Helonic is an AI construction drawing analysis platform for architects and contractors choosing between city and applicant AI plan review software. AI plan review software now comes in two kinds: tools a city buys to pre-screen permit applications, such as CivCheck and Archistar AI PreCheck, and tools a design team buys to check its own set, such as Helonic. Here is who buys each one, who runs it, and what it actually checks.
Search "AI plan review software" and the results mix both kinds together. A permit expediter reading a CivCheck case study and an architect reading a Helonic page are looking at products built for different buyers. The difference that matters is who wrote the checklist: the city, for its own permit types, or the design team, for the whole set.
City AI plan review tools, such as CivCheck and Archistar AI PreCheck, are bought by a building department and check applications against that city's configured rules before intake. Applicant AI plan check tools are bought by the design team. Helonic is an applicant-side tool that reviews the full 2D PDF set across disciplines before submittal.
City-side AI plan review is software a building department procures and configures against its own codes and document standards. Applicants, or in some cities the intake staff, run plans through it before the official review starts. The two names that come up most are CivCheck and Archistar.
These tools check completeness, zoning, and the building code items the jurisdiction set up, for specific permit types. Most launched on residential work. Honolulu's CivCheck covers single-family, two-family, duplex, ADU, and ohana projects, with commercial projects expected later, per DPP's July 2026 release.
Applicant-side AI plan check is software the architect, engineer, contractor, or developer buys and runs on its own drawings, in any jurisdiction. It reads the set as a whole, so it can catch two sheets that disagree with each other as well as a sheet that misses code.
The table sorts each tool by buyer, operator, and scope. Scope is where the city programs stand today and will change as they expand.
| Tool | Who buys it | Who runs it | What it checks | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CivCheck | City (Honolulu DPP; Seattle SDCI pilot) | Applicant, before intake | Completeness and code checks the city configures | Eligible residential permits in Honolulu; middle housing in Seattle's pilot |
| Archistar AI PreCheck | City or county | Applicant before submittal, or intake staff | Completeness, zoning, and building code checks set by the jurisdiction | 30+ municipalities per Archistar, including Harris County, TX |
| Permittable | Applicant; Port Orchard, WA sponsors free use | Applicant | Intake completeness check and permit review diagnostic | Port Orchard single-family plans against the 2021 IRC |
| Helonic | Design team, contractor, or owner's rep | Applicant, while the set can still change | Code compliance and cross-sheet coordination across all disciplines | Any project with a 2D PDF set, including commercial and healthcare |
The operator no longer tells you which side a tool is on. In Honolulu and Seattle the applicant runs CivCheck, but the city configured every check. In Kingston, Ontario, building staff run Archistar at intake. Port Orchard pays for applicants to use a tool built for applicants.
Ask who wrote the checklist. A city-written list tells you what that city will look for on that permit type, which is worth knowing before you submit. An applicant-side review reads the drawings against each other and against code, including conflicts no city list covers.
A city pre-screen is only as wide as its configuration. In Seattle's pilot, 35 of the 90 intake rejection reasons staff logged were outside the checks CivCheck had been set up to run, according to the city's evaluation report. Seattle's own conclusion was that check coverage matters as much as accuracy.
Some of what costs a project money never shows up as a permit comment. On a Minneapolis preschool, Helonic flagged child-toilet rough-in inside the casework, an outdoor-air mismatch, and floor drains off the kitchen equipment plan across 86 sheets. The building department commented on the kitchen hood make-up air. It did not comment on the rough-in or the drains, which would have meant a field core and a saw-cut slab.
Use the city tool where it is required or offered, since it is the city's own list. Use an applicant-side review on any set where the comments that cost cycles come from coordination, which is most commercial work. Run the applicant review first, while the drawings can still change, then run the city pre-screen on a set that already agrees with itself.
What the city programs have measured so far is in the Honolulu and Seattle AI permit pilot results. To prepare the set, use the pre-submittal plan review checklist, and when comments come back, the guide on how to respond to plan check comments. For evaluating vendors on either side, see what to look for in plan check software.
For the AHJ workflow in more depth, read AI plan check for building departments. For the design-side category, start with what AI plan review is, the AI plan review guide, and Helonic's code compliance checking.
Practitioner insight
“Clients hear the city has AI now and assume the set will sail through. The city tool tells you whether you gave the city what it asks for on that permit type. It has no idea the structural engineer moved a column after the egress plan was frozen. That part is still on us before we upload.”
Source: Conversations with permit expediters and architecture firm QA leads submitting residential and commercial sets in cities that offer AI pre-screening, synthesized from Helonic customer interviews, Q3 to Q4 2026.
Milind is the co-founder and CEO of Helonic, where he leads product and go-to-market for AI-powered construction drawing analysis. He works closely with general contractors, project managers, estimators, and owners to understand how drawing quality drives project outcomes - and where AI can reduce RFIs, change orders, and rework. Milind has interviewed hundreds of construction professionals across project delivery roles, from preconstruction estimators at ENR top-400 contractors to facilities directors at institutional owners, and uses those conversations to shape both product direction and the way Helonic talks about the work.
How this page was researched: Reviewed against Honolulu DPP's CivCheck releases, Seattle's 2026 CivCheck evaluation report and Q2 2026 AI usage report, Port Orchard's prescreening program page, and Archistar's published municipal deployments.
Last reviewed by Milind Sagaram · October 2026
More on AI plan review before and during permitting.
Corrections, cycles, and accuracy from the two published city reports.
What to check, discipline by discipline, before the set goes to the city.
The criteria that separate a usable plan check tool from a demo.
How building departments are using AI on the review side of permitting.