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Architectural support

Give licensed staff their drawing time back.

Architectural virtual assistant support takes the document-control and coordination load off registered architects and senior designers. The desk maintains drawing sets and revision history, processes redlines into the model or CAD file under your standards, assembles permit and bid packages, tracks submittals and RFIs through construction administration, and keeps transmittals and specification archives current. Every drawing, specification, and code interpretation is reviewed and sealed by your licensed professional.

Where this fits: This lane covers document control and coordination for a design practice — registers, redlines, transmittals, and permit tracking. For drawing and model production by phase, see architectural outsourcing; for contractor-side shop drawings, see CAD, BIM, and shop drawing support.

THE OPERATING HANDOFF

Define the source, recurring work, and approval boundary.

A reliable service lane starts with controlled inputs and a named client reviewer—not a broad list of tasks with unclear authority.

INPUTS

What the desk needs

CAD and BIM standards: layer, family, template, titleblock, and naming conventions
Current drawing set, sheet index, and revision control method
Named licensed reviewer and the redline approval path
Specification format, master specification source, and archive location
Jurisdiction list with submission portals and required package contents
Consultant list, coordination cadence, and transmittal standard

RECURRING WORK

What the desk maintains

Drawing set assembly, sheet index maintenance, and revision control
Redline processing into CAD or BIM under the practice's standards
Consultant drawing coordination and transmittal administration
Permit package assembly, resubmittal tracking, and comment logs
Submittal and RFI register maintenance through construction administration
Specification archiving, document version control, and project close records

CLIENT CONTROL

What stays with your team

All design decisions, drawing content, and code interpretation
Professional review, stamping, and sealing of every issued document
Official responses to authority comments, submittals, and RFIs
Consultant scope, contractual coordination, and client communication
Approval of CAD and BIM standards and any change to them

VISIBLE OUTPUTS

Review the exceptions, not another activity list.

The exact format is agreed during onboarding. These are the operating records the service is designed to keep current.

RECURRING OUTPUTS

Current drawing set with maintained sheet index and revision log
Redline completion status by sheet and reviewer
Permit and resubmittal tracker with authority comment log
Submittal and RFI register with aging and next owner
Consultant transmittal record and coordination status

REVIEW RHYTHM

Daily: redline queue, transmittals, and urgent authority comments
Weekly: submittal and RFI aging, permit status, and decisions-required list
Per issue: set assembly, index verification, and archive of the issued package
Monthly: standards compliance audit and document control review

IMPLEMENTATION SEQUENCE

Install one bounded workflow before expanding the scope.

Capture the standards

Document the layer, family, template, titleblock, and naming conventions the desk must follow, including how exceptions get raised.

Define the review gate

Name the licensed reviewer, the redline approval path, and the point at which work is released for stamping.

Pilot one project phase

Run one phase end to end so the standards, turnaround, and quality checks are proven before extending across live projects.

Install the registers

Stand up the submittal, RFI, permit, and transmittal registers with agreed fields, aging rules, and a weekly cutoff.

GOOD FIT WHEN

The workflow has an owner and a review point.

The practice has written CAD or BIM standards, or is willing to define them
A registered professional will review and seal all issued work
Redlines are legible and produced on a predictable cycle
Document control is a recognised bottleneck, not an afterthought

NOT THE RIGHT FIT

Authority or source information is missing.

Independent design judgment or code interpretation is expected
The work would constitute unlicensed practice of architecture
No licensed reviewer is available on the agreed cycle
Drawing standards change per project with nothing written down

COMMON QUESTIONS

What contractors ask before delegating this lane.

Answers describe how the service is scoped and where authority stays with your team.

What is an architectural virtual assistant?

An architectural virtual assistant is a remote specialist who handles the document-control and coordination work around a design practice: drawing set assembly, revision control, redline processing, permit package preparation, submittal and RFI registers, and transmittal administration. The role supports licensed staff. It does not replace them, and it does not make design or code decisions.

Does using an architectural VA count as unlicensed practice?

Not when the boundary is set correctly. The desk performs production and administrative work under the direction of your registered professional, who reviews, approves, seals, and issues every document. Design intent, code interpretation, and official responses stay with licensed staff. If a request would require independent professional judgment, the desk escalates instead of answering.

Can an architectural virtual assistant follow our CAD and BIM standards?

That is the starting condition, not an add-on. Onboarding captures your layer, family, template, titleblock, and naming conventions in writing, and the first pilot phase exists specifically to prove the desk can work inside them. Where standards are informal, the first deliverable is usually documenting what the practice already does.

Which software do you work in?

Most commonly AutoCAD, Revit, Bluebeam Revu, and SketchUp, alongside the project platforms a practice already uses for submittals and RFIs. The desk works in your licences and your file environment; CVA does not introduce tooling or move project data into systems you have not approved.

Can the desk handle construction administration?

It can maintain the administrative side: submittal and RFI registers, aging and next-owner tracking, transmittals, site observation report formatting, and the weekly decisions-required list. The technical review of a submittal and the official response to an RFI remain with your licensed team.

Do you support both residential and commercial practices?

Yes. The record types are consistent across sectors; the differences are usually submittal volume, consultant count, and jurisdiction complexity. The operating standard is set against your project mix during onboarding.