Engineering and architecture firms: licensing your records for AI
Short answer
Engineering and architecture archives are some of the richest technical records there are: drawings, models, calculations, specs and the revision history behind them. Ownership is the deciding question, because client contracts often change who owns the work. A data-licensing firm says it paid a 70-person engineering firm $450K (their claim, unverified).
Why buyers want design records
A design firm's archive records professional judgment at every step: the calculation that sized a beam, the RFI answer, the revision cloud on sheet M-201. AI developers building models for technical work want examples of how engineers and architects actually reason, revise and check.
Records buyers look for
- Drawings and CAD/BIM models, with their revision history.
- Calculations and design reports.
- Specifications you wrote.
- RFIs, submittal reviews and meeting minutes.
- Internal standards, templates, details libraries and QA/QC checklists.
- Project email and correspondence, cleaned of personal and client data.
Published example
A data-licensing firm says it paid an engineering firm with about 70 staff $450K to license its drawings, calculations and specifications. That's their claim, not verified, and not an estimate for your firm.
Ownership comes first
- Under the standard AIA owner-architect agreement (B101-2017, Article 7), the architect owns its instruments of service. Standard engineering agreements are similar.
- Individual contracts often transfer ownership to the client. Projects under those contracts stay out.
- Federal contracts can include data-rights clauses such as FAR 52.227-17. Those records usually stay out too.
- Export-controlled designs (ITAR/EAR) stay out entirely.
Most firms end up with a clear subset: their own standards and templates, plus projects where their contracts keep the rights with them.
Typical fit
An owner-led MEP, structural, civil or architecture firm with roughly 20 or more staff at peak, many years of digital project files, and a meaningful share of private-sector work under standard contracts.
Quick questions
Do we own our drawings?
Under the standard AIA owner-architect agreement (B101-2017, Article 7) the architect owns its instruments of service, and standard engineering agreements are similar. Many individual contracts change this, so it has to be checked contract by contract.
What about calculations and internal standards?
Your internal standards, templates, calculation methods and QA procedures are usually clearly yours, and buyers value them.
Is federal project work licensable?
Usually not. Federal contracts can include data-rights clauses, such as FAR 52.227-17, that give the government broad rights in the work. Those records normally stay out.
Want an honest read on your own records?
Describe what you have in a few lines. I'll tell you whether buyers look for it. No files needed.
Ask for a free fit check You pay nothing · I never touch your files · Nothing happens without your written OK