Get answers to common questions about CanCodes and how it can help you work more efficiently with Canadian building codes.
CanCodes is an AI-powered assistant specifically designed to help Canadian construction professionals, architects, engineers, and building inspectors quickly find accurate information from Canadian building codes. Unlike general AI tools, CanCodes is trained exclusively on official Canadian building documents and provides precise, code-specific answers.
Simply sign up with your email address - no password required! We'll send you a secure login link and verification code. You can start asking questions immediately with our free plan, which includes a daily usage allowance.
Yes, an account helps us provide you with personalized project organization, save your conversation history, and manage your document preferences. Plus, it ensures you get the most accurate answers based on your selected building codes.
While general AI tools like ChatGPT have broad knowledge, they weren't designed for the precision required in construction and building code compliance. Their training data is often over a year old, which is problematic since building codes change every few years with amendments in between. CanCodes is purpose-built for Canadian building codes with several key advantages:
CanCodes provides highly accurate information sourced directly from official Canadian building codes. However, like any tool, it should be used as part of your professional judgment and verification process. Always cross-reference critical decisions with the original code documents and consult with relevant authorities when required.
We cover a comprehensive range of Canadian building codes including Provincial Building Codes, Fire Codes, and Plumbing Codes across different jurisdictions. For a detailed list of available documents, please visit our pricing page where you can see exactly what's included with each plan.
CanCodes offers two ways to interact with the system:
Projects help you organize your work by keeping related conversations and document selections together. For example, you might create separate projects for different buildings, client work, or renovation phases.
The Guided Building Code Review is a Pro feature that produces a structured compliance report for your building project. Rather than asking you open-ended questions, it walks you through a step-by-step intake process — collecting details like primary use, floor area, number of storeys, and construction type. Before the review is completed it may ask follow-up questions to clarify anything it needs to do the job properly.
Once you start the review, it runs in the background and works through multiple code areas in sequence, assembling a final report that covers the key compliance topics for your project. You can navigate away while it runs and return when it's ready.
Instead of needing to know exactly which code sections to look up, the review handles that research for you. It examines the relevant National Building Code areas for your project type and surfaces the requirements, potential gaps, and areas where more information is needed — all in one report. This gives you a structured starting point for compliance discussions with your team, clients, or the authority having jurisdiction.
If the review identifies areas where your project details were not sufficient to reach a conclusion, you'll be given the opportunity to provide additional context and refine those sections of the report.
Yes. Once a review is complete you can open it directly in a chat to ask follow-up questions, dig deeper into specific findings, or explore related code requirements — all with the full context of the report already loaded. You can also duplicate a review to start a new one with the same project details if your project changes.
The Guided Building Code Review is included in the Pro plan. It is not available on the free plan. If you're on the free plan and want to try it, you can upgrade to Pro — which includes a 14-day free trial so you can explore all Pro features before being charged.
CanCodes ensures that you are only working with the data you select from the document list, rather than the collective knowledge of the AI's training data. On top of that, when you ask a question, it doesn't just provide a simple answer. Our system automatically generates several related follow-up questions in the background to enhance the clarity and detail of the response. This means each question you ask is actually like asking 4-5 comprehensive questions on the topic, giving you much more thorough and useful information than a basic AI response.
When you create a new project, you'll see a document selection panel where you can choose from available building codes. This ensures your questions are answered using only the relevant codes for your specific project location and type. You can change your document selection at any time within a project.
Absolutely! CanCodes maintains the context of your conversation within each project (available in the Pro plan), so you can ask follow-up questions, request clarifications, or dive deeper into specific code sections. This makes it easy to have natural conversations about complex building code topics.
CanCodes excels at a wide range of building code questions:
Our free plan gives you a great way to try CanCodes and handle basic questions:
See our pricing page for a detailed list of which building code documents are available with the free plan.
The Pro plan is designed for professionals who need regular access to building codes:
Visit our pricing page to see the complete list of building code documents available with the Pro plan.
When you upgrade to Pro, you get full access to all Pro features for 14 days completely free. If you decide it's not right for you, simply cancel before the trial ends and you won't be charged. No hidden fees or complicated cancellation process.
Yes! You can upgrade to Pro at any time to access a larger usage allowance and additional building codes. If you need to downgrade, you can do so from your account settings, and the change will take effect at your next billing cycle.
On the free plan, your daily allowance resets every 24 hours — just try again the next day. On the Pro plan, any unused daily usage rolls over, so your monthly pool builds up if you use less on quieter days. If you reach your monthly limit before the reset, contact us to discuss your needs. We may also apply temporary limits during periods of high demand to ensure fair access for all users.
When you log in, we send both a secure link and a 6-digit verification code to your email. You can either click the link for instant access, or enter the code on our website. This system is more secure than traditional passwords and much more convenient.
Yes. We use industry-standard security practices to protect your information. Your conversations and project data are stored securely, and we never share your personal information or conversation data with third parties.
Absolutely! CanCodes is designed to work on mobile devices, tablets, and desktops. You can access your projects and ask questions from anywhere with an internet connection.
If you're not sure which email address you used, try the most likely ones. After signing in, if you're asked to complete your registration then you can go back and try a different email. If you're still having trouble, contact our support team and we'll help you locate your account.
We're here to help! Pro users get priority email support, while free users can also reach out for assistance. Check our contact page for the best ways to reach our support team.
CanCodes is designed to be intuitive and easy to use from day one. Most users can start getting value immediately. However, if you're part of a larger organization or have specific training needs, please contact us to discuss custom onboarding options.
We'd love to hear your suggestions! User feedback helps us prioritize new features and building code coverage. Please reach out through our contact page with your ideas and we'll consider them for future updates.
Yes, we offer a fair refund policy for Pro subscriptions. You can find full details on our refund policy page. We want you to be completely satisfied with CanCodes.
Can't find what you're looking for? We're here to help!