UpCodes

UpCodes operates a centralized, searchable library of U.S. state and city building codes for architects, engineers and construction professionals. The platform uses natural language processing to parse how code adoptions and local amendments differ across jurisdictions, and connects code requirements to specifications and a product library. As described on the company's Y Combinator profile, the platform covers 6,000+ state and city building codes and supports what the company calls a code-to-spec workflow, alongside an offering that lets building product manufacturers surface compliant products to design professionals at the point of specification.

The product surface includes a code library, product library, assemblies, project workspaces organized by jurisdiction, and Copilot, an AI research assistant launched in 2023. According to the company's Copilot launch post, UpCodes hosts over 5 million code sections and 1,700+ state and city codes, more than 160,000 local amendments, and updates an average of over 7,000 sections per month. Copilot answers jurisdiction- and adoption-cycle-specific code questions, explains concepts and code sections, finds related sections, performs code-based calculations, summarizes lengthy sections and generates compliance checklists, citing the underlying code sections in its responses.

An earlier account of the company describes an AI capability that scans 3D building models and flags potential code compliance issues, such as problems with wall construction, foundation or flooring, in addition to the natural-language searchable code database.

Founding story

UpCodes was founded in 2016 by brothers Scott and Garrett Reynolds. Scott Reynolds worked as an architect before starting the company; Garrett Reynolds previously worked in architecture, engineering and construction technology at PlanGrid. Scott Reynolds has described the goal as allowing anyone, regardless of their level of building code sophistication, to answer code questions through a friendly interface, motivated by users making a building compliant with one code section while missing a more stringent requirement elsewhere and incurring downstream problems.

Business model

UpCodes sells access to its code compliance platform to architecture, engineering and general contracting firms, offering free trials and a direct sales channel (sales@up.codes). A second line of business serves building product manufacturers, providing an AI solution that lets them showcase code-compliant products to design professionals at the moment of specification.

Traction

The Y Combinator profile cites 800,000 monthly active users and describes strong product-led growth; earlier coverage reported more than 500,000 monthly users and named enterprise and institutional users including Stantec, ARCO National Construction, SOM, Ennead Architects, Airbnb, Cornell University and the State University of New York. Team size is listed at 35.

Latest developments

In May 2023 UpCodes launched Copilot, an AI-based research assistant for building codes that delivers jurisdiction-specific answers with citations, offered to users through a free trial. The company describes its platform as unifying codes, assemblies, products and specs, and reports 800,000 monthly active users.