Question 1

What does "permitting" actually mean?

Accepted Answer

A government agency reviews and approves building plans against safety and zoning rules before construction can start — a process that can take weeks to months.

Question 2

What's the difference between design and permitting?

Accepted Answer

Design creates the plans; permitting is agency approval of those plans. In plinth.OS, code check runs continuously inside Design — there is no separate compliance phase before Otto prepares the filing.

Question 3

What's in Design now that Code Check is gone as a separate phase?

Accepted Answer

Design covers schematic design and design development together: generative BIM, massing, VR walkthroughs, and live IBC/ADA/local overlays that update as you edit. Compliance is a continuous overlay on the same model — not a handoff step.

Question 4

What does the Construction phase cover?

Accepted Answer

CMAA-aligned construction phase management: a change tracker (change orders with cost/schedule impact and RFI linkage), a permit tracker for condition-of-approval close-out linked to the Permitting record, and Architect's Field Reports (AFRs) auto-drafted from site notes and photos.

Question 5

What are the six phases?

Accepted Answer

Pre-Design, Design, Permitting, Procurement, Construction, and Handover — aligned to AIA conventions on the design/permitting side and CMAA practice on the construction side.

Question 6

Do we need Revit to use plinth.OS?

Accepted Answer

No. Revit teams sync through Autodesk Construction Cloud; everyone else can use IFC and open BIM interchange on the connected record without a Revit seat for every contributor.

Question 7

Which jurisdictions does Otto support?

Accepted Answer

Tier 1 Los Angeles prep uses real LADBS public open-data permit records in the demo (snapshot — not a live ePlanLA submission), with San Diego on the roadmap for Q2 2027. Tier 2 paper-based, human-reviewed prep is available nationwide today for all ~20,000 U.S. permit-issuing jurisdictions.

Question 8

Who owns our project data?

Accepted Answer

Your team retains ownership of briefs, geometry, and permit packages. plinth.OS does not claim intellectual property over client work or train public models on your schemes without explicit written opt-in.

Question 9

How do teams typically roll out?

Accepted Answer

Most teams start with one principal-led pilot through pre-design and design (including continuous code check), then expand seats once permitting and construction trackers are validated on a live project.

Question 10

Who is plinth.OS for?

Accepted Answer

Architects, designers, developers, and owners who share one connected record across the six phases.

Learn how plinth.OS fits the project lifecycle

Early access case study

How LADBS permit review actually works

AIA vs. CMAA phase alignment explained