How to check construction drawings against building code before submission

The cheapest building code issue is the one you catch before the set leaves your desk. A non-compliance found at the drawing stage is a markup and a redraw. The same issue found at certification is a resubmission and a delay, and on site it is rework or a stop-work notice. This is a practical, repeatable way to check a drawing set against the building code before you submit it, so problems surface while they are still cheap to fix.

Why check compliance before submission?

Checking late is the default on most projects, and it is the most expensive option. By the time a set reaches certification the design is committed, so every correction ripples through the documentation and the program. Checking before submission flips that. It moves the find-and-fix loop to the point where a change is still just a change to a drawing, not a change to a building. It also means the set that reaches a certifier or council is already cross-checked, which tends to clear review with fewer requests for information.

What you need before you start

• The full drawing set. The PDF sheets you intend to submit, at the current revision.
• The BIM or IFC model, if you have one. Checking the model as well as the sheets catches things the 2D view alone can miss.
• The right code and edition. The correct code for the project, and for Australian work the NCC edition your jurisdiction has adopted. Adoption is currently split across states, so confirm which edition applies where you are building (see our NCC 2025 adoption by state guide).
• Any variations and your own QA standards.State variations, council requirements, or your practice's internal checklist, as documents you can check against.

How to check a drawing set against the building code, step by step

1. Assemble the set and the applicable code.Gather the current drawings, the model, and the exact code edition that applies to the project's location and approval date.
2. Upload the drawings, the model, and the regulation together. With a tool like UptoCode you upload the PDF set (or several sets, if you are comparing revisions), the IFC model, and the code or standard you want to check against in one place.
3. Ask targeted questions, or run a full audit. Ask a specific question in plain English, for example whether egress widths meet the requirement, capture a specific area of a sheet with the screenshot tool to ask about that exact detail, or run a full pass-and-fail audit across the whole regulation.
4. Review the cited findings. Read each finding against its citation. Every result should point to the specific clause and the specific sheet or element it came from, so you can verify it rather than take it on trust.
5. Fix, then re-run before you submit. Resolve the findings, then run the check again on the updated set. Because a check takes minutes, you can repeat it at each milestone rather than once at the end.

What to check across a set

Compliance is not one thing, so a useful pre-submission check spans the domains a surveyor would work through:

• Fire safety: fire ratings, separation walls, egress paths, detection.
• Structural: load paths, bracing, member sizes, footing details.
• Energy efficiency: insulation values, glazing performance, star ratings.
• Accessibility: door widths, ramp gradients, clearances.
• Light and ventilation: sill heights, safety glazing, ventilation areas.
• Waterproofing: wet-area membranes, termination heights, flashing.

Because the regulation is not hard-coded, you can run the same check against the published code, a council requirement, or your own internal QA standard by uploading the document you want to be measured against.

How AI makes pre-submission checking practical

The reason compliance slips to the end is that a thorough manual check is slow, so it gets saved for the deadline. AI changes that arithmetic. A check that took hours of cross-referencing takes minutes, which means there is no longer a reason to leave it late. You can run a full audit at concept, at developed design, and again before submission, and each pass is a fresh check against the current code. For a deeper look at how the reading step works, see our guide on how AI checks drawings and BIM models for code compliance.

Create a free account and run a cited check on your next set before you submit, with 65 free credits and no credit card.

Last reviewed 16 July 2026. This article is general information, not compliance advice; always confirm requirements against the code that applies to your project and, where needed, a qualified building professional.