Code Inspector 3D turns building-code study into a spatial, hands-on exercise instead of a page of text. Explore a fully modeled residential building — orbit around the exterior, switch to Cutaway or X-Ray view to see through walls and roof, and isolate any one of six disciplines to see only that system's components highlighted throughout the house. Click any component — a panelboard, a P-trap, a floor joist, a stair — and an inspection panel opens with its description, the applicable code sections, exactly what an inspector should check, the required measurements and clearances, the violations inspectors see most often, and practical inspection tips. Then switch into Inspection Mode to work through the building room by room and discipline by discipline, marking each item Pass, Fail, Needs Review, or Not Applicable, or into Violation Training Mode, where a set of intentionally planted code violations are hidden throughout the house for you to find and diagnose.
• Six disciplines — Electrical, Mechanical/HVAC, Plumbing, Structural, Architectural/Building, and Fire/Life Safety — each with its own color-coded components spanning the full building, from the service drop and grounding electrode system to floor joists, egress windows, P-traps, and garage fire separation. • Three view modes — Normal (completed building), Cutaway (portions of walls and roof removed), and X-Ray (finishes made transparent so framing and MEP systems are visible everywhere at once). • Rough vs. Finished construction stage toggle, showing what's actually inspectable at each stage of a real build. • A full Inspection Mode with Pass / Fail / Needs Review / Not Applicable status tracking per component, a live completion percentage, and an inspection summary showing every failed item with one click back to its physical location. • A Guided Inspection sequence that automatically flies the camera through a complete electrical rough-and-final walk, from the service drop to smoke/CO alarms. • Violation Training Mode — ten intentionally planted code violations (missing GFCI protection, an open junction box, an S-trap, a capped T&P discharge, an over-notched joist, a garage fire door with no self-closer, and more) with a reveal-on-demand explanation of what's wrong, the applicable code, and the correct installation. • System Tracing for Electrical, Plumbing, and HVAC — highlights the full path (e.g., Utility → Meter → Main Disconnect → Panel → Branch Circuit → Receptacle) while dimming unrelated components. • A code/component/keyword search that jumps straight to any matching item in the 3D scene. • A built-in measurement tool for taking virtual dimensions directly in the model, and a Learning Hub with a guided tour, a full inspection checklist, a glossary of inspection terms, and an inspection summary dashboard.
The core workflow mirrors a real inspection: choose a discipline, explore the 3D building, expose the relevant system with Cutaway or X-Ray, select a component, read what it is and what must be inspected, view the applicable codes, check the required measurements and clearances directly against the model, watch for the violations inspectors see most often, and record a Pass/Fail/Review/N-A determination. Working clearance zones — like the 3 ft × 30 in. space required in front of an electrical panel — render as a translucent box in the scene, turning a numeric code requirement into something you can see is (or isn't) actually clear.
Requirements shown throughout the tool are commonly-adopted model-code provisions (drawn from the IRC, NEC, IPC/IMC, and referenced standards like ASCE 7, AISC, and ACI 318) presented for teaching purposes. Because actual requirements vary by code edition, jurisdiction, and local amendment, always verify against the code edition actually adopted by the jurisdiction of record before relying on any specific value in a real inspection.
• Electrical — service drop, meter, main disconnect, panelboard, grounding electrode system, bonding, branch circuits, junction boxes, GFCI/AFCI protection, and smoke/CO alarms. • Mechanical/HVAC — gas furnace, supply ductwork, flue/venting, outdoor condensing unit, refrigerant piping, and supply registers. • Plumbing — water service, main shutoff, water heater with T&P discharge, fixtures and traps, vent stack, drain/waste piping, cleanouts, building sewer, backflow prevention, and condensate drainage. • Structural — footings, foundation walls, sill plate and anchor bolts, floor joists, headers/beams, and roof framing. • Architectural — emergency escape (egress) windows, interior stairs and handrails, safety glazing, and accessible routes/ramps. • Fire/Life Safety — garage fire separation assemblies, fire-rated doors, portable fire extinguishers, and firestopping at penetrations through rated assemblies.
It renders a fully modeled residential building you can orbit, cut away, and X-ray to see every major MEP, structural, architectural, and fire/life-safety component. Clicking any component opens a full inspection panel — description, applicable codes, what to inspect, required measurements, common violations, and inspection tips — and you can run a complete pass/fail inspection or hunt for ten intentionally planted violations in Violation Training Mode.
Cutaway view physically removes sections of exterior walls and the roof so you can look directly into the framing and systems behind them, similar to a real cutaway architectural model. X-Ray view instead keeps every wall and roof panel in place but makes them semi-transparent, so you can see all of the concealed structural, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems throughout the entire building at once without anything being physically removed.
Selecting any component while Inspection Mode is active adds a Pass, Fail, Needs Review, or Not Applicable button set to its info panel. Every determination you record updates a live completion bar and item count, and the Learning Hub's Inspection Summary tab shows a full breakdown by status with one-click navigation from any failed item straight back to its location in the 3D model.
It flags ten components throughout the building that have been intentionally installed incorrectly — a missing GFCI, an open junction box, an S-trap instead of a vented P-trap, a capped water heater relief valve discharge, an over-notched floor joist, and more. Selecting one of these components shows a "Reveal Violation" button that, once clicked, explains exactly what is wrong, the applicable code, and how the condition should actually be corrected.
No — the tool presents commonly-adopted model-code provisions (based on the IRC, NEC, IPC/IMC, and referenced standards) for teaching purposes, and explicitly distinguishes this from a specific jurisdiction's adopted code and local amendments. Actual requirements vary by code edition and by jurisdiction, so any value here should be verified against the code edition and amendments actually in force before being relied on for a real inspection.
System Tracing highlights one complete system path from origin to end point — for example, the electrical path from the utility service drop through the meter, main disconnect, panel, branch circuit, and a receptacle — while dimming every unrelated component in the scene. It is available for the Electrical, Plumbing, and HVAC disciplines and is useful for understanding how a system is actually routed through a building rather than viewing its components in isolation.