CAD Drafting Services
CAD drafting services/PDF to CAD conversion services

PDF to CAD Conversion Services

PDF to CAD conversion services redraw vector and scanned PDFs into layered, dimensioned DWG files, by hand where converters fail on scans and hand-drawn sheets. Send the PDF and our services return a working drawing, with a free quote within 24 hours.

Get a free quote

Get a free quote

Quote within 24 hours. You pay only if you accept the quote.

Project type
Upload drawings, PDFs or sketches
Freequote within 24 hours
3QA stages before delivery
Unlimitedrevisions within the agreed scope

A PDF to CAD conversion returns a working drawing in DWG

The result is a working drawing in DWG. The drawing is to scale, the walls, dimensions, text and symbols sit on their own named layers, the text is editable CAD text, the dimensions are real dimension objects, and doors, windows and other symbols are rebuilt as blocks with their line types.

✓To scale
✓Named layers
✓Editable CAD text
✓Real dimension objects
✓Blocks with their line types

The same converted drawing comes out in four file formats, and your quote names the ones you want.

DWGAutoCAD drawingThe working file, layered and to scale, for drafting the next revision in
DXFDrawing exchange formatThe same drawing for CAD software that does not open DWG files
RVTRevit modelA model built from the PDF, where the project is moving into Revit and out of 2D
PDFPrinted setA clean PDF set printed back out of the new drawing, for issuing and marking up

Layers are named to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) layer standards we draft to. Send your own CAD template and we'll build the drawing on that instead.

A vector PDF is cleaned up and a scan is redrawn

A conversion follows one of two paths, and the file decides which one. A vector PDF exported from CAD already holds geometry, so it is converted and then cleaned up line by line into a proper drawing. A scanned, photographed or hand-drawn sheet holds no geometry at all, so a drafter redraws it from scratch over the image.

PATH 01CORRECTION WORK
Vector PDFAlready holds geometry: converted, then cleaned up line by line.
PATH 02DRAFTING WORK
Scan, photo or hand drawingHolds no geometry: redrawn from scratch over the image.

The difference matters to you in one way: the second path is drafting work, and the first is correction work.

TURNAROUNDSmall drawing sets in 2 business days. Mid-size and larger projects from 3 business days, with the schedule fixed in your quote. The quote names the delivery date once we have seen the files.

A free PDF to CAD converter is enough for a simple vector PDF

A converter is enough when the PDF came out of CAD and the drawing is simple. AutoCAD imports that kind of file on its own, and what lands is geometry to trace over or measure from.

An automatic import has four limits, and all four are in Autodesk's own documentation.

01An import brings in geometry, fills, raster images and TrueType text.
02Text drawn in an SHX font arrives as line work, not as text, because a PDF recognizes only TrueType text objects.
03Raster images stay raster. Nothing in an import turns a scan into vector lines.
04A PDF stores coordinates at single precision and a DWG at double, so imported coordinates are rounded.
SO THE ANSWER TURNS ON WHAT YOU NEED BACK.
USA drawing that is layered, to scale and editable, or a file that was never vector to begin with: that is the work this page is about.Get a free quote
A CONVERTERGeometry to trace, out of a PDF that came from CAD: import it yourself, and you do not need us.

Vector PDFs, scans, images and old blueprints can all be converted

Any drawing a project still has on file is taken in for conversion. That covers vector PDFs exported from CAD, scanned PDFs and images such as TIFF and JPEG, hand drawings and old blueprints, and other CAD and image formats that have to end up as DWG.

VECTOR PDFVector PDFs, converted and cleaned up.
SCAN · IMAGEScanned PDFs and images, redrawn over the scan.
PHOTOPhotographs of drawings, where the whole sheet is in frame and readable.
BLUEPRINTHand drawings and old blueprints, redrawn to scale.
DGN · OTHEROther CAD and image formats, such as DGN, rebuilt as DWG files.
Not sure which path your file takes? Send it and we'll look.

A conversion is quoted from the files themselves

The fixed quote comes from the files themselves: the number of sheets, and which of the two paths each file takes. Cleaning up a vector PDF and redrawing a scan are different amounts of work for the same sheet, which is why an honest price waits until we have seen the files.

PER CONVERSIONFIXED QUOTE
Free quoteQuote within 24 hours, worked out from the files you send.
Send one sheet or a whole archive; the quote is free either way, and you pay only if you accept the quote.Each of the other services is priced on its own drivers; what a conversion costs lays them out.

A converted drawing is compared with the original before it is returned

Every check reads the new drawing back against the original sheet, at three quality assurance (QA) stages. The scale is set from a dimension on that same sheet.

QA 01The drafter checks the converted sheet
QA 02A second drafter compares it with the original
QA 03A lead reviews it before it is returned
We publish no accuracy percentage.A number like that says nothing about your sheet, and accurate here means the drawing matches the original you sent. Unlimited revisions within the agreed scope cover corrections against the original sheet.

Clients convert old PDF-only sets, record drawings and archive plans

Clients convert old sets that only exist as PDFs most. They also send as-built and record drawings of a building that is about to be altered, legacy floor plans and site plans out of the archive, and consultant or supplier sheets that arrive as PDFs in the middle of a live project. Architects, contractors, fabricators and owners all send them.

MOST OFTENOld sets that only exist as PDFs
02As-built and record drawings of a building about to be altered
03Legacy floor plans and site plans out of the archive
04Consultant or supplier sheets that arrive as PDFs mid-project
Converting a set is one service among our CAD drafting services.Where the building has changed since the drawings were made, the survey and the drawing of it are as-built drawings.Converted files that then need new sheets drawn in the same drawing are picked up by 2D drafting services.

PDF to CAD conversion: three short answers

Three questions come up before almost every conversion quote.

Yes.

A scan or a photo is redrawn by hand rather than converted, because there is no geometry in it to convert, and the whole sheet has to be in frame and readable.

Send a PDF for a quote