MeltPlan
MeltPlan is an AI-native preconstruction platform for the United States construction industry. It combines building-code research with direct citations, expert-verified quantity takeoffs and subcontractor bid leveling, covering the adopted codes of all fifty states.
What is MeltPlan?
MeltPlan is an AI-native planning platform built for the preconstruction phase of building projects in the United States. The company, MeltPlan, Inc., is based in Berkeley, California, and describes its product as the planning engine for the built environment: an intelligence layer bringing code, cost, schedule and value together before ground is broken.
The platform is organised around three products. Melt Code answers building-code questions asked in plain language and returns project-specific compliance requirements, complete with step-by-step reasoning, stated assumptions, logical branches and exceptions, mathematical calculations, personalised visuals and direct citations to code sections and tables. It covers the IBC, IRC, IEBC, IFC, IMC, IPC, IECC, NEC, NFPA standards and ADA/ANSI A117.1, together with the amendments adopted by each of the fifty states. MeltPlan claims 95%+ accuracy, measured against building-inspector certification exams across several jurisdictions.
Melt Takeoff is a service rather than pure software: AI vision extracts quantities from uploaded drawings, then expert onshore estimators verify the output and add the scope that is not drawn. Turnaround is quoted at two to three days, with claimed gains of 40% faster takeoffs and 25% more bids submitted. Results are interactive, so clicking an item shows where it was measured on the plan, and they export cleanly to Excel. The trades covered run from concrete, masonry and metals through mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire suppression to earthwork and site utilities.
Melt Bid levels subcontractor proposals for general contractors, surfacing exclusions and scope gaps so award decisions can be made in Excel in minutes rather than days.
Work is organised into projects that carry their own context, including jurisdiction, permit date, occupancy, number of storeys and sprinkler status, so the same information is not re-entered for every query. Projects and compliance checklists can be shared across a firm, and an Excel add-in distributed through Microsoft AppSource brings takeoff and bid-leveling workflows into the spreadsheet. MeltPlan also publishes free public tools: an occupant-load calculator, a parking-requirements calculator, state-by-state code pages, an IBC adoption map and reference codebooks.
What it does
- Ask a building-code question in plain English and get a jurisdiction-specific answer with direct code citations
- Follow the step-by-step reasoning, stated assumptions and exceptions behind every answer
- Upload drawings in PDF, DWG or image format and receive a quantity takeoff verified by expert estimators
- Level subcontractor bids to expose exclusions and missing scope before awarding
- Create projects that carry their own context so it never has to be re-entered
- Build, share and reuse compliance checklists across the firm
- Export takeoffs and bid comparisons to Excel, or work directly through the Excel add-in
When to use MeltPlan / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if MeltPlan is the right fit.
When to use MeltPlan
- US architecture and engineering practices that must justify building-code compliance and keep an audit trail of their reasoning
- Construction estimators and quantity surveyors producing takeoffs from PDF, DWG or image drawings
- General contractors comparing subcontractor proposals and hunting for missing scope before award
- Solo practitioners and small firms working in a single US state, for whom the Lite plan is explicitly designed
- Multi-state firms and inspection teams needing shared projects, reusable compliance checklists and citations verifiable in the field
When not to use MeltPlan
- Anyone in the European Union, since the platform is contractually unavailable to EU residents, visitors and employees
- Projects outside the United States, as the code base covers only US states and their amendments
- Teams wanting to embed the engine in their own software: there is no API and no API documentation
- Users who need a native mobile app, as only a web application and an Excel add-in exist
- Buyers whose procurement requires documented GDPR compliance, a DPA or a security certification, none of which MeltPlan publishes
How to use MeltPlan
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Sign up at app.meltplan.com/signup, where no credit card is required
- Start the one-month free trial, which includes unlimited AI research and analysis queries
