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ENG · Engineering Design

Agents that check, model and trace designs before engineers sign

Building, infrastructure and product engineers spend much of their week on checking, cross-referencing and paperwork. FreeSeek builds agents that work inside BIM, CAD and PLM tools to do that groundwork. The engineer of record keeps every design decision and every stamp.

Systems we connect to
Revit / IFCAutoCADSolidWorksCATIATeamcenterWindchillCadQuery
Application scenarios Case studies
Agent run · examplerun_19e6d4
TaskCheck the level 3 egress design of the clinic block against the project design basis
  1. ifc.read()
    Loaded 214 spaces, 9 exits and 6 stairs from model revision C04
  2. rules.egress()
    Ran travel distance and exit capacity checks; 3 items exceed limits
  3. bcf.export()
    Created 3 BCF issues with clause, sheet and element references
Result · Issue list sent to the fire engineer of record for review and decision
Industry context

Where engineering design stands today

Design work in both AEC and mechanical engineering now runs on rich models: BIM in Revit exchanged as IFC, and 3D CAD in SolidWorks or CATIA managed in Teamcenter or Windchill. The models hold far more data than teams have time to check. Compliance review against fire, egress and structural codes still happens by reading sheets and calculation packages line by line, often days before a submission deadline.

Mechanical and product teams face a similar gap. Variants and configurations multiply, yet many parts are still remodelled by hand from a brief and a marked-up sketch. Change orders ripple through assemblies, bills of materials and quantity take-offs with little automated tracing. Senior engineers who know the standards and past failures are scarce, and their knowledge sits in old reports, emails and personal notes that juniors cannot easily find.

Review bottlenecks

Code and peer checks depend on a few senior engineers. Late findings force redesign close to permit or release dates.

Change propagation

One revised dimension or load affects drawings, quantities, cost and schedule. Teams trace these effects manually and miss some.

Document volume

RFIs, specifications and submittals pile up on every project. Most of the effort goes into cross-referencing clauses and sheets.

Knowledge loss

Lessons from past projects and in-house standards are hard to search. Retiring engineers take the context with them.

Application scenarios

Four workflows, analysed step by step.

Each scenario shows how the work is done today, what the agent takes over, where a person signs off, and what we measure.

ENG-1Code-compliance review of drawings and calculationsENG-2Parametric model generation from design briefsENG-3Design-change impact and bill of quantitiesENG-4RFI, specification and submittal drafting and review
ENG-1

Code-compliance review of drawings and calculations

The agent checks drawing sets, BIM models and calculation sheets against applicable fire, egress and structural code clauses and flags each issue with its source.

Integration depth Moderate
Typical pilot8–10 weeks
How it works today

A senior engineer or plan checker reads drawing sheets and calculation packages against the relevant codes, marking up PDFs by hand. Travel distances, exit widths, fire ratings and load combinations are checked one at a time. Each review takes days, depends on the reviewer's memory of clause numbers, and often happens late. Issues found at permit stage trigger redesign and resubmission.

Systems used
Revit / IFCBCFAutoCADDesign code libraryCalculation sheets (Excel / Mathcad)
What the agent does
  1. Reads the IFC model, sheet set and calculation package and extracts rooms, occupancies, exits, fire separations, members and load cases
  2. Maps each element to the code clauses that apply in the project jurisdiction and the firm's design basis
  3. Runs deterministic rule checks for measurable items such as travel distance, exit capacity and load combinations
  4. Flags items that need judgment, citing the clause, sheet and model element for each one
  5. Produces a marked-up issue list in the BCF format the design team already uses
Human checkpoint
The engineer of record reviews every flagged item and decides how to resolve it. The agent never marks a design as compliant on its own.
What we measure
  • Issues found before submission
  • Review cycle time
  • Resubmission rate
  • False-flag rate
ENG-2

Parametric model generation from design briefs

The agent turns a design brief into a parametric CAD script, builds the model, and checks it against design rules before an engineer reviews it.

Integration depth Deep integration
Typical pilot10–12 weeks
How it works today

Engineers read a brief or a marked-up sketch and model each part or variant by hand in SolidWorks or CATIA. Standard features such as brackets, heat-sink fins or base plates are rebuilt again and again. Design rules on wall thickness, hole spacing and clearances live in checklists, so violations surface at drawing review or in manufacturing. Variant requests wait in a queue.

Systems used
CadQuerySolidWorks APICATIATeamcenterDesign rule checklist
What the agent does
  1. Extracts dimensions, loads, materials and constraints from the brief and asks for anything missing
  2. Writes a parametric model as code in CadQuery or a native CAD macro, reusing the firm's standard part library
  3. Builds the geometry and runs rule checks on wall thickness, clearances, interference and mass
  4. Renders views and a parameter table so the engineer can compare the result with the brief
  5. Revises the script from the engineer's comments and stores the approved version in PLM
Human checkpoint
A design engineer reviews geometry, parameters and rule-check results before release. Release into PLM requires the engineer's approval.
What we measure
  • Time from brief to first model
  • Rule violations caught before review
  • Model reuse rate
  • Revision rounds per part
ENG-3

Design-change impact and bill of quantities

The agent traces a proposed design change through models, drawings and quantities and reports what it touches before the change is approved.

