Structural design basics
Once your site and placement are set, Draftly can size the structure — working out the members and connections your build needs and checking them against the relevant Australian Standards.
What "sizing" means
Sizing is choosing the right members — beams, posts and the like — and checking that each one can carry the loads it will see. Draftly works this out from your design and the site conditions, including the loads that apply to your project.
Members and connections together
Draftly sizes the connections alongside the structure, not as a separate exercise afterwards. That means the parts that hold your build together are considered as part of the same design.
How connection ratings work
Where Draftly shows a connection with a capacity, that figure comes from the manufacturer's published technical data (for example a Simpson Strong-Tie bracket's rated values) and is always checked against the same kind of load it is rated for. Where no rated product exists for a joint — or a product is only rated for a different kind of load — Draftly says engineer to specify plainly, showing the computed demand (the load the connection must carry) rather than a made-up capacity. The Connection Inventory lists the connection details for each member without ratings: none of those are calculated or manufacturer-cited, and each one is marked for the engineer to verify.
Checked against the standards
Members and connections are checked against the applicable Australian Standards for the materials involved — steel, timber and concrete. The aim is a design that stands on solid, recognised engineering rules.
Indicative — always confirm
Draftly's engineering figures are indicative. They're a strong starting point, but they are not a substitute for sign-off. Always confirm the design with your engineer or certifier before you lodge or build. See Data and accuracy.
How the computations sheet shows its working
Every project includes a computations sheet — the full working behind each member size. Where Draftly uses a simplified or assumed method rather than the standard's full calculation, the sheet says so in plain terms next to the figure, marked ASSUMED, simplified, or NOT CHECKED. That includes things like the buckling allowances for steel sections and the column curve used for posts. Nothing is presented as a full standards calculation when it isn't one — so your engineer can see at a glance exactly which items to verify, rather than having to guess.
What happens to the design
Your sized design flows into the drawings, so the drafting is drawn from the same structural model rather than re-created by hand. See Drawings and drafting basics.