Nov 14
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The United Times

United in Changing Times

Artificial intelligence · Technology

Blueprints AI promises to turn sketches into building permit drawings in minutes

The startup is expanding its architectural drafting software while leaving licensed professionals responsible for reviewing and sealing documents before permit applications.

By Arlen Mossett · 4 min read

Blueprints AI promises to turn sketches into building permit drawings in minutes
Illustration · The United Times

Blueprints AI says its software can turn a sketch or PDF into architectural construction drawings suitable for a building permit application in minutes, putting artificial intelligence to work on the repetitive drafting that its founders want to reduce. The Santa Monica startup is preparing to release a more capable version that extends beyond architectural documents to other building systems. Its proposition is faster document production, however, not the removal of the licensed professionals who review drawings before they reach permitting authorities.

Officially incorporated in 2025 by Drams and co-founder Coco Cao, the company charges between $3,200 and $8,500 a month for its first-generation software, depending on the plan, with separate custom pricing for enterprises. Its models were trained using eight years of approved drawing sets from Drams’ architecture and construction business. The founders say the next release broadens both the range of documents the software produces and the ways customers can shape a project, moving from generating architectural documentation towards coordinating designs across building disciplines.

The company’s origins predate the current product. Drams earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture at the University of Tehran and completed two years of doctoral coursework in digital design at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. After moving to the United States, he opened Drams Architects in 2018. He obtained a general contractor’s licence and added a construction business in 2021. That business supplied the drawing sets used to train the models, while Drams describes reducing repetitive work as a central motivation for pursuing the technology.

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OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in November 2022 gave Drams a reason to revisit an earlier idea about technology’s role in architecture. Within six months, he had launched the Blueprints AI concept. Drams and Cao met at an AI conference several years ago and brought different skills to the venture. Cao, a data scientist from Hong Kong, is chief commercial officer and oversees sales and go-to-market strategy. Drams’ design and construction firm remains in operation alongside the software business built using its approved drawings.

The productivity case rests on Drams’ assessment of how architects divide their working time. He says about 80% goes to drafting and only 20% to design, a balance he wants to reverse. Those figures describe the allocation he is targeting, rather than a measured improvement reported for the software. His argument is that automating repeated drawing tasks would leave architects more time to develop spaces for their users. The ambition therefore goes beyond producing documents faster: it is to change which work occupies an architect’s day.

According to the founders, customers using the second generation can begin with a project description or sketch and generate drawings covering architecture, structural work, mechanical systems, electrical systems, plumbing and interior design together. Users can also design and revise the project within the software, a capability beyond the first release. The broader scope matters to the company’s pitch because its proposed workflow brings those elements into the same project, rather than limiting the product to the architectural construction documents produced by its original software.

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A central feature, the founders say, is that a design revision carries through the whole project and is checked against local building codes. That links the startup’s speed claim to a separate task: keeping the different parts of a building design consistent as changes are made. Generating an initial set of drawings and revising a coordinated project are distinct capabilities in its product plan. The second release is intended to address both, while the company describes its output as code-compliant and permit-ready, subject to professional review and sealing before submission.

The monthly prices provide a concrete measure of the commercial offer, but they apply to the first-generation product. They are not a stated price for the expanded second version. Similarly, the eight years of approved drawings identify the training material drawn from Drams’ business, not a quantified result for documents generated by the software. These distinctions separate the company’s disclosed inputs and existing charges from its claims about speed, coordination and the potential redistribution of architects’ time. Enterprise customers can also obtain individually priced plans.

The founders place an important limit on the automation: licensed architects are not being replaced. Licensed professionals continue to examine the documents and apply their seals before submitting them for permits. That retained review is a counterweight to the promise of rapid generation. In the workflow the company describes, software produces and updates the drawings, while professional judgment remains with people. Readiness for submission therefore does not mean that a generated document bypasses professional scrutiny or that producing drawings amounts to obtaining a permit.

Blueprints AI plans to present its second-generation software at Disrupt in San Francisco, scheduled for October 13 to 15, 2026. Early customers are already using it, and Drams says it will become publicly available during the week of October 12. Development is also under way on a third version, with structural analysis and electrical panel design among the planned additions. Those functions remain part of the next stage rather than the current release, as the company broadens its drafting offering while keeping licensed professionals in the review process.