[01]
Building code compliance is too important to live outside the model, and far too costly when errors are made. Kestrel brings it in with one-click code compliance checks.
[ About Kestrel Labs ]
Building code should be computable.
A rule set that runs against your model.
[02]
Architects still cross-reference PDFs, mark up drawings, and catch expensive problems at plan check, after decisions have already compounded. That's what Kestrel is built to prevent.
[ What We're Building ]
The building code compliance platform for every role on the design team.
Kestrel translates building code into structured, machine-executable logic. That's what lets compliance run directly in the model, rather than getting resolved in a stack of markups the week before submittal.
Interface
[01]
Compliance Analysis + Compliance Chat
Kestrel Compliance Analysis runs inside Revit, evaluating your BIM models against jurisdiction-specific requirements, tying every flagged issue directly to the element in your model with a cited code reference.
Kestrel Compliance Chat answers in-the-moment compliance questions specific to your project.
Workflow
[02]
Continuous Compliance
Checks take one click, about 30 seconds. Teams run them continuously during design, not once at the end. The earlier issues surface, the less there is to fix.
Visibility
[03]
Project Dashboard
Results surface in a project dashboard that gives principals and project managers a real-time view of where the model stands, by discipline and by issue, without waiting on a redline, or opening the model.
Foundation
[04]
ICC Code Data
Built on official code data through our collaboration with the International Code Council. Always updating, always current.
[ Why Now ]
Why now
BIM standardized building geometry. Kestrel is structuring the regulatory layer to match.
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[01]
BIM As Substrate
BIM is now the standard substrate of practice, which means compliance can be evaluated against structured geometry instead of static drawings.
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[02]
AI Rule Library
At the same time, advances in AI have made it possible to translate large bodies of regulatory text into executable logic at scale. Kestrel's rule library has grown from dozens of checks to tens of millions in under a year.
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[03]
Industry Shift
The industry is shifting. In a 2026 survey of the QA/QC landscape, the architectural firm /slantis placed Kestrel in the first tier of model-side compliance tools: "Instead of treating accessibility, fire separation, or zoning review as something that only happens at the end, these tools surface issues while the model is still being developed."
Therefore — what we believe
[ What We Believe ]
Building code is a rule system, not just a document.
Four principles behind Kestrel's compliance engine.
[01]
Compliance happens during design, not after.
[02]
Every requirement ties directly to the element in your model.
[03]
Every issue comes with a cited source.
[04]
The tool handles the tedious work. The architect makes the decisions.
[ Founders ]
Kestrel began long before they called it a company.
Long before Kestrel had a name, Austin Pulford would come home from work talking about the gap between how architects actually design and the tools available for code compliance. A licensed architect, BIM specialist, and architectural technologist, he had spent nearly 20 years delivering large, technically complex commercial and mixed-use projects, coordinating teams and navigating code from early design through construction. Yet code analysis remained largely manual and disconnected from the model as it evolved. He began imagining a system that could make code part of the design process itself.
Marian recognized the foundation of a company in those conversations. Her own career had already placed her at the intersection of the built environment, public process, and emerging technology. She led the $5 million capital campaign for a nationally recognized adaptive-reuse arts center, working across architects, contractors, permitting agencies, state funders, and community stakeholders, and later led operations at an early AI-native company. She knew how to turn an ambitious idea into an organization and move it through institutions that are difficult to change.
Starting Kestrel meant placing both careers and their family behind the same conviction. Austin left the architecture profession he had spent nearly two decades building. When Kestrel was accepted into Techstars Boston, they packed up their young son and moved across the country to go all in.
Kestrel grew from two deeply complementary forms of expertise: Austin's command of architectural practice, BIM, and code, and Marian's ability to build the team, capital, partnerships, and momentum required to transform an industry.
[ Team ]
Architects and engineers building the first structured compliance data layer for the built environment.
Creating the shared language between building code and computational design.
The Kestrel Labs team, Denver
Marian has built her career where the built environment, public process, and emerging technology meet. She led the $5 million capital campaign for RiNo ArtPark, a nationally recognized adaptive-reuse arts campus in Denver, working across architects, contractors, permitting agencies, state funders, and community stakeholders. She later led operations at an early AI-native firm, helping develop and deploy proprietary AI products, and advised government and nonprofit organizations on communications and organizational change. At Kestrel, she leads company strategy, fundraising, partnerships, and market development, including strategic relationships with the International Code Council, Autodesk, and Trimble. She holds degrees in Fine Art and Art & Architecture History.
Brian has spent two decades building and leading engineering organizations in AI, fintech, and e-commerce, where reliability and scale are nonnegotiable. As VP of Engineering at ezCater, he led a 70-person organization and rearchitected the company's platform for its next stage of growth. Before that, he founded Excelsior Solutions and built it into a transaction-infrastructure company whose technology was adopted by Amazon, Coinstar, and Coinme. At Kestrel, Brian leads the engineering organization building a secure, scalable platform that translates building codes into machine-readable logic and checks them directly against BIM models.
