I have just registered on here as I have come back to AutoCAD after many years away. Last time I used it it was on AutoCAD 1997 and R14. Since then I have mainly used Solidworks through my university and subsequent work positions. 

I have just changed jobs and I am now back in the world of 2D drawings, using AutoCAD 2013. I have remembered a decent amount of stuff, enough to get me through the drawings that I am currently working on. But I have one simple question that will make me look like a bit if a dunce to all of you experts.

In Solidworks, I was able to draw a random box or circle and then dimension it to the size I wanted after I had already placed the shape. I know I can dimension the size of these shapes as I draw them in AutoCAD, so that's OK. But my question comes when I want to add the positions of these items relative to other parts of the drawing. For example, if I am drawing a simple fixing plate with 4 holes, at the moment I am offsetting the outer edges of the plate to get the positions of the hole centres and then drawing the holes on top of these. Is there no way to use the Solidworks method of randomly placing them, and then dimensioning them afterwards? Another is, I was drawing some armco barriers around the edge of a building. I drew the basic outline, but didn't draw it in position. I was hoping I could dimension the barrier to the edge of the building outline I had already done, but the only dimensions I used simply stated the distance they were away, and it did not let me modify the size to what I wanted.

At the moment, I am simply offsetting from items I have already drawn and then using the Trim/Extend functions to get what I need. To me, this feels like I am doing it the long winded way, but it just may be that I am too used to the Solidworks way of doing things.

Sorry if this makes no sense.