- Create a project and enter its context: jurisdiction, permit date, occupancy, number of storeys, sprinkler status and construction type
- Type a code question in plain language and apply filters such as jurisdiction and code year
- Read the answer with its reasoning, assumptions, citations and personalised visual, then bookmark or pin it to the project
- Build compliance checklists, link them to code sections and share them with the team
- For a takeoff, upload the drawings through the secure portal and wait two to three days for the expert-verified result
- Review the interactive takeoff, clicking any item to see where it was measured, then export to Excel
- Install the Excel add-in from Microsoft AppSource to run takeoff and bid-leveling workflows in the spreadsheet
- Manage users, roles, payment methods and invoices from the organisation dashboard, and change plan at any time from the Billing page
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Every answer is traceable, with code citations, reasoning, assumptions and exceptions shown rather than asserted
- Human verification on takeoffs, where expert estimators check the AI output and add scope that is not drawn
- Published accuracy claim of 95%+ against building-inspector certification exams
- Low-risk entry: a one-month trial with no credit card, followed by a permanent free plan
- Coverage priced by state, so a solo practitioner does not pay for nationwide access
- Codes are updated continuously by the vendor, with no action required from the user
- Clear data position: project data is not used to train models and personal information is not sold
Cons
- Not available to residents of, visitors to or employees in the European Union
- Scope is strictly American, as the code base covers US states only
- No GDPR mention, no data processing agreement and no published subprocessor list
- No API and no API documentation; the documentation link on the support page leads to an empty page
- No iOS or Android application, only a web app and an Excel add-in
- All payments are final, with no refunds for partial periods, downgrades or cancellations, and termination requires 30 days' notice with a possible termination charge
- Enterprise pricing is not published and the free plan's monthly query allowance is not quantified
Pricing & Plans
A permanent free plan is available, and every new account starts with a one-month free trial that requires no credit card. The lowest paid entry point is the Lite plan at USD 19.00 per user per month on annual billing, or USD 23.00 per user per month when billed monthly.
- Free — limited AI research and analysis queries each month
- no credit card and no commitment
- adopted codes for one US state of choice
- unlimited AI research and analysis
- projects
- collaboration
- checklists and user management
- adopted codes for three US states of choice
- adopted codes for all fifty US states and full access to every MeltPlan product
- Enterprise — custom pricing on request
- with additional terms possible through an executed order form or addendum
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how MeltPlan handles your data.
GDPR overview
There is no GDPR implementation to describe: the word GDPR appears nowhere on MeltPlan's website, and neither the privacy policy nor the terms of service reference the regulation. The omission is deliberate rather than accidental, because MeltPlan restricts its territory. The website and platform are stated to be available only for use and download outside the European Union, and residents of, visitors to and employees residing in the EU are asked not to download, register or use the service. Accordingly there is no Article 27 representative, no data processing agreement and no published list of subprocessors. A Privacy Officer is named, Tanmaya Kala, reachable at tanmaya@meltplan.com. The rights MeltPlan does grant come from its own terms: on written request it will list the personal information it holds within 45 days, and delete it within 45 days.
Who owns the data?
MeltPlan states plainly that customers keep ownership of their project data and research, that private project data is never used to train its models, and that this data remains encrypted and confidential. Personal information is stored on MeltPlan's servers and can be edited from the account settings; the privacy policy affirms that personal information is neither sold nor intended to be sold. MeltPlan, Inc. and its licensors retain every right to the platform itself, including software, trademarks, graphics and editorial content, and grant users only a limited, non-exclusive, revocable, non-transferable and non-sublicensable licence to access and use it.
