Kestrel Labs, a Denver-based AEC technology company, is bringing native code compliance inside of BIM platforms, beginning with Autodesk Revit. While the BIM movement in AEC has existed for decades, the ability of BIM platforms to automatically run code compliance checks on the virtual building model has never truly existed.
Kestrel raised USD 2.15 million in pre-seed financing from New Stack Ventures, FirstMile Ventures, Denver Ventures, and Avesta Fund.
Kestrel Labs
Kestrel Labs is the first software company to deliver this capability, bringing code compliance natively inside BIM workflows.
Key Takeaways
- Industry-first compliance platform built natively inside BIM authoring tool.
- Introduced first for Autodesk Revit, with SketchUp support coming soon. There is also live Trimble Connect integration
- Compliance analysis is also supplemented with an AI building code assistant available directly inside the plugin palette in Revit or in the web browser
This will give architecture teams the ability to check design elements against jurisdiction-specific code requirements directly inside Revit before drawings reach plan review stages.
Kestrel Labs, shown inside Autodesk Revit, is the AEC industry’s first native BIM compliance platform. With Kestrel, architects can bring building code analysis directly into the BIM authoring environment, where Kestrel’s unique technology works with the data and geometry in the BIM file to discover and instruct on code compliance issues.
Based on data from the Construction Industry Institute, the cost to fix a compliance issue multiplies tenfold at each successive project phase. So what might cost an hour to fix during design can multiply to a week’s worth of time after construction begins. For decades, architects have been navigating a compounding problem, and as senior architects with decades of tacit knowledge about building codes begin to retire, the knowledge transfer that used to happen on the job is beginning to disappear at exactly the same time compliance paths are increasing in complexity.
The Kestrel Platform
The Kestrel Compliance Platform consists of multiple components at this initial launch, including:
- Kestrel Compliance Analysis — One click inside Revit runs a full compliance check in about 30 seconds, with every result tied to the specific model element in question and cited to the exact code section.
- Kestrel Compliance Chat — A built-in AI building code assistant and thought partner that answers project-specific compliance questions in plain language, cited to the exact code section. This AI building code chat assistant is available in both the Revit Kestrel panel and in the web browser.
- Kestrel Portal — A web-based compliance dashboard for project managers and firm leadership with no BIM file required.
Marian Pulford, co-founder and CEO, Kestrel Labs has told Architosh:
No permit delay, no redesign, no late-stage surprise is random. They most often start in the design phase, when the right information wasn’t there at the right moment. Austin and I studied this for years, then moved to tackle the problem ourselves, from the ground up, for how architects actually work. Kestrel puts the code right inside the BIM workflow, at the moment it can still make a difference. Every architect we talked to had lived this story. Kestrel is for them.
“New hires are billable from week one now,” adds Micah Gray, AIA, Director of Technology and Innovation. “There is little runway to sit with a senior architect and transfer twenty years of code knowledge. Kestrel changes that equation. The code is in the model, visible to everyone, and it does not depend on who is in the room. That is not a small thing for a firm that is trying to grow.”
Deep Investor Positivity
“Construction is one of those industries where everyone knows the problem, and nobody has built the infrastructure to fix it,” says Nick Moran, General Partner, New Stack Ventures. “Kestrel came to us with deep domain knowledge, a product already running inside the tools architects use every day, and a data foundation that would take most companies years to assemble. That combination – inside the workflow, grounded in authoritative data, solving a problem the profession has accepted as unsolvable – is exactly what we look for.”
Kestrel Labs in action with the code violation window shown. As you work through the code issues list, Kestrel brings into view the specific BIM element in question.
“We invested in Kestrel because they understand what most AEC companies miss: compliance is not a feature. It is the foundation,” adds Aaron Stachel, Founding Partner, FirstMile Ventures. “Every permit delay, every round of rework, traces to building code issues in the design process. Kestrel fixes that from inside the BIM model. This is not a workflow improvement but a structural shift for the industry, and this team is built to lead that shift.”
Availability and Pricing
Architects can find Kestrel Labs’ solution inside the Autodesk Design & Make Marketplace, the Trimble Connect Marketplace, and soon with added SketchUp integration (coming soon).
Pricing works through a firm-wide annual license. There is no per-seat fees.
- No limits on users, projects, or compliance checks.
- Pricing reflects firm size, project complexity, and jurisdictional scope.
- Charter customers receive preferred pricing and input on the jurisdictional roadmap.
On that last point, Kestrel’s compliance platform intends to expand beyond North America to address code compliance for architects worldwide. In an upcoming Architosh interview feature, both co-founders discuss in detail how Kestrel Labs began, how the origin of its co-founders impacted the solutions they are bringing to market, what core technologies are at play, and numerous other details about Kestrel’s direction moving forward. So look for that upcoming interview feature soon!
To visit Kestrel Labs, go here now.
About Kestrel Labs
Kestrel Labs, located in Denver, Colorado, is the first AI-powered building code compliance platform built natively inside BIM and the first structured compliance data layer for the built environment.
Architosh Analysis and Commentary
This is a technology that should have been embedded in BIM authoring tools years ago, so we are excited to see Kestrel Labs tackle this age-old problem of code compliance and code-checking. Most large architectural offices either have a dedicated code specialist or regularly consult with a code specialist consultant, and there are many around. However, working with code consultants is a different kind of workflow and has limitations. What Kestrel is doing is democratizing code compliance knowledge, which is especially meaningful as we enter the crest of the Baby Boomers wave as they retire over the next decade. When they leave, so does decades of hard-earned tacit knowledge (know-how) about how code compliance works in architecture. Kestrel Labs has arrived just in time for the world of architecture.
