The CAD & BIM rate dataset

Key facts (Q1 2026)

• BIM Manager — United States baseline $65–$130 per hour freelance, $90,000–$155,000 per year salaried. Core tools: Revit, Navisworks, BIM 360 / ACC, Dynamo, Power BI. Also advertised as BIM Manager, VDC Manager, Digital Construction Manager, BIM Lead. Full role profile →
• BIM Coordinator — United States baseline $55–$110 per hour freelance, $72,000–$125,000 per year salaried. Core tools: Revit, Navisworks, BIM 360 / ACC, Solibri, Dynamo. Also advertised as BIM Coordinator, VDC Coordinator, Coordination Engineer. Full role profile →
• BIM Modeler — United States baseline $35–$70 per hour freelance, $48,000–$88,000 per year salaried. Core tools: Revit, ArchiCAD, Navisworks, AutoCAD, Dynamo. Also advertised as BIM Modeller, Revit Modeler, BIM Technician. Full role profile →
• CAD Drafter — United States baseline $22–$48 per hour freelance, $34,000–$62,000 per year salaried. Core tools: AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Revit, SketchUp, Bluebeam. Also advertised as CAD Technician, Draughtsman, Design Drafter. Full role profile →
• Structural Detailer — United States baseline $38–$80 per hour freelance, $52,000–$95,000 per year salaried. Core tools: Tekla Structures, Revit, Advance Steel, SDS/2, AutoCAD. Also advertised as Steel Detailer, Rebar Detailer, Fabrication Detailer. Full role profile →
• MEP Modeler — United States baseline $40–$85 per hour freelance, $52,000–$98,000 per year salaried. Core tools: Revit MEP, Navisworks, AutoCAD MEP, MagiCAD, Dynamo. Also advertised as MEP BIM Modeler, MEP Draughtsman, Building Services Modeler. Full role profile →
• Civil Designer — United States baseline $40–$90 per hour freelance, $55,000–$105,000 per year salaried. Core tools: Civil 3D, AutoCAD, InfraWorks, Revit, Bluebeam. Also advertised as Civil 3D Designer, Infrastructure Designer, Highway Technician. Full role profile →
• Mechanical Designer — United States baseline $32–$80 per hour freelance, $48,000–$95,000 per year salaried. Core tools: SolidWorks, Inventor, Fusion 360, AutoCAD Mechanical, Creo. Also advertised as SolidWorks Designer, Product Designer, Mechanical Draughtsman. Full role profile →
• 3D Visualizer — United States baseline $28–$75 per hour freelance, $40,000–$85,000 per year salaried. Core tools: 3ds Max, V-Ray / Corona, Lumion, Enscape, Photoshop. Also advertised as 3D Artist, Architectural Visualizer, Render Artist. Full role profile →
• Architectural Technician — United States baseline $30–$68 per hour freelance, $42,000–$80,000 per year salaried. Core tools: Revit, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, Bluebeam, SketchUp. Also advertised as Architectural Technologist, Architectural Draughtsman, Technical Designer. Full role profile →

Country-adjusted figures for every role are in the 2026 rate tables and the salary guides by country.

Coverage and market index

The index is the multiplier applied to the United States baseline for a professional based in that country, before currency conversion.

Methodology

1. 1Salary disclosure is mandatory to publish a job on TaskBider, so every approved listing contributes a real, employer-stated pay range rather than a scraped guess.
2. 2Bands are recompiled each quarter from three inputs: approved TaskBider listings, direct freelance offers reported by candidates on the platform, and publicly visible marketplace rates for the same role and software.
3. 3US figures are the baseline. Other countries are derived by applying a market index (how that market prices against the US) and then converting with the quarter's average exchange rate.
4. 4Bands are published as ranges, rounded to avoid false precision, and labelled as estimates. They are negotiation benchmarks, not guarantees or offers.
5. 5Countries with thin sample size inherit their regional index rather than being reported as a standalone measurement.

Free JSON API

Read-only, no key, no sign-up, CORS open. Cached for one hour. Please keep the attribution string in anything you publish from it.

• GET /api/public/data/dataset
  Full dataset

  Metadata, methodology, countries, software and every role band in one JSON document.

• GET /api/public/data/rates
  Rates by role and country

  Freelance hourly and annual bands for each role in each covered country, in USD and local currency.

• GET /api/public/data/countries
  Country reference

  Market index versus the US, currency, exchange rate and timezone for each covered country.

• GET /api/public/data/software
  Software reference

  Global hourly bands per CAD/BIM tool with a short scope summary.

• GET /api/public/data/jobs
  Live job feed

  The CAD/BIM roles currently open on TaskBider, with company, location, contract type, tags and apply URL. Listings expire 45 days after posting.

curl https://taskbider.com/api/public/data/rates

Spreadsheet downloads

The same figures as CSV, ready for Excel, Google Sheets, R or pandas. Each row carries the attribution string so it survives being copied into a report.

• /api/public/data/rates.csv
  Rates by role and country (CSV)

  One row per role and country: hourly and annual bands in USD plus hourly in local currency.

• /api/public/data/countries.csv
  Country reference (CSV)

  Market index versus the US, currency, exchange rate used and timezone offset per country.

• /api/public/data/software.csv
  Software reference (CSV)

  Global hourly band and scope summary per CAD/BIM tool.

Revision history

Every change to coverage or figures is dated here, so a citation can name the edition it quoted.

1. Version 2026.1c2026-09-13
   • Added BIM Manager as a reported role, with its own hourly and annual bands across every covered country.
   • Published CSV downloads alongside the existing JSON endpoints.
   • No change to previously published bands — figures still reflect the Q1 2026 compile.
2. Version 2026.12026-03-31
   • First public edition: hourly and annual bands for every role across all covered countries, in USD and local currency.
   • Methodology, country market index and exchange rates published alongside the figures.

How to cite this dataset

Licensed CC BY 4.0. Reuse the tables, charts or JSON freely with attribution.

TaskBider (Q1 2026). CAD & BIM Freelance Rate Dataset 2026.1c. Retrieved from https://taskbider.com/data

Short form: TaskBider CAD & BIM Rate Dataset 2026 (taskbider.com/data)

Dataset FAQ