
Launch HN: PillarPlus (YC W20) – Automatically create construction blueprints - namankas
Hey HN, we’re Naman and Rushil, founders of PillarPlus (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pillarplus.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pillarplus.com</a>). We build software to automate the creation of construction blueprints. Specifically, our software generates engineering blueprints for air conditioning, ducting, fire, electrical, and plumbing services over the floor plan of the building. MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) designs are a set of 15 technical drawings. We got started in India and are currently operating there, but MEP is standard enough that the software can apply to Western markets also, given that we have incorporated international building codes.<p>Architects and contractors hire consultants, who still design the building manually. Complete dependence on human effort results in a process that is slow, error-prone and unreliable. Also, the number of consultants is limited resulting in higher fees, long delivery times and difficulty accessing the services.<p>Rushil started practicing architecture and had troubles dealing with the available MEP firms for his own projects. Naman built an optimization software for the Indian Railways. We’ve been friends for 13 years, and often discuss our problems and achievements. Naman hacked a prototype for plumbing drainage plans that worked perfectly over Rushil’s project, and got us excited about the possibility of such a software.<p>Our software takes in the floor plan as the input, understands the building and designs the MEP services like an engineer would. A month of engineer’s work gets cut down to a day. We require artificial intelligence algorithms to decipher the floor plan, constraint modelling techniques to encode building codes, routing methods to create pipe paths and optimization algorithms to minimize material wastage.<p>The software even calculates bill of materials with project cost estimates. It is important to note that MEP accounts for 25% of all project costs! Since the quantity of materials is huge, selecting the right items and vendors is a challenge in an unorganized sector like construction. We recommend what products to install and which brands to choose, as per geographic locations and availability.<p>The input to our software is the building’s floor plan. The floor plan gives us complete data of the building, with which we can do a lot more. We can generate structural blueprints, 3D models, and create interior design renders!<p>We&#x27;re eager to hear feedback and answer questions. Do share your experiences from the construction industry, and your opinion on the use of software to make construction work more efficient.
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dang
Since the founders are in India this is a bad time of day for them to be
engaging with commenters, so we're going to bury this post for now.

Sorry to anyone who's interested in this topic and/or whose question hasn't
been answered yet. It was my mistake!

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edferda
Reading your website I've understood that your customers need to send you a
complete set of architectural plans and you use your software to generate the
MEP plans. Currently I work in the construction field and I can already see
some reluctance to send the architectural plans to a third party. How do you
plan on addressing this? Some(most, at least around here) companies already
have in house MEP consultants(and they would still need them to validate your
designs, as per local laws).

Since your designs are mostly being made by algorithms without much need of
human intervention, why not provide it as a SaaS? Allow the firms to generate
their own designs while also allowing their in house consultants to validate
the designs.

That being said I am really excited for your project and I wish you the best
of luck. This is something I've being dreaming of for ages.

~~~
Rushil
Hey, Thanks a lot for your feedback. For your first question answer will be
that we sign privacy agreements with architectural companies thus giving them
surety of privacy for their drawings, and also all their drawings are saved in
cloud with high security.

Coming on to MEP consultants requirement, so when we come in picture we assure
that there is no need of any other MEP consultants as we work according to the
local laws applying for the project and validate all drawings.

So, Right now we are using the software in-house only thus becoming only tech
enabled consulting firm providing drawings at superior speed & quality, also
we are working as a back office team for some consultants but the future
vision is to convert it into SaaS.

Hope I answered all your questions, please let me know if there is anything
else you want to know. Thanks!

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brudgers
How are professional licensing requirements addressed?

Projects large enough to require sophisticated MEP design require that the the
design be engineered by a qualified professional who is individually
responsible for health safety and welfare. This is not an artifact of modern
guild cultures. The principle of personal builder responsibility goes all the
way back to the code of Hammurabi.

~~~
Rushil
We have professional MEP consultants on board with us, that review and sign
each and every drawing.

~~~
brudgers
Which jurisdictions are you targeting first?