Integration depth Deep integration
Typical pilot10–12 weeks
How it works today

When a client or another discipline changes a grid line, a load or a component, engineers search drawings, schedules and the BOM by hand to find what else moves. Quantity surveyors rerun take-offs from scratch. Hidden dependencies, such as a beam size that changes a connection detail or a part used in three assemblies, are often found late, which drives rework and cost disputes.

Systems used
Revit / IFCWindchillTeamcenterQuantity take-off exportChange request log
What the agent does
  1. Compares model versions and the change request to identify every changed element
  2. Follows references across models, sheets, schedules and the BOM to list dependent items
  3. Recalculates quantities and highlights the delta against the current bill of quantities
  4. Drafts an impact summary with affected sheets, parts, cost lines and open questions
Human checkpoint
The design lead and the cost manager confirm the impact list and decide whether the change proceeds. Contract and cost decisions stay with them.
What we measure
  • Time to impact assessment
  • Missed dependencies found later
  • Quantity variance after change
  • Change orders disputed
ENG-4

RFI, specification and submittal drafting and review

The agent drafts RFI responses and specification sections and checks contractor submittals against the specification, citing sources and past project lessons.

Integration depth Quick win
Typical pilot4–6 weeks
How it works today

Project engineers answer RFIs and review submittals by opening the specification, the drawings and the product data sheet side by side. They search old projects for similar answers. Each item takes from thirty minutes to several hours, and backlogs hold up construction or procurement. Specifications are often copied from earlier jobs and carry outdated clauses.

Systems used
Specification libraryDocument management systemAutoCADLessons-learned database
What the agent does
  1. Reads the RFI or submittal and pulls the relevant specification sections, drawings and standards
  2. Searches past RFIs, lessons-learned records and in-house standards for similar cases
  3. Checks submitted product data against specified performance values and lists deviations
  4. Drafts a response or review comment with every source cited for the engineer to edit
Human checkpoint
The responsible engineer edits and signs every response before it is issued. Approval or rejection of a submittal remains a professional decision.
What we measure
  • RFI turnaround time
  • Submittal review cycle time
  • Responses issued without rework
  • Backlog size
Case studies

How engagements in this field have played out.

Illustrative cases: composites of typical deployments with client details removed. Figures show the range our pilots are designed to reach.

Earlier code findings on a hospital extension

Client: Multidisciplinary design firm, 600 staff, healthcare and public buildingsRegion: GCC
−34%plan-check comments at submission
−41%senior review hours per package
86%flagged items accepted as valid
Challenge

Plan-check comments on fire separation and egress arrived late in each design stage. Two senior fire engineers reviewed every package by hand, and on a 40,000 m² hospital extension the backlog pushed submissions back by weeks. The firm wanted issues found while the model was still easy to change.

What we built
  • Built an agent that reads the Revit model as IFC and runs egress and fire-separation rules from the project's design basis
  • Linked each finding to the code clause, the sheet and the model element through BCF
  • Added a weekly review session where fire engineers accept, reject or reclassify findings
Timeline: 10-week pilot, extended to three projects in month 5

Parametric bracket and enclosure variants

Client: Industrial equipment maker, mechanical design team of 45Region: Southern Europe
−38%time from order spec to released model
−27%drawing-check rejections
62%variants generated from standard families
Challenge

Custom orders required new bracket and enclosure variants each week. Engineers rebuilt similar parts in SolidWorks, and design-rule violations surfaced at drawing check or in the workshop. Variant requests waited up to two weeks, and sales could not quote firm lead times for custom work.

What we built
  • Encoded the standard part families as CadQuery scripts with parameter limits
  • Built an agent that turns order specifications into parameter sets and runs interference and wall-thickness checks
  • Routed every generated model to a design engineer for approval before release in Windchill
  • Logged each engineer correction to refine the rule set
Timeline: 12-week pilot, production in month 4
Risk and compliance

Responsibility, traceability and client data

Engineer of record keeps sign-off

Agents prepare checks, models and drafts, and the licensed engineer reviews and stamps them. Professional liability stays with the engineer and the firm under local licensing rules.

Version control and traceability

Every agent output records the model revision, code edition and rules it used. Results link back to the source element so reviewers can verify each finding.

Information management under ISO 19650

Agents read from and write to the common data environment using its status codes and naming conventions. Nothing is shared or published without the approval step the project's information protocol defines.

Client IP and confidentiality

Models, drawings and specifications stay in the client's environment or a dedicated tenant. Project data is not used to train shared models, and access follows the project's role permissions.

Questions we hear
Can the agent certify that a design meets code?

No. It checks measurable rules and flags items that need judgment, with the clause and element cited. Compliance decisions and the professional stamp stay with the engineer of record.

Which design codes do you support?

We encode the codes and editions your projects use, along with your firm's design basis and in-house standards. Each rule set is reviewed by your engineers before it is used on live work.

Do we need to change our CAD or BIM tools?

No. The agents work with Revit, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, CATIA and your PLM through their APIs and open formats such as IFC and BCF. Outputs land in the tools and folders your teams already use.

How do you handle model accuracy for generated parts?

Generated geometry is built by a deterministic CAD kernel and checked against your design rules before anyone sees it. An engineer still reviews every part before release.

Have a workflow like these?

Send us a short description of how the work is done today. We reply within two business days.

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Other industries
MFGAdvanced ManufacturingMATNew Materials R&DMEDHealthcare ServicesFINFintechMKTMarketing