- City of Surrey launches Archistar AI PreCheck for residential permits.
- The platform reviews building plans to flag zoning issues before submission.
- Initial rollout supports R3 single-family homes with more housing types on the way.
Surrey, B.C. – Archistar is thrilled to announce that the City of Surrey, part of the Metro Vancouver area in British Columbia, Canada, has officially launched AI PreCheck (aka eCheck), Archistar’s digital compliance platform that analyzes building plan sets to speed up the permit approvals process.
Surrey completed its pilot testing phase of R3 Urban Residential Zone submissions with selected users and is now available for public use as of March 10, 2026. AI PreCheck is now available for all residential home designers, and the City will roll out additional building types in phases. Following single family homes, Surrey will expand to coach houses, garden suites, duplexes and houseplexes for R3 zones, and additional zones in the coming months.
“The launch of eCheck marks a major step in modernizing how we support home designers and applicants,” says Ron Gill, general manager of planning & development at the City of Surrey. “By leveraging technology, we’re improving efficiency, reducing delays, and making it easier for applicants to navigate the permitting process.”
According to Jerome Thibaudeau, business transformation manager of planning & development in Surrey, creating a faster building permit approval process starts by helping applicants submit high-quality applications. “We found that roughly 80% of residential permit applications contained significant zoning deficiencies, requiring an average of 1.6 resubmissions and increasing approval times,” he says.
AI PreCheck provides rapid, automated reviews of building plans to help designers and homeowners identify zoning compliance issues before submitting their permit application to the City. “It’s like ‘spell-check’ for zoning,” Thibaudeau says.
Reports generated by AI PreCheck are also reviewed by Archistar’s trained architects, based in Vancouver, to ensure applicants’ submissions are as accurate and complete as possible to reduce costly and time-consuming resubmissions.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the City of Surrey to support their development objectives using Archistar,” says Joe Philbrook, vice president of customer at Archistar. “By automating newly defined houseplex design compliance reviews, we’re helping the City accelerate housing delivery for Surrey residents.”
To learn more about AI PreCheck (aka eCheck), visit the City of Surrey’s website.
