From search tool to decision engine: AEC Assistant Update 3
We named the problem. We published the architecture. Now we've shipped it: AEC Assistant rebuilt around projects, memory and cited, project-specific compliance answers. There's a free plan, so bring a real question and put it to the test.
When we started AEC Assistant, we set out to solve one problem: construction professionals shouldn't have to spend hours searching for information they already have access to.
That hasn't changed. But the platform underneath it has changed fundamentally.
Over the past few months we've set out our thesis in two pieces. The Infrastructure Beneath the Infrastructure named the problem: construction doesn't have a software problem — it has an intelligence infrastructure problem. Information is everywhere; context-aware answers are nowhere. How a Building Learns to Think then laid out the architecture beneath it — Decision Intelligence Infrastructure (DII™) and its six floors of maturity, published openly for the industry to build on.
Today, we start building it, floor by floor
Editor's note (28 September 2026): the screenshots in this post were taken in May 2026. They show an earlier NCC edition selected for a Victorian project, and a credits meter that has since been replaced by a weekly usage limit. A Victorian project is now answered against NCC 2025.
One assistant, with a specialist method for each job Planning analysis, building-code interpretation, fire and accessibility, approvals, contract administration and product verification each have their own documented method inside the assistant, and it picks the right one for the question in front of it. Ask something that spans several disciplines and you get one joined-up answer that shows which method it used and where each claim came from.
Your project, always in context Add your project documents, and every conversation from that point understands your project. No re-uploading. No re-explaining. Ask "does this design meet the NCC fire-separation requirements?" and the assistant already knows which drawings, reports, and specs you mean. Your project becomes the lens through which every answer is shaped.
It remembers what matters Had a compliance discussion last week about a tricky DtS pathway? The assistant remembers. Key decisions, identified risks, outstanding evidence gaps, and confirmed requirements all carry forward. Come back in a month and pick up exactly where you left off. The more context it holds on a project, the more precise its answers become.
Structured compliance workflows Run a full design-compliance review, a site due-diligence audit, or an approval-readiness check — not as a string of disconnected questions, but as a structured, multi-stage review where each step builds on the last. The kind of cross-referencing across documents, codes, and consultants that used to take days, now drafted for your review in minutes.
Answers you can cite with confidence Every response is grounded in real regulatory sources and cites them, edition, volume, part, and clause. No vague summaries. No made-up clause numbers. When you put an answer in front of a certifier or council, you know exactly where it came from.
It adapts to you Whether you're an architect, engineer, certifier, builder, or planner, and whether you're working in Victoria, NSW, or Queensland, the assistant tailors its depth, language, and regulatory focus to match. The more it knows about your project and how you work, the sharper it gets.
The judgement stays yours AEC Assistant is built to make qualified professionals faster and better informed, not to replace them. Every answer shows its working and points to its sources, so the decision, and the sign-off, stay where they belong: with you.
Why this matters
Australia loses an estimated $2.5 billion a year to regulatory non-compliance (ABCB), and the pressure on the sector is climbing, Victorian construction insolvencies rose almost 74% year-on-year to December 2025 (ASIC). The regulatory environment is tightening, not loosening.
The professionals who get ahead won't be the ones with more hours in the day. They'll be the ones with better infrastructure supporting their decisions.
That's what we're building.
Get started
We've introduced a free tier no credit card, no trial clock. Create an account and ask it real compliance questions with the full regulatory library behind it. The free plan is ask-only with a weekly usage limit; projects, document uploads and the guided workflows are on the paid plans, so you can see how it answers before you commit.
Editor's note (28 September 2026): the free plan searches the National Construction Code, state building and planning legislation, ABCB handbooks, regulator practice notes and codes of practice. Paid plans add deeper knowledge of the Standards.
When you're ready for the full experience, expanded usage limits, more document storage, and projects with document storage, and every guided workflow, our paid plans have you covered.
If you've got questions, or you'd like a walkthrough of the new capabilities, reach out through our contact page and we'll be happy to show you around.
The AEC Assistant Team
