Blueprints AI says it can draft permits in minutes
At TechCrunch Disrupt, the startup plans to show a new tool that turns sketches or PDFs into permit-ready plans, with licensed architects still signing off.
Blueprints AI is preparing to show a new version of its software that it says can turn a sketch or PDF into permit-ready construction blueprints in minutes. The pitch stands out because architectural drafting is usually slow, repetitive work, and the startup argues its tool could save firms time without removing humans from the approval process.
There is also a personal backstory behind the company. Founder Al Drams says the idea started nearly two decades ago, when he was a college student studying architecture and imagining software that could generate design documents for school buildings. He says the technology to do that simply was not there at the time. After ChatGPT arrived in 2022, he returned to the concept and launched Blueprints AI within six months.
A thesis-era idea became a startup
Drams studied architecture as part of a family tradition, but his interest in technology kept pulling him in another direction. He later earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from the University of Tehran and completed two years of Ph.D. coursework in digital design at the European Graduate School in Switzerland.
After moving to the United States, he opened Drams Architects in 2018 and added a construction business in 2021 after getting a general contractor’s license. Even with both businesses running, he said he wanted to build something with broader impact than one project at a time.
That is how he frames Blueprints AI — not as just another design tool, but as software meant to cut down the hours spent on repetitive drafting. Drams says architects spend about 80% of their time on drafting and only 20% on design, and he wants to reverse that balance.
Blueprints AI plans a broader second-generation tool
Blueprints AI was officially incorporated in 2025 in Santa Monica, with Coco Cao as co-founder. Cao, a data scientist from Hong Kong, serves as chief commercial officer and handles sales and go-to-market strategy.
The startup says it trained its models on eight years of approved drawing sets from Drams’ own design and construction firm, which is still operating. Its first-generation product already produces architectural construction documents, with pricing from $3,200 to $8,500 a month depending on the plan. The company also offers custom enterprise pricing.
Now it is preparing to show a second-generation version at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco this week. According to Drams and Cao, users will be able to start with a text description or a sketch and generate blueprints for multiple parts of a building at once, including architecture, structural work, mechanical systems, electrical systems, plumbing, and interior design.
The company says the new version also allows users to make changes to a project and have that update automatically applied across the rest of the design, while also checking the plans against local building codes. As IT-PUB News notes, that would mark a clear step beyond the first version, which was more limited in scope.
Licensed architects still sign off on the plans
Even as Blueprints AI pushes deeper into automation, its founders say the software is not meant to replace licensed architects. They say professionals still review the documents and add their seal before plans are submitted for permits.
That distinction matters. The startup is positioning the product as a drafting tool that speeds up work, not as a substitute for the people legally responsible for approving it. For architecture and engineering firms, that could make the software easier to adopt while also drawing a firm line around where AI ends and professional judgment begins.
The company is targeting two main customer groups: architecture, engineering, and design firms on one side, and developers and real estate owners on the other. Blueprints AI says it will sell the product by subscription and may also introduce a one-time flat-fee option for customers who need it for a single project.
The pitch centers on speed, cost, and code checks
The appeal is fairly direct. If the system can reliably handle repetitive drafting and keep projects aligned with building rules, it could shorten a process that often takes significant time and effort. For firms, that could mean less manual work. For developers and owners, it could mean moving from concept to permit-ready plans more quickly.
At the same time, the company’s pitch runs into familiar questions about AI in professional work. The software is being presented as a drafting and compliance aid, but it still depends on licensed experts to review and approve the output. In a field like this, responsibility does not disappear just because more of the process is automated.
Drams said the startup is already working on a third version of the software. That planned update would add structural analysis and electrical panel design, suggesting the company wants to expand further from document generation into more of the building-design workflow.
For now, the immediate milestone is public exposure. Early customers are already using the second version, and Drams said it will be publicly available this week. Blueprints AI is also set to present itself to a wider audience at Disrupt, where it has been selected as part of the 2026 Startup Battlefield 200, a group of early-stage startups invited to exhibit at the event.
The company’s message is straightforward: architecture still needs people, but it may not need them spending most of the day redrawing the same plans.
