What you can do with pulpBuild
- Draw or generate a plan. Draw walls, partitions, doors and windows, or describe the house in one sentence (“single-storey, 3 bedrooms, 110 m²”) to get a starting sketch you then rework.
- Reuse a paper plan. A photo or scan of a clean plan is turned into walls, doors and windows, with the image kept underneath for comparison.
- See the house in 3D. Orbit around it, walk through at eye level, cut a level open, follow the shadows through the day; sections and elevations come from the same model.
- Prepare a home wiring diagram. Equipment proposed room by room, circuits, consumer unit, single-line diagram and bill of materials, based on a simplified reading of the French NF C 15-100 standard.
- Lay out plumbing and heating. Cold water, hot water, waste pipes, emitters, ventilation and an isometric view, routed from the sanitary fixtures in the model.
- Estimate structure and heat loss. Load takedown, footings, sized beams, room-by-room heat losses and estimated energy use, with printable calculation reports.
- Get a take-off and a cost estimate. Quantities drawn from the model, an estimate by trade package with your own prices, and export to a spreadsheet or word processor.
- Follow up the site. Trade schedule, photos pinned to the plan, snags and site reports, including on a phone.
Who is it for?
For people planning a new build or a renovation who want to meet their architect, electrician or builder with a clear picture of the project. For tradespeople and small firms who want a first estimate of quantities, a schedule or a site report without installing software.
pulpBuild is not a general-purpose modelling tool like SketchUp: you draw building elements (walls, openings, slabs, roofs) that every trade can read. The standards, climate zones, prices and VAT rates built into it are French; outside France, treat the results with even more caution.
Your files
Your model is saved as a .pbuild file on your device; nothing is sent anywhere else unless you use the assistant. pulpBuild opens and writes a subset of IFC and DXF; DWG files cannot be read (save them as DXF from your CAD software). It also exports the plan as SVG or PNG, the 3D model as glTF, quantities as .xlsx or CSV and the schedule for pulpPlan, and everything prints to PDF with a title block.
Frequently asked questions
Can pulpBuild replace an architect?
No. It helps you shape a project and talk it through, but its plans are indicative and have no regulatory value. In France, an architect is mandatory for many projects, depending on their type and floor area.
Is it an alternative to SketchUp for drawing plans?
For house plans, partly: walls, openings, rooms, dimensions, sections, elevations and 3D all come from the same model. For modelling arbitrary shapes freely, pulpBuild is not the right tool; pulp3D is made for that.
Are the electrical and thermal calculations reliable?
They are simplified estimates, useful for sketching out a project. They do not replace a qualified electrician, an engineering firm, or a regulatory thermal study.
Do I need to install anything?
No: pulpBuild runs in the browser, with no installation, and works offline once loaded. The 3D view needs graphics acceleration in the browser.