Here unfortunately the trend is that the artwork person is supposed to be a magician. Give the design late and expect the artwork to be produced immediately

I have, after many years, learned that to say "when you can" as often as possible. That makes "please soon" work soooo much better. Some of those I work for (not meaning supervisors) ask for NOW every time, some only now and then. Who do YOU think get the best service?

If, however a vendor/contractor stop caring about the quality .... because they can deliver faster it is time to change vendor/contractor.

NOTE: If you want quality from a subcontrator, be prepared to pay. As an example, I could have had my most complex arwork done as a "modified rats nest" for $1200, I went elswhere and paid $4600 for a beautyful PCB (you can count the vias, parts are locically grouped, I was asked several times things like "can I reverse the order on this latch to make a better flow").

Erik