See how much Drafter can save you
Estimated savings $900,000 a year, and 5.3full-time engineers’ worth of drawing time.
Step 1 Select your part complexity
Step 2 Adjust the values to get your custom results
Estimated savings per year
$900,000 USD
- The drawing hours Drafter saves, at $90 an hour, loaded: pay, benefits and overhead.$850,000
- Drawing errors that reach the shop cost scrap, rework and delay. Drafter prevents 50% of them, by Drafter's working figure. An estimate.$49,000
- Tolerances tighter than a part needs cost more to machine, and Drafter removes 50% of that premium. Counted once you give your annual part spend.
Engineering time saved per year
5.3 engineers
Full time: about 9,500 hours a year back to engineering.
- Making each new drawing. With Drafter, a simple one takes 20% of today's time, a typical one 25% and a complex one 30%.4,200 hours
- Checking each new drawing before release. With Drafter, 10% of today's time.2,700 hours
- Changing a drawing after release and checking it again. With Drafter, 25% of today's time, our estimate.2,500 hours
Share these numbers
The link keeps every number you changed, so whoever signs off sees your team, not ours.
/savings-calculator
Show the mathEvery line of the working, today and with Drafter, with your numbers in it. Change any assumption, and see where each one comes from.Open
| Item | Line | Working | Today | With Drafter | Saved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make new drawings | 1,500 drawings × 3.9 h each, from 20% simple at 1, 60% typical at 1 and 20% complex at 1. With Drafter, simple takes 2 of that time, typical 2 and complex 2 | 5,850 h | 1,605 h | 4,245 h |
| 2 | Check before release | 1,500 drawings × 1. With Drafter, 2 of that | 3,000 h | 300 h | 2,700 h |
| 3 | Revise after release | 1,500 drawings × 3 revisions × 3. With Drafter, 3 of that | 3,375 h | 844 h | 2,531 h |
| Drawing hours | 12,225 h | 2,749 h | 9,476 h | ||
| Engineers, full time | Hours ÷ 4 available a year | 6.8 | 1.5 | 5.3 | |
| Engineering time | Hours × $5 | $1,100,000 | $250,000 | $850,000 | |
| 4 | Errors that reach the shop Estimate | 1,500 drawings × 1 × ($3 scrap and remake + $3 engineering and inspection + $3 delay). Drafter prevents 2 of them | $98,000 | $49,000 | $49,000 |
| 5 | Over-tolerancing Estimate | $ of parts × 1 toleranced tighter than needed × 6 premium. Drafter removes 2 of it | Needs your spend | ||
| Savings a year | Engineering time, plus items 4 and 5 | $900,000 | |||
- 1Drafter's working figure, from conversations with engineering teams. We found no published figure, so change it to yours.
- 2Drafter's working figure for what Drafter changes, from Drafter's own sales model. Nobody outside Drafter has measured it, so change it to yours.
- 3Drafter's estimate. We found no published figure, so change it to yours.
- 42,080 hours, less 8 paid holidays (BLS, 2025), 16 vacation days after five years and 7 sick days (BLS, March 2026), is about 1,830. The Social Security Administration's worked example of a working year is 1,776.5. BLS holidays, BLS leave, SSA
- 5A mechanical engineer's median wage is $104,110 a year, $50.05 an hour (BLS, May 2025). Wages are 69.2% of what professional staff cost in pay and benefits (BLS, June 2026), which makes about $72 an hour. A quarter on top for overhead (desk, software, management) makes $90, Drafter's working figure. BLS wages, BLS pay and benefits
- 6Drafter's working figure, and a conservative one: cost-tolerance studies find machining to IT5 costs about six times IT13, about a quarter more for each grade tighter (Armillotta, 2020). Armillotta
How we calculate your savings
Your team’s numbers, times Drafter’s working figures for the time a drawing takes with Drafter. The results are an estimate, not a guarantee, and they come before Drafter’s subscription, which depends on your team.
Money saved
- Engineering time
- The drawing hours Drafter saves, at $90 an hour, loaded: pay, benefits and overhead.
- Fewer shop errors
- Drawing errors that reach the shop cost scrap, rework and delay. Drafter prevents 50% of them, by Drafter's working figure. An estimate.
- Tolerance savings
- Tolerances tighter than a part needs cost more to machine, and Drafter removes 50% of that premium. Counted once you give your annual part spend.
Time saved
- Making drawings
- Making each new drawing. With Drafter, a simple one takes 20% of today's time, a typical one 25% and a complex one 30%.
- Checking
- Checking each new drawing before release. With Drafter, 10% of today's time.
- Revising
- Changing a drawing after release and checking it again. With Drafter, 25% of today's time, our estimate.
- Engineers, full time
- Hours saved divided by the 1,800 hours an engineer is available in a year, after holidays and leave.
Where the figures come from
- Your team today
- Hours per drawing, checking and error rates are Drafter's working figures from conversations with engineering teams, because no published ones exist. Pay and working hours are from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Social Security Administration.
- With Drafter
- Drafter's own working figures for what Drafter changes. Nobody outside Drafter has measured them, so each is footnoted in the math, and each can be changed.