Austin – October 13, 2026 -- UpCodes' AI Plan Review has surfaced more than $1 million in estimated potential construction error costs on average per project, based on more than 1,300 construction plan sets reviewed since its June launch.
The tool has identified more than 180,000 potential issues across those plan sets. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, BDG Architects and Hereford Dooley Architects are among the companies newly adopting the technology.
Plan Review combines multimodal AI with code libraries to read drawings
UpCodes says Plan Review pairs AI models with its building code and construction content libraries. The system interprets both the visual and technical information in drawings, including geometry, dimensions, annotations and spatial relationships. The aim is to flag problems earlier in design, before they become costlier during review or construction.
Plans average 21 critical issues, with missing exit signage most common
The reviewed plan sets spanned 73 jurisdictions and 14 code editions, from single-family homes to commercial and medical facilities. Each plan averaged 21 critical issues. Missing exit signage was the single most common critical finding.
Roughly one in ten critical issues were cross-discipline coordination conflicts between architectural, structural and MEP drawings. UpCodes notes that such clashes typically surface late and drive costly rework.
Life-safety systems account for 46% of critical findings
Nearly half of all critical issues (46%) involved life-safety systems: means of egress, fire protection and fire-resistance-rated construction.
UpCodes says the cost of a fix depends on timing. A means of egress issue caught on a drawing may need only a simple design change. Found during construction, the same issue could mean relocating a door, changing a corridor or reworking already-built conditions, adding cost and delay.
CEO Reynolds frames AI review as a compliance-workflow shortcut
Scott Reynolds, CEO and co-founder of UpCodes, said AI is moving from helping professionals create work faster to reviewing complex work that previously required multiple steps and intensive human review.
UpCodes says firms that keep traditional review workflows risk expensive rework, change orders and delays, putting project budgets and profitability at risk. The company is seeing this shift through its QA/QC platform and its first adopting firms.