Marissa is a licensed architect and industry leader with more than 15 years delivering complex residential and commercial projects. As Architectural Director at Electric Bowery in Los Angeles, she led design teams and project delivery; at Shawmut Design and Construction, she managed work from the contractor side; and most recently, she held a senior role at Rowland+Broughton. Her career gives her rare command of the full project lifecycle and the practical realities facing architects, contractors, owners, and clients. As Chief Industry Officer at Kestrel, she shapes product direction, customer implementation, and industry strategy, ensuring the platform solves the problems that matter in practice and can be adopted across firms.
Austin is a licensed architect, BIM specialist, and architectural technologist who spent nearly 20 years delivering large, technically complex projects, including more than two million square feet of commercial and mixed-use work representing over $1 billion in project value. As a Senior Architect at Davis Partnership, he specialized in high-rise residential, large-scale commercial development, and urban master planning, leading multidisciplinary teams through design, documentation, permitting, and construction. Kestrel grew from the system he kept imagining inside that work: a way to make code part of the design process itself.
Ryan has already helped scale one of AEC software's category-defining companies. At Procore, he was part of the revenue leadership team that grew the business from roughly $10 million to more than $100 million in ARR in four years, while building its Sales Engineering organization from zero to 30 people. He helped drive Procore's evolution into a multi-product platform, its international expansion, and the launches of the Procore App Marketplace and Groundbreak, giving him firsthand experience across the growth levers that turn an AEC software company into a category leader. Ryan is also an active angel investor, an LP across multiple venture funds, and an advisor to select ConTech and PropTech companies. At Kestrel, he is building the repeatable enterprise revenue engine, shaping pricing and go-to-market strategy, and turning market demand into durable growth.
Brian brings seven years leading global PR for Autodesk's AEC business and experience as a White House appointee at the U.S. Department of Transportation to Kestrel's engagement with regulators and public agencies. At Autodesk, he worked across one of the industry's most influential technology ecosystems, building relationships throughout AEC. At the Department of Transportation, he led communications on federal infrastructure policy and learned how government decisions move from policy to implementation. At Kestrel, Brian leads external affairs, connecting the company directly with code authorities, jurisdictions, and policymakers and helping create a path for model-based compliance to become part of how buildings are reviewed and approved.
Joe has spent his career translating regulatory language into machine-executable logic, the same problem Kestrel solves for building code. As Domain Architect at ezCater and at Coinstar, he designed compliance and anti-money-laundering infrastructure and built cloud platforms processing millions of daily transactions, across two decades in financial services, healthcare, and flight simulation, domains where accuracy is non-negotiable.
Mikkel was building generative AI years before it went mainstream: he created HyperGAN, an open-source framework for generative adversarial networks that researchers and engineers have built on since 2016. His production experience runs just as deep, from backend services for a nationwide gift-card kiosk network to web tools serving hundreds of thousands of users a month. He co-founded 255LABS, an applied-AI product and consulting studio whose generative-AI work has taken prizes at hackathons backed by AWS and NEAR, including an AI training platform built on Anthropic's Claude.
Martyn is an AI-first engineer with two decades of full-stack experience across SaaS and fintech, including engineering roles at Files.com and CARDFREE. He co-founded 255LABS, an applied-AI product and consulting studio, where his work ranges from open-weight language models to interpretability tooling that surfaces hidden capabilities inside LLMs. An eight-time hackathon winner, he holds a Computer Science degree from Texas Tech University.
Ken has spent 30+ years in capital formation, financial modeling, transaction structuring, and compliance, including serving as Chief Compliance Officer at Braddock Financial. He is Principal at Three Bridges Advisors and a Managing Director at Braddock Holdings, with earlier roles at Booz Allen, Ernst & Young, and Salomon Brothers. Northwestern engineering undergrad, Kellogg MBA.
Dave is a senior engineer and former corporate attorney, a rare pairing of technical depth and legal fluency that maps directly onto interpreting and encoding building code. He spent five years in private equity and venture fund formation before moving to tech, where he has taken three startups from concept to production and led backend and data engineering at venture-backed companies. He holds a JD from the University of Colorado and a Master's in Computational Data Analytics from Georgia Tech.
[ Recognition & Ecosystem ]
From building codes to the software architects use every day.
Kestrel is already being recognized, distributed, and backed by some of the most important organizations across AEC.
[01]
Official ICC-Licensed Code Content
Kestrel licenses official building code content from the International Code Council, publisher of the model codes used across most of the United States.
[02]
Built Into the Autodesk Ecosystem
Kestrel is an Autodesk AECO Technology Partner and is available in the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace.
[03]
Distributed Across the Trimble Ecosystem
Kestrel was selected as a global top finalist in Trimble's 0–60 Challenge and is now available in the Trimble Marketplace.
[04]
Best of Show for Innovation at AIA26
Architosh cited both the attack on the code-review problem and the quality of the 1.0 implementation.
[05]
Selected for Dezeen's AIA26 Panel
Kestrel joined Perkins Eastman, SketchUp, and Trimble on The Productive Architect, a panel hosted and covered by Dezeen.
[06]
Leading Early-Stage Investors
Techstars, New Stack Ventures, FirstMile Ventures, Denver Ventures, and Avesta Fund.
Building this from Denver, and always glad to meet people who think code should be computable
hello@kestrellabs.com