Code lookups by text

The pattern: code questions die in the field

Pull up any week of field foreman activity and you’ll see the same five questions repeating across crews:

• “What size wire for a 200A feeder at 150A continuous?”
• “Voltage drop on a 400′ run of 4/0 at 100A?”
• “Beam deflection on a W12x26 over a 24-foot simple span?”
• “CFM required for a 40-person conference room?”
• “Drain pipe size for 95 DFU?”

Each one has a clean code answer. The friction is in the retrieval: the foreman either flips through a paper code book on the slab, calls the PM, or makes the “close enough” guess that becomes a punch-list rework two weeks later.

What Forward does

Forward’s tool catalog ships with code-anchored calculators for the most-asked field questions across the four trades. Foreman texts the question; Forward runs the calc, returns the number, and cites the code section.

Electrical (NEC referenced)

• Wire size for a given amperage + voltage + run length + insulation type, with conduit fill check.
• Voltage drop across a feeder or branch circuit, with the 3% / 5% NEC recommendation flagged.
• Transformer kVA sizing from connected load.
• Generator sizing from connected load + load factor.
• Panel demand load per NEC 220 — both standard and optional dwelling methods.

Mechanical (IMC / ASHRAE referenced)

• HVAC load estimate for a space (BTU/hr or tons) given square footage, exposure, and use type.
• CFM for BTU conversion at common supply temp differentials.
• Duct size for a target CFM at a chosen friction rate.
• Ventilation CFM required per IMC / ASHRAE 62.1 by occupancy + area.

Plumbing (IPC referenced)

• Fixture units to GPM conversion (water supply + drainage).
• Pipe size for GPM at a target velocity ceiling.
• Water-heater sizing by fixture count + use type.
• Drain-pipe size for DFU per IPC 710 / 711.
• Roof-drain size for roof area at a target rainfall rate.

Structural (IBC + steel manual referenced)

• Beam simple-span deflection for a given section, span, and load (L/360, L/240 limits flagged).
• Steel section weight lookup.
• Bolt allowable shear for common grades + sizes.

General + code references

• Stair rise & run code check against IBC 1011 (commercial) and IRC R311 (residential).
• Fall-protection required threshold check (OSHA 1926.501 / 1910.28).
• Ramp slope ADA check against ADA 405.
• Roof pitch conversion (rise/run vs degrees vs percent).
• Free-form code reference — ask for a section by number (“NEC 215.2(A)(1)”) and Forward returns the verbatim text plus a one-line plain-English gloss.

Spec-section lookup

Code lookups are different from spec lookups, but they hit the same field. Forward also pulls the verbatim text of a spec section from your connected Procore or OneDrive document library when the foreman asks “what does 09 51 13 say about the ceiling tile?” Forward returns the cited passage plus the source path.

What you ship with this

Two things change once your field has Forward’s code layer:

1. Fewer rework punch items. The “close-enough” field guess gets replaced with a cited answer at the moment of the question.
2. Fewer PM interruptions. The PM stops being the code book. The foreman gets the answer in 4 seconds instead of 15 minutes.

The same calcs as free web tools

We’ve published the most-asked calcs as free no-signup web tools so you can sanity-check them before piloting Forward on a real project:

• NEC wire size calculator — smallest conductor for a given load, with the termination-temperature rule done right.
• Voltage drop calculator — NEC 3% / 5% rule check for single- or three-phase circuits.
• HVAC load estimator — BTU/h cooling + heating from area, exposure, and IECC climate zone.

Forward’s SMS workflow runs the same logic plus another dozen calcs (pipe size for GPM, beam deflection, ramp slope ADA check, OSHA fall-protection threshold, NEC code-section retrieval, etc.) — all answerable from a text instead of a code book.

How to try it

Text +1 (682) 300-6750 with a code question right now. Try wire size for 150A continuous on 200A feeder, 100ft run, voltage drop on 400ft of 4/0 at 100A, or ventilation CFM for a 40-person conference room. Forward replies in seconds with the answer + code citation.

Drop your email above for early access on a real project — we’ll wire the code layer alongside your Procore / Autodesk / OneDrive connections so the field has both code answers and project data from the same texting number.