terms on a team member using a seat outside your office.
Who owns the designs, and how do I protect them?
Your business should. The usual setup is a confidentiality agreement and a clause saying everything the VA creates for you belongs to your company; your attorney writes them for your situation. Keep files in your own vault or cloud workspace, give the VA a named login with only the projects it needs, and remove access the day the role ends. If any parts are export-controlled, check with counsel before sharing their files abroad.
Is this the same as an architectural drafting VA?
No. This page covers product, mechanical and industrial design: parts, assemblies, manufacturing drawings, BOMs and product images. Drafting for buildings (floor plans, Revit models, MEP and civil sheets, permit sets) is a different role with different tests, priced on our architecture and engineering VA page.
Should I hire part-time or full-time?
Count it from your monthly volume. In this page's calculator, 20 new parts, 25 drawing sheets, 30 revisions, four renderings and 40 file exports a month come to about 66 hours, which fits an 80-hour block ($640–$1,120 in the agency example). A team releasing a new product every quarter while keeping older lines up to date usually needs 160 hours.
Are there extra fees, when do I pay, and can I cancel?
In the agency example there is no recruitment, placement or setup fee and no fee for USD bank transfers; card or PayPal payments carry a 4% processing fee. A one-time advance payment is due once you choose your hire, credited against your first invoices and refundable. Billing is monthly after the work, for hours worked only. Each new hire has a 30-day trial you can end right away; after that, 30 days' written notice applies, and a replacement is provided at no extra cost. First candidates usually arrive in about 2 business days.