New:

AI drafting for foundation plans

AI Foundation Plan Drafting

Foundation plans are the first structural sheets a contractor prices and the first ones poured, so a footing mark that disagrees with the schedule or a missing top of footing elevation turns into an RFI on day one. Nomic drafts footings, grade beams, slabs, piers, and equipment pads in CAD from the engineer's design and the geotechnical report, then checks the plan against the footing schedule, ACI 318, and the report before your engineer of record reviews and stamps.

Start for freeAll drafting work
Last reviewed: November 2026

You send

  • Footing sizes, calc summary, or the engineer's marked up prints
  • The geotechnical report with bearing pressure and frost depth
  • Column grid and architectural floor plan backgrounds
  • Mechanical and plumbing sheets showing pads and below slab piping

Nomic hands back

  • Foundation plan as a DWG file on your structural layers
  • Footing, grade beam, and pier schedules in Excel and on the sheet
  • Foundation general notes from the report and the engineer's criteria
  • A list of open questions for the engineer of record
1234567ABCF2F2F2F2F25" SLAB ON GRADEW/ 6x6-W2.9 WWF OVER 15 MIL VBTOP OF FOOTING EL. 96'-0" U.N.O. | ALLOWABLE BEARING 3,000 PSF27'-3"27'-0"27'-3"27'-3"27'-0"27'-3"94'-8"1AFOUNDATION PLANSCALE: 1/8" = 1'-0"N1234CONSULTING ENGINEERSREVISIONS1ISSUED FOR REVIEWPROJECTHARBOR POINT OFFICESSCALE1/8" = 1'-0"DATE11/11/2026KEY PLANSHEET TITLEFOUNDATION PLANSHEET NUMBERS-101

On the sheet

Foundation Plan, annotated

A foundation plan with spread footings at each column, continuous wall footings, and the slab on grade.

  1. 1Spread footing under each column
  2. 2Footing tag keyed to the schedule
  3. 3Continuous wall footing at the perimeter
  4. 4Slab on grade note

The problem

Small foundation drafting errors show up as RFIs before the first pour

A foundation plan for a two-story school might carry 60 column footings in six or seven sizes, continuous wall footings stepping down with the grade, thickened slabs under every CMU partition, and a dozen housekeeping pads for mechanical equipment. Each footing mark has to agree with the footing schedule, each step needs a top of footing elevation, and the slab notes have to repeat the vapor retarder, reinforcing, and joint spacing the engineer chose.

The inputs also change late. The geotechnical report arrives after schematic framing with a lower allowable bearing pressure, the mechanical engineer adds a generator pad, or the architect shifts a column line by 2'-0". Every change ripples through footing sizes, pad locations, and anchor rod layouts, and a missed update is a field problem once concrete is in the ground.

01 / Draft

The foundation plan drawn from the engineer's design

Attach the engineer's footing sizes or calc summary, the geotechnical report, and the column grid. Nomic draws spread and continuous footings, grade beams, piers, and slab edges on your layers, marks each element, and sets top of footing elevations from the grading and frost depth the report gives.

  • Spread footings, wall footings, and grade beams marked to the schedule
  • Slab-on-grade thickness, reinforcing, and control joints noted
  • Thickened slabs, depressions, and equipment pads located to grid
02 / Schedule

Footing schedule kept in step with the plan

Nomic builds the footing schedule in Excel and on the sheet from the same data it used for the plan marks, so sizes, depths, and bars agree in both places. When the engineer resizes a footing, the plan mark and the schedule row change together and both are clouded.

  • Mark, size, depth, and bottom bars each way for every footing type
  • Grade beam and pier schedules with longitudinal bars and ties
  • Marks on the plan matched one to one with schedule rows
03 / Check

Checked against ACI 318 and the geotechnical report

Nomic checks its own plan against the code edition you name and against the geotechnical recommendations: bearing depth, frost protection, cover, and slab preparation. Anything the report leaves open, such as a footing near an existing foundation, goes on the question list for the engineer.

  • Footing depth and frost protection compared with the report
  • Concrete cover and slab notes compared with ACI 318
  • Conflicts with plumbing below slab and utility entries flagged

Checked against

The code and documents behind every sheet

Name the editions the project is designed to and Nomic checks its own drawing against them before handing it back. Your engineer or architect of record makes the final call and stamps the set.

  • ACI 318 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete
  • IBC Chapter 18 Soils and Foundations
  • The project geotechnical report
  • ACI 302.1R for slab-on-grade and vapor retarders
  • Your firm structural CAD standards

How it works

From a sentence to a stamped set

  1. Step 1

    Ask for the drawing

    Say what the sheet needs to show and attach the backgrounds, markups, cutsheets, or photos. A sentence is enough to start.

  2. Step 2

    Nomic drafts it in CAD

    Nomic works in CAD on its own computer, on your layers and blocks, following how your firm drew the same thing before. It saves real DWG files to the project.

  3. Step 3

    Nomic checks its own work

    The drawing is checked against the code editions you name and the source documents. Everything Nomic drew is clouded, and open questions are listed.

  4. Step 4

    Your team reviews and stamps

    Your engineers and architects review the clouded changes, make the final call, and issue the set under their own stamp.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Nomic works in CAD on its own computer and saves the foundation plan as a DWG file. It draws footings, grade beams, slabs, and pads from the engineer's design and the geotechnical report, builds the footing schedule, and checks the plan before the engineer reviews it.

No. The engineer of record sets footing sizes, reinforcing, and the response to the geotechnical recommendations. Nomic drafts what the engineer decides and can size footings from the bearing pressure and loads the engineer gives it, but the engineer checks that work and makes the final call.

Nomic reads the report for allowable bearing pressure, frost depth, subgrade preparation, and slab recommendations. It carries those values into the foundation notes and checks footing depths against them, and it flags anything in the report the plan does not yet address.

Nomic builds the schedule and the plan marks from the same data, then compares the two. A mark on the plan with no schedule row, or a schedule row with no footing on the plan, is listed so the engineer can resolve the mismatch before issue.

No. Nomic drafts in CAD on its own computer and saves DWG files you open in AutoCAD or any DWG editor. If your structure is modeled in Revit, Nomic hands back DWGs and a change list your modelers can carry into the model.

Keep reading

Related drafting work

AI Drafting for Structural Engineering

Framing and foundation plans, schedules, general notes, and details in house style, drafted as DWGs.

AI Framing Plan Drafting

Steel, wood, and concrete framing plans drafted from the engineer's markups and member list.

AI Structural Schedule Drafting

Column, beam, footing, lintel, and shear wall schedules in Excel and on the sheet, matched to plan tags.

AI Site Utility Plan Drafting

Water, sewer, storm, and dry utilities drafted on the site plan with structure tables and crossing callouts.

AI for structural engineering

Drafting, checking, and review work Nomic does for structural teams.

What is a foundation plan?

Footings, grade beams, and slabs on the first structural sheet.

What is a column grid?

The grid lines every footing and framing member is located from.

Best AI for structural drafting

An honest roundup of AI tools for structural plans and details.

AI Foundation Plan Drafting: Footings and Slabs in DWG | Nomic