Ask Donnie.
The Oracle of building.
The construction consultant that knows the code for your city, county, and state — cites the exact section, estimates the job, and reads your plans. Built on Claude.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- $5 free credit
- Pay only for what you use
I'm a contractor / builder
Cited code research, jurisdiction-scoped, plus fast itemized estimates for the bid.
I'm a homeowner / DIY
Your house on file. An AI maintenance pro that tracks your systems, flags what's due, and answers in plain language — cited, with what to confirm with your AHJ.
7 feet (2,134 mm). Texas is on the 2012 IRC. Habitable spaces, hallways, bathrooms, toilet rooms, and laundry rooms must have a ceiling height of not less than 7 ft.
📑 2012 IRC §R305.1 — “…ceiling height of not less than 7 feet (2134 mm).”From a plan to a priced estimate — in seconds.
Drop in a floor plan or build the line items by hand. Confirm the quantities, set your region and contingency, and Donnie's deterministic engine returns a branded estimate — or invoice — as Excel or PDF. Same numbers every time, with an AACE class, an accuracy range, and an honest line-by-line breakdown of what's real vs an allowance.
AACE-classed · every line labeled real vs national-average vs allowance · reproducible fingerprint — verify before quoting a client.
One expert. The whole job.
Donnie pairs Claude's reasoning with the real, adopted building code and a deterministic estimating engine — so the words are expert and the numbers are exact.
Knows your jurisdiction
Every state's adopted code edition — Alabama is on the 2015 IRC, Texas the 2012, California the 2021. Answers scoped to where you actually build.
Cites the exact section
Grounded in the public-domain code. Donnie quotes the verbatim section and links the source — not a guess, the actual rule.
Honest, classed estimates
Itemized budgets with an AACE accuracy class and range — and every line labeled real-supplier, national-average, or allowance. Exact arithmetic, never fake precision.
Reads your blueprint
Upload a plan or a site photo. Donnie reads the dimensions, applies the right code, and ties it to the estimate.
How it works
Three steps from a plain question to a cited answer.
Tell Donnie where + what
“Houston, TX — minimum ceiling height for a habitable room?”
Donnie pulls your adopted code
Resolves Texas → the 2012 IRC, finds the governing section, reads the verbatim text.
Get the cited answer — and the numbers
The rule quoted to the exact §, with a source link — plus an itemized estimate if you ask.
Learn the code while you build.
Straight answers to the questions the trades actually ask — each pointed at the exact section. Browse the library, or catch the latest from the field.
Latest from the blog
Why your annual plan pays you monthly
Annual plans are cheaper, but handing a whole year of wallet credit out on day one makes cancellations and plan changes unfair in one direction or the other. Here is exactly how Donnie's annual billing works instead - in installments, in proportion, in the open.
New: the $29 Foreman tier, 23 free calculators, share links & more
A big shipping week: a $29/mo tier that puts your logo on the everyday paperwork, 23 free construction calculators each on its own page, 8 free document generators, shareable estimate links, and honest annual billing.
Ask Donnie is on iPhone & iPad — Android on the way
The construction consultant that knows your local code, cites the exact section, and prices the job is now on iPhone and iPad — free to start, and live on the web too. Android is on the way.
Start free. No card. $5 on the house.
Ask a building-code question or rough out an estimate right now. New accounts get $5 in free credit — no credit card — and you only pay for what you use after that.
Take Donnie to the job site.
The full estimator and code expert, native on iPhone, iPad, and Android.
Grounded in the public-domain IRC · cites the exact section· it's AI — verify before you build.