Optimizing pre-construction workflows and planning with MeltPlan

Despite a surge in general labor productivity, construction labor has seen a decline. One culprit is the manual, fragmented pre-construction phase - dragged down by endless back-and-forth between contractors, owners, and architects - costing the industry billions and pushing projects months, even years, behind schedule. In 2024 alone, the US economy spent nearly $1.3 trillion on construction, with pre-construction as one of the key phases in terms of cost and time. Effective pre-construction planning can help contractors better estimate raw material quantities, collaborate with subcontractors, calculate project costs, and bid faster with more accurate estimates and fewer costly surprises down the line. 

Here’s where MeltPlan steps in: the team is building an AI system designed specifically to optimize these workflows. While the Autodesks of the world accelerate design and the Procores help streamline the construction phase, MeltPlan is building the missing layer between the two - an intelligent pre-construction planning platform that helps contractors start construction with code-compliant plans optimized for both cost and timeline while aligning multiple stakeholders across owners, architects, subcontractors, and trade contractors building complex projects worth millions. MeltPlan’s AI platform is purpose-built to understand drawings, building codes, bid methodologies, and construction processes, and is already delivering productivity improvement to architects and contractors in takeoff and code-compliance.

The company’s planning engine will work through four integrated systems:

• Code: Context-aware compliance pathways for architects, engineers, and inspectors
• Cost: Risk-oriented takeoffs/quantity surveys, bid scoping, and leveling for general contractor and trade contractor pre-construction teams
• Schedule: Scenario-based sequencing and what-if planning before scope freeze
• Value: Value impact analysis and optimization recommendations for owners and developers

MeltPlan’s long-term goal is to help construction teams by making project planning more intensive: surfacing constraints and tradeoffs early, aligning stakeholders before plans are frozen, and reducing the need for late-stage redlines, rework, and change orders.

The founding team is a rare combination of seasoned entrepreneurial experience, a deep construction background, and AI talent. Co-Founder and CEO Kanav Hasija previously founded Innovaccer, a healthcare data analytics company now worth over $3 billion. Co-founder and COO Tanmaya Kala was a project executive at a major US general contractor, DPR Construction, handling large commercial, healthcare, and life science projects. CTO Prithviraj Damodaran is an expert AI researcher and builder. 

At Bessemer, we believe that founders building vertical AI will transform industries by expanding TAMs, boosting margins, and delivering functional outcomes at unprecedented rates. We believe that MeltPlan is well-positioned to transform pre-construction, and we’re proud to partner with the team along their journey to make construction more predictable and efficient.