Complete working drawing set
Deliverable: Plan, two elevations, a section and two details for a single-storey building, on a disciplined layer standard, fully dimensioned and plotted to scale as a PDF set.
Course
AutoCAD for Civil Engineering
Civil drafting in AutoCAD taught the way a site office judges a drawing — correct layers, real dimensioning, plotted to scale and readable by the person building from it.
- Duration: 3 months
- Classroom · Online live
- Level: beginner to advanced
What you will be able to do
- Set up a drawing with correct units, scale and title block
- Organise work on a disciplined layer standard rather than by colour habit
- Produce plans, elevations, sections and details of a small building
- Dimension and annotate so the drawing needs no verbal explanation
- Draw contours and a basic site plan from survey coordinates
- Plot to scale, to PDF and to paper, correctly every time
Who this course is for
- Civil engineering students, diploma holders and graduates
- Site engineers and supervisors who need to read and produce drawings
- Draughtsmen moving from manual drafting to CAD
- No prior CAD experience required
Syllabus
6 modules · 3 months
Module 1. Drawing setup and discipline
- Units, limits and model space versus paper space
- Layers, linetypes and lineweights as a standard
- Templates and title blocks
- File naming and drawing registers
Module 2. Drafting essentials
- Lines, polylines, arcs and precise input
- Object snaps, tracking and drawing accurately by coordinate
- Modify tools — offset, trim, fillet, array
- Blocks, attributes and a reusable library
Module 3. Building drawings
- Plans — walls, openings, fixtures
- Elevations derived from the plan
- Sections and where to cut them
- Details at larger scale and their references
Module 4. Annotation and dimensioning
- Dimension styles and annotative scaling
- Text styles, leaders and notes
- Hatching, materials and legends
- Schedules — doors, windows and finishes
Module 5. Site and survey work
- Importing survey points and coordinate data
- Contours, levels and spot heights
- Site plan, setting out and grid references
- Areas, quantities and taking off from a drawing
Module 6. Output and coordination
- Layouts, viewports and viewport scales
- Plotting to PDF and to paper at true scale
- External references and sharing a drawing set
- Revision clouds, revision tables and issuing a drawing
Tools and technologies you will use
- AutoCAD
- Layer standards and templates
- Survey coordinate data
- PDF and plotter output
Projects you will build
Site plan from survey data
Deliverable: A site plan generated from supplied survey coordinates with contours, levels and a setting-out grid, with areas calculated from the drawing.
Revision and issue
Deliverable: A drawing revised against a written change instruction, with revision clouds, an updated revision table and a correctly issued PDF, demonstrating a controlled change.
Where this course can take you
- Civil CAD Draughtsman
- Site Engineer
- Junior Design Engineer
- Quantity Surveying Assistant
- Project Coordinator
Duration, modes and fees
- Duration
- 3 months
- Delivery modes
- Classroom · Online live
- Fees
- Share your details for the current fee
- Fees vary by batch and delivery mode. Ask about the combined fee if you take this with Civil 3D or Staad.Pro.
Placement assistance
Every student gets placement assistance — that is what 100% placement assistance means. It is support for all, not a job for all. We do not promise a specific salary, a specific number of interviews, or placement at any named company, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
What is included
- A place in the monthly placement drive, held every third Saturday
- The readiness programme every second Saturday — mock interviews and preparation
- CV review against the specific roles you are targeting
- Portfolio review, so your project work is presented the way a reviewer will read it
- Access to the vacancy pool employers send directly to the Samyak network
- Guidance on which roles realistically fit your background and which do not
- A place in the next drive, with coaching, if you are not selected in this one
What is not included
- Any guarantee of a job, an interview, or a particular salary
- Placement at a named or partner company
- Applying to jobs on your behalf
- Support before you have completed the course and its project work
- Visa, relocation or overseas placement assistance
A drawing is an instruction, not a picture
Somebody builds from what you draw. That single fact changes how the software should be taught.
A pretty drawing with ambiguous dimensions, no section reference and everything on one layer is a site query, a delay and sometimes a demolished wall. The modules here are ordered around what a checker looks for — layer discipline, correct dimensioning, sections cut where they answer a question, and a drawing that plots to true scale.
Layers first, and repeatedly
The most common thing a new draughtsman gets wrong is also the easiest to fix.
Everything on layer zero, colours chosen by mood, lineweights that plot as uniform grey. The geometry may be perfect and the drawing is still unusable to the consultant who opens it. We set a standard in the first module and hold you to it in every project, because it is a habit and habits are formed early.
Reading matters as much as drawing
For a site engineer this is arguably the more useful half.
Why a section is cut at that particular line, what a detail is trying to communicate, what is deliberately left to the specification — understanding this is what lets you spot an error on paper rather than in concrete.
Where Civil 3D takes over
This course produces drawings. Civil 3D models terrain, alignments and corridors for roads and infrastructure.
For building and general site work, plain AutoCAD is what job advertisements ask for and what most consultancies issue drawings in. If you are heading for highway or infrastructure design, take Civil 3D afterwards — but this first, because Civil 3D still outputs AutoCAD drawings and you will need to make them properly.
Questions
AutoCAD for Civil Engineering — frequently asked questions
How is this different from the general AutoCAD course?
The general course teaches the software. This teaches civil drafting with it — layer standards a consultant expects, building sections, survey data, setting out and drawing issue. If you are a civil student or site engineer, start here; the software fundamentals are covered in the first two modules anyway.
Do I need AutoCAD Civil 3D as well?
They are different tools for different jobs. Plain AutoCAD produces the drawings; Civil 3D models corridors, surfaces and alignments for roads and infrastructure. For building and general site work, this course is what employers ask for. For highway and infrastructure design, add Civil 3D afterwards.
Why is so much attention paid to layers?
Because a drawing is handed to other people. A consultant, a contractor and a checker all open your file, and if everything sits on layer zero in random colours the drawing is unusable to them even when the geometry is right. Layer discipline is the most visible signal of whether a draughtsman has worked professionally.
Will I be able to read a drawing after this, not just make one?
Yes, and it is arguably the more valuable half for a site engineer. The sections and details modules cover why a drawing is cut where it is and what a detail is trying to communicate, which is what lets you spot an error on site before it is built.
Enquire about AutoCAD for Civil Engineering
Three details is all we need. A course advisor will call you back.
Related courses
- AutoCAD
CAD taught to drawing office standard rather than as a tour of commands, because employers judge a drawing on layers, dimensioning and whether it plots correctly.
- AutoCAD Civil 3D
Model-based civil design — surfaces, alignments, corridors and earthwork volumes — where changing the road changes every section, profile and quantity automatically.
- STAAD.Pro Structural Analysis and Design
Structural analysis taught with the checks that matter — realistic supports, correct load combinations, and verifying an answer before a design is issued from it.
- Revit Architecture (BIM)
Building information modelling taught as one model producing everything — plans, sections, schedules and quantities — with the coordination habits that stop a project drifting apart.
Next step
Talk to a course advisor
Tell us what you want to learn and we will help you pick the right course, batch and mode.