Discover simple and direct answers to your frequently asked questions about Buildable Engine
Buildable Engine is a spatial compiler for the built world. It automatically detects, flags, and resolves (when asked) code violations and buildability failures in architectural floor plans — starting at pre-permit. Upload your plans, and the system executes rules directly on spatial geometry to deliver a code-compliant, build-ready audit in real time.
Upload your floor plan file. Buildable Engine's computer vision pipeline converts it into a spatial model, then executes compliance rules directly on the geometry — checking egress, clearances, circulation, room dimensions, and more. You receive a full audit report with violations categorized by severity, detected and required values, rule citations, and suggested fixes.
Buildable Engine currently accepts DXF, PNG, and JPEG files. For the most accurate results we recommend clean vector DXF exports from your CAD tool. Raster-based or image-only plans will process using computer vision, but may produce less precise results.
Most plans are processed in under 20 seconds. Audit time depends on plan complexity and file quality.
You receive an interactive audit dashboard showing your compliance score, critical violations, warnings, and passed rules. You can export a full compliance report in a variety of formats that are shareable with your team, clients, or design partners. Files can also be downloaded in CAD compatible formats, just as DWG or DXF.
No. Buildable Engine is a validation layer that sits on top of your existing design and CAD workflow. We assist architects, engineers and other pre-construction professionals to catch high-risk issues early — before they reach your design partners, permitting authority, or job site. All outputs should be reviewed by a licensed professional before permit submission.
Buildable Engine currently supports checks aligned with IBC, IRC, and ADA guidelines, focusing on layout-level requirements including egress, clearances, accessibility, circulation, and room dimensions. Jurisdictional coverage is actively expanding.
Our Growth and Professional plans include jurisdiction-specific rule sets. You select your jurisdiction and the system applies the relevant local code requirements on top of the national baseline. We are currently expanding coverage across major US markets.
Every violation is presented with the rule name, what was detected, what is required, and a suggested fix. Although not in every case, our rules often have rule citations helping you understand exactly what building code document comes from. In many cases Buildable Engine can propose a layout-level correction automatically. Critical violations are separated from warnings so you can prioritize what needs immediate attention.
Yes. The default rule set covers the most common egress, clearance, and circulation requirements. You can configure the rule engine to prioritize checks most relevant to your project type, firm standards, or jurisdiction. Custom firm rules are available on Professional and Enterprise plans.
Currently Buildable Engine supports single floor plan analysis. Multi-story and full document set support — including MEP, structural, and envelope — is on our roadmap as our rule library scales.
Buildable Engine can run violation detection on any type of plan. However, our team is currently prioritizing code for residential structures with commercial buildings and plans to follow.
Buildable Engine uses deterministic rules execution on spatial geometry — meaning results are grounded in actual plan measurements and geometry, not probabilistic estimates. Accuracy depends in part on the quality of your uploaded file. Clean vector DXF files produce the most reliable results. All audit outputs should be reviewed by a licensed professional before permit submission.
Clean vector DXF files exported directly from CAD tools produce the highest accuracy. Image-based plans (PNG, JPEG) are supported but may produce less precise spatial measurements depending on resolution and drawing quality.
Currently Buildable Engine runs on floorplans only. Our team is working on being able to run other types of sheets such as MEP plans, furniture layouts and more. Our current system for floorplans support a large number of elements including stairs, but does not recognize curved wall structures or multi-story plans. That is to say, multi-story plans can run through Buildable Engine, but currently they must be run as separate floor specific audits. In general, when the system detects an unsupported element we attempt to flag it clearly rather than silently failing, so you are kept in the loop. In the event of a failure, you can also reach out to our support team to see if we can help customize our process to run an audit for you.
Buildable Engine is designed to flag unusual or inconsistent elements as advisory notices rather than hard failures — so you'll see these surfaced separately from rule violations and can review them before acting.For best results, plans should be drawn to a reasonable standard before uploading. Common issues that can affect audit accuracy include walls that don't connect cleanly at corners, rooms that aren't fully enclosed, and elements drawn as disconnected line segments rather than continuous shapes. If your plan was drawn carefully in CAD and exported as a clean DXF, you're unlikely to run into these issues. If you're unsure whether your file will process correctly, our pre-upload validation will flag any known issues before the audit runs and tell you specifically what to fix.
Buildable Engine is designed to save your entire project team time and money. By catching the most common and costly violations automatically at the design stage — before plans are submitted for permitting or handed off to contractors — you reduce the back-and-forth, rework cycles, and costly field discoveries that drain budgets and delay schedules.That said, Buildable Engine is a pre-check and validation tool, not a licensed professional service. We strongly recommend that all plans be reviewed and stamped by a licensed professional before permit submission. Think of us as the layer that gets your plans as clean as possible before they reach that stage — so your consultants, contractors, and review authorities are spending their time on the work that actually requires their expertise.
Buildable Engine offers four tiers — Foundation, Growth, Professional, and Enterprise. Foundation is designed for solo innovators and small projects. Growth is built for small teams with jurisdiction-specific rule sets and up to 100 plan audits per month. Professional adds multi-jurisdiction coverage, integrations, and permissions workflows. Enterprise includes unlimited teams, full code access, custom firm rules, and a dedicated success manager. For a more comprehensive picture of our features across plans you can access our most up to date plan information directly on our software platform here.
Most SMB builders and small design-build firms start on Growth. Firms running multiple active projects across jurisdictions typically move to Professional. Mid-market and enterprise GCs with team-wide adoption and integration needs should contact us for an Enterprise conversation.
Yes. Foundation includes a free trial so you can run your first audit before committing to a plan.
Yes. Annual licensing is available on Growth and above and includes deeper workflow integration benefits. Contact us for details.
Yes. Growth and above include team collaboration, client sharing, and export features so your whole team can review findings and sign off on corrections.
Buildable Engine is designed to sit at the earliest point in the design and pre-construction process — before plans are hardened, before permit submission, and before RFIs start. The earlier you run an audit the lower the cost of any corrections.
Direct CAD and BIM integrations — including Revit and AutoCAD — are on our near-term roadmap. Currently the fastest path is exporting a DXF from your CAD tool and uploading directly.
Yes. You can export a full compliance report or generate a shareable link to the audit dashboard. Reports include all violations, rule citations, detected and required values, and suggested fixes — everything your design partners need to act on findings quickly.
Enterprise and custom API access can be made available for firms and platforms looking to embed Buildable Engine's spatial reasoning and rules engine into their own workflows. Contact us to discuss.
All plans and project data are private by default. Only you and team members you explicitly invite can access your projects. We do not share your plans with third parties.
Buildable Engine is built with security and responsible data use in mind. Your plans and project information are used to provide the service. We do not sell your data or share it with advertisers. Companies who require advanced security controls and configurations should reach out to support to discuss how we can create a system that accommodates your needs.
Plan data is used to improve our product and underlying models in aggregate. We do not use individual firm plan data in ways that would expose proprietary design information. Contact us if you have specific data governance requirements or concerns — we are happy to discuss.
Yes. Plans are private by default and audit mode can be run without any client-facing sharing. Additional governance controls can be created for firms with strict confidentiality requirements.
For questions not answered here, please reach out to us at support@buildableengine.com and we'll get back to you promptly.
