Design Decision Intelligence Layer

Your tools record what happened. Nothing records why.

Forebuilder captures, associates, and codifies design decisions in a knowledge graph that spans every phase — so the reasoning behind your choices compounds instead of evaporating.

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The Problem

Every project generates thousands of design decisions. Today, that knowledge evaporates.

When something goes wrong — a change order, a failed inspection, a dispute — you need to reconstruct how the decision was made. Today that means digging through emails and hoping someone remembers.

You can't access the narrative of how things happened

Who was in the room? What tradeoffs were evaluated? Reconstructing a decision means reading through binders of emails and faxes — hoping someone marked the right keyword.

Engineering design clashes with construction reality

Beam sizes, HVAC routing, and constructability requirements clash with the engineering design. These conflicts surface late — in the field or during shop drawing review — generating RFIs and change orders.

The right stakeholders aren't pulled in early enough

Acoustics, waterproofing, geotech, fire protection — specialist consultants get brought in after design decisions have locked in constraints. No one can see which decisions have downstream dependencies.

“

Somebody saying in month two, 'this floor is gonna be really heavy if you keep this layout,' could have avoided a whole redesign in month ten. 40% of projects had one of these gotchas creep up.

Rolando Adelacruz, Acoustics Engineer

How It Works

Three capabilities. One intelligence layer.

Forebuilder sits on top of and across every phase — design, preconstruction, construction, and operations.

Capture

At the moment of decision, the design intent of clients, end users, and designers is captured and available to every downstream participant. No more lost context.

Example: The team decides to route the main duct chase above the corridor because structural flagged insufficient plenum clearance. The fire marshal requires a 2-hour rated assembly at the party wall. Capture records both — the why and the constraint type — so neither is mistaken for a soft preference during VE.

Tradeoffs

When presenting options to clients, the cost, schedule, and experience tradeoffs are transparent and clear. Design reviews get smoother because the value of every option is visible.

Example: “Lowering the ceiling saves $140K but doesn't meet the client's clear-view requirement.” The relative value of considerations across domains and stakeholders is easy to weigh.

Knowledge Graph

Link every design decision to RFIs, change orders, and schedule impact — with dollar attribution. The graph traces what's connected so the right people are in the room before it's too late.

Example: When an RFI or change order hits, the graph traces it back to the originating decision. Context no longer evaporates between design, preconstruction, and construction.

Across Every Phase

Intelligence that spans the project lifecycle

Forebuilder connects the decisions made in design to the consequences felt in construction — and every phase in between.

FOREBUILDER — Design Decision Intelligence Layer

Phase 1

Design

Capture design intent, constraints, and rationale at the moment decisions are made

Phase 2

Preconstruction

Surface tradeoffs with transparent cost, schedule, and experience impacts

Phase 3

Construction

Trace RFIs and change orders back to originating decisions with $$ attribution

Phase 4

Operations

Build institutional knowledge that compounds across every future project

The Outcome

What changes when design decisions are captured, connected, and queryable

Fewer RFIs

Cut RFI volume by catching conflicts in design, not in the field. Most RFIs are asking “why was this designed this way?” — a question the knowledge graph answers instantly.

$30K–$200K+ saved per project in RFI resolution costs

Less $$ on Change Orders

26% of all construction rework is caused by miscommunication across disciplines. A single overlooked coordination issue found during construction costs 10× more than catching it in design review.

$31.3B/yr in US construction rework — 5–9% of total project cost

Better Decisions Earlier

40% of projects hit a “gotcha” that an experienced practitioner would have flagged months earlier. Forebuilder makes those heuristics visible to every team member.

3.4 days average schedule impact per rework event (CII)