~~~
Rushil
So right now we are working in India but we are also targeting USA.

~~~
brudgers
I don't know about India. I practiced architecture in the US for more than a
decade, am still professionally licensed, and came into the AEC industry in
1989. In the US, the "near zero dollar" market is reasonably well served by
engineers with established relationships with contractors, architects, owners,
and building officials. It's not uncompetitive.

Or rather, the many many local "near zero dollar" markets are generally served
and somewhat competitive. There are MEP's already on the ground pretty much
anywhere there is work. That's also the case with the national "near zero
dollar" market and everywhere in between.

Which is not to say that what you are doing won't work. But it's probably
going to be high touch sales and not self service. Too much money at stake in
construction. Too many problems that occur during the process from inherent
complexity, misunderstanding, and human fallibility. When things go bad,
relationships make the difference.

In the US, you're not up against costs. You're up against relationships.
Relationships developed over many projects and many years. Low cost probably
won't buy you arm's length.

Good luck.

~~~
Rushil
Ya, so I am also an Architect, practiced in India and Middle east. I know that
their is lots of complexity, human fallibility, many problems during process
that's why our software comes in place to minimize these efforts,human errors
involved in workflows, so that one can concentrate on solving and designing
the project.

So, right now we are using the software in-house thus producing projects and
getting feedbacks from various customers and accordingly developing the tool,
the main vision is to make it SaaS, then relationships would not be a big
issue.

~~~
brudgers
In the US, architects delegate. Industry standard contracts (AIA series)
reflect that. MEP's ordinarily meet with Owners, Contractors, and Building
Officials during design and construction of moderately sized and larger
projects. That is unlikely to change very much very quickly. Contractual norms
inform the insurance market. Contractual norms facilitate logistics. They
inform project financing.

Low cost is appealing, but in the long run only if the service slots into the
way people do business. MEP drawings are important as instruments of service
not as physical objects. That's a much more complicated role than what
PlanGrid tackled. It's product did not have to bear scrutiny from Owners,
Building Officials or the Design Team. It only had to make the construction
manager's job easier.

~~~
Rushil
Thanks for the knowledge.

I think you didn't get it. So,the design is as per that MEP consultant or
designer only who is working on the project, but using this tool it will ease
out his work by making the delivery more faster, efficient and detailed, thus
cutting down his effort, time and he will be able to focus more on designing
and providing quality to his customers.

If it works for you, we would be glad to connect with you and discuss and try
to answer more of your questions and doubts. Thanks!

~~~
brudgers
I'm not clear on the customer persona. Who do you envision as customers in the
US market? If you are that far along.

~~~
Rushil
Right now, we are providing MEP service to architects and are back office for
MEP consultants. When we move on to SaaS, which is our main vision, all the
companies doing MEP designing would be able to use our tool.

~~~
brudgers
Thanks.

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avs733
How does this integrate with existing software? Given how change resistant
construction tends to be, have you considered that these workflows are
culturally embedded (at least in the US) rather than just a work process that
can be swapped?

~~~
crtlaltdel
i’ve found these tools tend to be most readily adopted at the spec,
estimate/quote and sales engineering phases. the output becomes part of a
proposal.

~~~
avs733
so you are not proposing this as a design engineering tool? I'm confused

~~~
Rushil
No, we are not selling the software right now. We are using it in-house,thus
becoming only tech-based consulting firm providing drawings at superior speed
& quality. But the future vision is to convert it into SaaS.

~~~
avs733
I'm not asking about who is operating it. I'm asking about what it is being
used. Can you articulate specifically what it is being used to do? Is it
estimate BOM's? perform layouts? etc. There are many automated layout
tools...all of which still require human (engineer) review.

~~~
Rushil
It is used to generate detailed and accurate blueprints with quantity take
offs and cost estimates.

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hashamali
Site can't be reached. Is the domain correct?

~~~
dang
Looks like it's working now?

~~~
hashamali
Yeah [https://pillarplus.com](https://pillarplus.com) is working now. The www
redirect still down though.

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pgt
pillarplus.com currently offline? Also, title says "Pillarlus" not
"Pillarplus".

~~~
namankas
It's PillarPlus.com (sorry for the mistake!)

