01 About Rafter & Plumb

Next Month, You’re Standing at the Permit Counter With Drawings That Make Sense

Rafter & Plumb is a small drafting desk at 8 Palmetto St in Brooklyn. We take the sketch and numbers you already have and turn them into a calm, readable set of plans. Here is who we are and how we work.

Send Us Your Sketch Call (518) 925-0101
A pencil floor-plan sketch on graph paper beside a tape measure and scale ruler at the drafting desk
Where it starts: graph paper, a tape and a phone photo.

02 The Desk

We Draw So You Don’t Have to Decode a Permit Checklist

Permit paperwork is where a lot of good projects stall. A contractor loses a week waiting on plans. A homeowner gets a rejection letter full of terms nobody explained. Rafter & Plumb exists to take that worry off the table. You hand us what you have, and we hand back something a plan examiner can follow.

We work remotely, which keeps the price down and lets us take jobs anywhere. Everything moves by email and PDF. The studio is in Brooklyn, and you reach a real person on the phone Monday to Friday, 8am to 5:30pm.

Most of our clients are contractors with a notebook of dimensions and homeowners planning a deck, an addition or a basement. Neither needs to know CAD. If a number on your sketch looks off, we call and read it back to you before we draw a line, so nothing gets guessed.

We are a drafting service, not a licensed design firm. We say so up front, and if your job needs a stamp from an architect or engineer, we tell you before you pay and format the set so they can review it without starting over.

03 What You Can Count On

Four Promises We Write Down Before We Start

01

The quote is the invoice

You get one flat fee in writing before any drawing begins. If the scope grows, we tell you first and you decide. Extra revision rounds are $95 each, and we say so at the start.

02

We read it back to you

Before drawing, we confirm what we understood from your sketch by phone or email. A wrong measurement caught on day one costs nothing. Caught at the permit counter, it costs weeks.

03

We say what we can’t do

We don’t stamp drawings and we can’t predict a building department’s decision. If your project needs a licensed seal, you hear it from us early, in plain words.

04

Your files are yours

You receive PDFs and editable DWG files by email once the invoice is paid. Take them to your contractor, your engineer or another drafter. No lock-in.

04 The Check

Every Set Gets Checked Four Times Before It Leaves Brooklyn

  1. A

    Against your sketch

    Every dimension traced back to a number you gave us.

  2. B

    Against the math

    Rooms, walls and heights add up, with no gaps and no overlaps.

  3. C

    Against the code

    Notes for the code that applies at your address, on their own sheet.

  4. D

    Against the checklist

    Sheet sizes, numbers and labels match what your building department asks for.

05 Is This Right for You

An Honest Look at Who We Help, and Who We Don’t

We’re a good match if…

  • You have a sketch, photos and rough measurements, however messy.
  • You’re a contractor who’d rather build than draw.
  • You’re planning a deck, addition, basement or renovation and want to know the price today.
  • You want to talk to a person who explains things plainly.

Look elsewhere if…

  • You need a licensed architect’s or engineer’s stamp on the drawings. We’ll format the set for them, but we can’t seal it.
  • You need a full custom design from a blank page. We draw what you’ve already decided.
  • You want a guarantee of how a building department will rule. Nobody honest can give you that.

Not sure which side of the list you’re on? Send the sketch and we’ll tell you straight.

Ask Before You Pay or call (518) 925-0101
Call the Desk