Reuse rights
Users may freely use their own project data, takeoff outputs and research: MeltPlan claims no ownership over customer content, and Excel exports are meant to be carried straight into a bid. MeltPlan's own material is a different matter. The terms grant only a limited licence to access and use the platform, and expressly forbid copying, adapting, modifying, creating derivative works, reselling, sub-licensing, redistributing, framing, mirroring, capturing screenshots or otherwise commercially exploiting the website, the platform or its content. Automated scraping, crawling and spidering are prohibited, as is reverse engineering. Enterprise and custom-plan customers may be bound by additional terms set out in an executed order form or addendum.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
MeltPlan does not publish a hosting location. The only jurisdictional statement sits in the terms of service, where users consent to the transfer of their information to the United States, and where applicable to other countries, for storage, processing and use by MeltPlan and its affiliates. Registration data is described simply as stored on MeltPlan's servers. No hosting region, data-residency option, cloud provider or subprocessor is named anywhere on the site, and no data processing agreement is offered. Governing law is the State of Delaware, with arbitration seated in Alameda County, California. On the security side, MeltPlan states that its website undergoes regular security scans, penetration tests and malware scans, uses an SSL certificate, restricts employee access to stored personal information through usernames and passwords, and actively prevents third-party access. The pricing FAQ adds that customer data remains encrypted and confidential. Files uploaded through the Excel add-in, such as construction drawings, are described as temporarily processed to extract structured data. No security certification such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001 is claimed.
Where MeltPlan works
Country-level availability.
Available in
Not available in
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting MeltPlan.
- Over-reliance on cited answers: a code citation is evidence, not a stamped approval, and responsibility for an interpretation stays with the licensed professional
- Skill erosion in junior staff who learn to query the tool rather than to navigate the codebooks it draws from
- The 95%+ accuracy figure is self-reported with no published protocol, and the residual error falls on high-liability decisions
- Contractual exposure: no refunds of any kind, 30 days' notice to terminate with a possible termination charge, mandatory individual arbitration and waiver of class actions
- European users sit outside the intended territory, so no GDPR framework, no DPA and no Article 27 representative apply to them
- Uploaded drawings are commercially sensitive and are processed by a third party, yet no retention period is published for them
- Governance is hard to audit: no security certification, no subprocessor list, and three different postal addresses published across the site
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Very low for Melt Code: sign up in the browser, no credit card and no installation. Creating a project and entering its context is optional but improves results. The Excel add-in installs from Microsoft AppSource. Melt Takeoff is not self-service, as drawings are uploaded through a secure portal and the verified result comes back in two to three days. Team administration covers accounts, roles and access at organisation level. With no API, there is nothing to integrate or develop. A fifteen-minute call is offered to help choose a plan, and support answers within 24 hours.
Deployment
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind MeltPlan
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement MeltPlan.
Frequently asked questions
Which countries does MeltPlan serve?
Is there a free version?
How much does the cheapest paid plan cost?
Can the AI's answers be checked?
Who owns the project data?
Is there an API?
Is there a mobile app?
What is the minimum age to use MeltPlan?
Can personal data be deleted?
How is support reached?
Should you pick MeltPlan?
MeltPlan is a deliberately narrow product, and that is its strength. Rather than adapting a general-purpose assistant to construction, it builds around the specific artefacts of preconstruction: adopted codes and their state amendments, drawings and the quantities hidden in them, and subcontractor proposals that rarely compare cleanly. The result is a tool whose answers can be checked, which matters in a field where an interpretation eventually has to be defended in front of a plan reviewer.
Two design choices stand out. The first is traceability: citations, reasoning, assumptions and exceptions are surfaced rather than summarised away. The second is the decision not to fully automate takeoffs, since expert estimators verify the AI's measurements and add the scope that is not drawn. That is an honest position on what computer vision on construction drawings can and cannot do today.
The reservations are equally clear. The scope is American and nothing else, and the platform is contractually closed to the European Union, which settles the question for European readers before any evaluation begins. Transparency on governance lags well behind the transparency on reasoning: no GDPR position, no data processing agreement, no subprocessor list, no security certification, three different postal addresses across the site, and a payment policy with no refunds under any circumstances. There is no API, so the tool sits alongside a firm's stack rather than inside it.
For a US architecture, engineering or general contracting firm, the trial makes evaluation cheap: one month unlimited, no card, then a permanent free plan. Firms working in a single state get a genuinely proportionate price. For anyone outside the United States, and for buyers with a formal vendor-review process, the gaps in published governance are the thing to weigh first.
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