Blueprints AI debuts tool that turns sketches into permit-ready blueprints

Blueprints AI, a startup that generates architectural construction drawings from sketches, is rolling out a second-generation version of its software this week at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. The company says the new system can produce blueprints for an entire building project, covering architecture, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and interior design, from a single description or sketch.

Founder Al Dram first thought of the idea nearly two decades ago, while writing an undergraduate architecture thesis on software that could generate design documents for school buildings. The technology he needed did not exist then, he said. The idea became workable after OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot built on large language models, in November 2022. Dram launched Blueprints AI within six months and incorporated the company in Santa Monica in 2025 with co-founder Coco Cao, a data scientist who serves as chief commercial officer.

Dram studied architecture at the University of Tehran and completed two years of PhD coursework in digital design at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. He later opened an architecture firm, Drams Design-Build, in the US in 2018, then added a construction business in 2021 after earning a general contractor’s license. Blueprints AI trained its models on eight years of approved drawing sets from that firm.

The startup’s first-generation product produces architectural construction documents and is priced between $3,200 and $8,500 a month, depending on the plan, with custom pricing for enterprise customers. The second-generation software, which Dram said will become publicly available this week, adds the ability to design and revise a project rather than just document it. According to the company, a single design change updates the full set of drawings and is checked against local building codes automatically. Early customers are already using the new version.

Blueprints AI says its software does not replace licensed architects. Licensed professionals still review the generated documents and apply their official seal before the plans are submitted for permits, according to the co-founders.

Dram said architects currently spend about 80% of their working time on drafting and only 20% on design, and that he wants the software to reverse that ratio. “It will make better spaces for people because now architects have the time to design,” he said.

The company is marketing the software to two types of customers: architecture, engineering and design firms, and property developers and real estate owners. It currently sells the product as a subscription and is considering a flat, one-time fee for customers who want it for a single project.

Blueprints AI is one of the companies selected for the 2026 Startup Battlefield 200, a group of early-stage startups exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt, which runs October 13 to 15 in San Francisco. The company says it is already developing a third version of the software that would add structural analysis and electrical panel design. No release date for that version has been given.