Architecture Firm — K-12 School District
Representative scenario based on typical Helonic usage patterns
1,847 across 1,200+ sheets
3 school buildings
ADA, egress & fire safety
The Challenge
A mid-size architecture firm was designing three new K-12 school buildings for a Southern California school district — an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school — all under one bond program. The combined drawing set exceeded 1,200 sheets, with each building at a different stage of completion and produced by different team leads within the firm.
The firm's QA/QC process relied on senior architects reviewing redlines on printed sheets, a process that was effective for individual buildings but broke down when trying to maintain consistency across three simultaneous projects. ADA accessibility paths, fire-rated corridor assemblies, and egress calculations needed to comply with the same district standards across all three buildings, but each team was making independent design decisions.
The DSA (Division of the State Architect) review was approaching, and the firm needed to ensure code compliance across all three buildings before submittal — a process that typically took four to six weeks of internal review.
How They Used Helonic
The firm uploaded all three drawing sets to Helonic simultaneously. The analysis was configured to check each building independently while also flagging inconsistencies in how the three teams applied the same building codes and district standards.
Helonic processed the full 1,200+ sheet set and identified 1,847 issues across all three buildings. The issues clustered into clear patterns: 423 ADA accessibility issues including non-compliant door clearances, missing detectable warning surfaces at curb ramps, and restroom layouts that didn't meet turning radius requirements; 389 fire and life safety issues including incomplete fire-rated assemblies at corridor junctions, missing area separation wall details, and inconsistent fire damper callouts; and 312 egress compliance findings including travel distance calculations that exceeded code maximums in gymnasium and cafeteria designs.
The remaining issues covered cross-referencing errors, dimension discrepancies, and coordination conflicts between the architectural and engineering consultants' drawings.
Results
The firm's QA/QC team used Helonic's categorized report to prioritize corrections by severity and building. Rather than senior architects spending weeks reviewing prints, the team was able to focus their limited review time on the 1,847 specific locations that needed attention.
The most significant finding was a pattern of egress non-compliance in the high school gymnasium and middle school cafeteria designs — spaces where large occupant loads and limited exit paths created travel distance violations. Catching these before DSA submittal avoided what would have been a guaranteed plan check correction cycle, saving an estimated four to six weeks of redesign time.
The firm also identified 67 inconsistencies in how the three teams had detailed fire-rated assemblies — using different detail references for the same UL assembly in different buildings. Standardizing these before submittal improved document quality and reduced the risk of DSA comments.
“Running three school buildings through QA/QC simultaneously was overwhelming our senior staff. Helonic found 1,847 issues and organized them in a way that let us fix patterns across all three buildings at once instead of checking each one from scratch.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Helonic review multiple buildings in a single analysis?
Yes. You can upload drawing sets for multiple buildings and Helonic will analyze each independently while also identifying inconsistencies in how the same codes and standards are applied across buildings. This is particularly valuable for campus-style projects and multi-building programs.
Does Helonic check for California DSA-specific requirements?
Helonic checks against building codes including accessibility requirements, fire and life safety, and egress compliance. While it doesn't replicate the full DSA review process, it catches the most common plan check correction items — helping firms reduce review cycles.
How does Helonic handle ADA accessibility checking?
Helonic analyzes door clearances, turning radii, accessible route widths, detectable warning surfaces, ramp slopes, and restroom layouts against accessibility requirements. It flags non-compliant conditions with the specific dimension or clearance that falls short.
Is Helonic useful for QA/QC within architecture firms?
Absolutely. Architecture firms use Helonic to supplement their internal QA/QC process — catching code compliance gaps, cross-referencing errors, and coordination issues before documents go to the contractor or plan review authority. It's especially valuable when multiple team leads are producing drawings under compressed timelines.
Next Case Study
Owner's Rep — Data Center Campus
See What Helonic Catches in Your Drawings
Upload your drawing set and get a comprehensive multi-discipline analysis — coordination conflicts, code compliance gaps, and cross-referencing errors, all in one report.
Schedule a Demo