Melt Code AI for reliable building code research

The primary reason the client chose MeltCode was to eliminate the massive time and uncertainty involved in building code research, while improving confidence in compliance decisions. Traditional code research is slow, manual, and error-prone—architects often spend hours flipping through dense codebooks, chasing cross-references, and validating exceptions across multiple chapters. This becomes even harder when junior staff must escalate questions to senior architects or external code consultants, creating bottlenecks and increasing project costs. The firm also explored using generic AI tools like ChatGPT for code research, but quickly realized that black-box AI is not reliable enough for compliance-critical decisions. Hallucinations, incorrect citations, and shallow interpretations forced the team to double-check everything, often resulting in even more time wasted. MeltCode stood out because it is built specifically for AEC code compliance and is designed around transparency. Instead of providing a vague answer, MeltCode delivers project-specific requirements with step-by-step reasoning, a guided compliance workflow, and direct citations to the exact code sections. This allows architects and engineers to verify every conclusion and confidently apply requirements to real design scenarios. The client adopted MeltCode because it offered the speed of AI, but with the defensibility and clarity required for real-world permitting and compliance work

Code research taking 50–300 hours per project Time wasted navigating cross-references and exceptions Inconsistent interpretations across teams Heavy dependence on senior staff for verification High spend on external code consultants Generic AI tools producing unreliable answers and wrong citations Slow turnaround on compliance decisions, delaying design iterations

The firm relied on manual code research through physical codebooks and keyword searching digital code libraries, combined with frequent escalations to senior architects and external code consultants for complex interpretations.

MeltCode delivered immediate and measurable business impact by dramatically reducing the time and cost required for building code compliance research. Prior to MeltCode, architects often spent between 50 and 300 hours per project performing code research, verifying cross-references, and validating exceptions. This work was slow, non-billable in many cases, and frequently required senior staff involvement, which created internal bottlenecks and slowed design timelines. After adopting MeltCode, the firm reported a clear improvement in efficiency and cost reduction across their organization. Code research became significantly faster, with teams seeing 45% faster code research overall. Questions that previously took anywhere from 10 minutes to multiple hours could now be resolved in 1–4 minutes, with comprehensive answers and citations. The firm also reported 30% less spend on code consultants, because more questions could be answered internally with confidence. MeltCode reduced reliance on senior architects as well, with 25% fewer inquiries from junior architects, freeing principals and project leads to focus on higher-value design work rather than repetitive compliance verification. Beyond measurable ROI, MeltCode improved decision quality. Because MeltCode provides transparent reasoning, confidence scores, and direct code citations, teams gained greater trust in compliance decisions and reduced the risk of missing key requirements. Overall, MeltCode increased speed, reduced cost, improved internal workflow efficiency, and delivered significantly more confidence and peace of mind during compliance-critical design phases.

"I just explained my code query in plain English, and Melt Code understood exactly what I meant and gave the correct answer immediately. I also love that it shows the actual code excerpt. All the young architects on our team are hooked!" - Dennis Dong, Principal Architect, CH&D Architects

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