FOR CAD & ENGINEERING STUDIOS
Drawings out, payment in — the same second.
For CAD, product-design, and engineering firms: phase deliverables wait in escrow, clients review protected previews, and release day moves files and money together.
RELEASE DAY — DETAILED DESIGN
- assembly_v12.stepIN ESCROW
- drawings_pkg_revC.pdfIN ESCROW
- bom_revC.xlsxIN ESCROW
- preview_revC.pdfSHARED · PROTECTED
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Send the files, or hold the invoice?
Release the package before payment and hope, or hold it and stall the client's production schedule. Someone always blinks first.
Net-60 on a six-week project
Industrial clients pay on their AP calendar, not on your delivery. You finance their production run with your payroll.
The spec moved. The PO didn't.
Three revisions in, you're building to a document nobody re-priced — and eating the difference.
HOW IT WORKS FOR YOU
From RFQ to release day, phase by phase
Quote
AI turns the RFQ into phased deliverables — concept, detailed design, drawing package — each with its own funded payment.
Model on the record
Revision history documents what changed between Rev B and Rev C, and why. The paper trail writes itself.
Preview, protected
Clients evaluate protected previews each phase — full technical review, zero exposure of native files.
Release day
Approval fires the swap: STEP files and drawings to them, the phase payment to you — simultaneously.
THE DIFFERENCE
Deliverable escrow: the atomic swap
Native files — STEP, DWG, SLDPRT, BOMs — wait in escrow while the client reviews protected previews. On approval, drawings and payment release simultaneously. Neither moves without the other.
- Native formats held until the phase payment clears — not PDFs of promises
- Phase payments on approval beat net-60 by a month or two, every phase
- Spec changes get re-priced through change orders before you re-model
- PE stamps and client sign-offs stay the authority — the swap just enforces them
ORGANIZATIONAL INSIGHT
Know what's working. Fix what isn't.
What's working, what's not
Wins, risks and drift across every team and engagement — surfaced before they cost you.
Meetings, already prepared
Standups and weekly reviews arrive pre-written from real delivery activity. Walk in with the brief, or skip the meeting.
Your keys, your dial
Bring your own AI keys and choose how much runs — reports only, or full delivery intelligence. No markup, no lock-in.
THIS WEEK AT YOUR DEV SHOP · OPS BRIEF
AI-DRAFTEDWORKING WELL
Sprint velocity up 12% — Team Atlas ahead of plan two sprints running
NEEDS ATTENTION
Review turnaround slipping on Project Kepler — 2.1 days average, trending up
SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENT
Rebalance review load — two seniors carry 70% of reviews this month
SHARE WITH
PLUGS INTO YOUR STACK
Keep your tools. Add the proof.
Your PDM and project systems stay authoritative. Northn mirrors phases from the tools your team already runs and ties sealed session evidence to the exact revision it verifies.
All connect over their public APIs. Tell us what you run — founding-partner integrations ship first.
Product names are trademarks of their respective owners, listed to describe interoperability — not affiliation or endorsement.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
What engineering leads ask
What formats can sit in escrow?
Whatever you deliver: STEP, DWG, SLDPRT, F3D, drawing PDFs, BOMs, render sets. Versioned, held until release day, handed off in one motion.
Does this replace engineering review?
No. Licensed sign-offs and client technical review remain the authority. Northn organizes the record and ties the payment to the approval — it doesn't stamp drawings.
The client's spec keeps changing — then what?
Each change gets scoped and re-priced as a change order on the live engagement, accepted before you re-model. Drift stops being your loss.
Is Northn a bidding site for CAD work?
No job board, no bidding, no cut of your engineering hours. Northn is direct tooling for engagements you originate — your client, your title block, your terms, with escrow and proof underneath.
Every extra revision is priced before it's modeled — your engineers bill for changes instead of eating them.
Stop choosing between your files and your invoice.
Escrow both.
Bring one design phase — watch release day work end to end.