Can a construction or engineering firm sell its project records to AI companies, and who buys them?

Who names construction and engineering records

6 buyers in the index name drawings, CAD files, blueprints, permits, change orders, RFIs or project records on their own pages. The table comes straight from the index and changes when a row does.

Protege is the most specific: architecture, engineering and construction records, listed as blueprints, permits, schedules and change orders. Handshake AI names design and engineering files from AutoCAD and Figma among the sources it buys. McKays, a UK intermediary, names CAD and engineering files and drawings, project records and commercial history. Telegraph Lab names designs, CAD and code, and The General Data Company names technical drawings and CAD alongside quotes, costings and inspection and maintenance records, with a focus on industrial companies.

What a contractor can license, and what belongs to others

Buyers describe the value as the trail from bid to handover: what was planned, what changed, what it cost and what was decided. A construction company holds two kinds of file, and only one is simple to license:

• Records your company wrote. Daily logs, RFIs, change orders, bids and estimates, schedules, site reports, invoices and the email and chat around them. These show how the work actually ran, and they are the records the buyers above describe.
• Files others produced. Drawings, specifications and models from the architect or engineer of record, and material the client supplied. Under many design and construction agreements the designer keeps ownership and grants a license for the project, so these stay out unless the owner agrees in writing. Ask your counsel before any design file goes on the list.

Inspection reports, equipment logs and maintenance histories sit in between: SuperAnnotate and The General Data Company name them, and they are usually yours when your own team produced them.

Rules that apply

• Size and years. Handshake AI asks for 20+ full-time employees and 3+ years in operation, Montlake Licensing for a US-based team and customers, and AI Training Data Broker for 30+ full-time employees and 3+ years on the same tools. The size guide lists every published minimum.
• Country. McKays is UK-focused and accepts digital records only. Montlake Licensing takes US firms only. Turing names the US, UK, Canada and the EU. The geography guide has the rest.
• Format. McKays says it does not handle paper archives. Scanned folders are named by The General Data Company, so a firm with boxes of paper should ask before scanning anything.

What has to stay out

Personal data of employees, subcontractors and site visitors; client confidential material; safety and incident records that name people; and any design file your contract does not let you license. Every published program licenses a de-identified copy, and Mercor, Appen and Centific say they do that work at no cost to the company. We flag the ownership question before any introduction.

What buyers publish about money

Published figures are the companies’ own claims, not offers. Telegraph Lab lists a $450,000 deal for a 70-person engineering firm, also shown by Regulr, which says its examples have not been independently verified. Count it once. Handshake AI publishes $100K to $4M+ across industries, and Montlake Licensing a $500K to $2.6M headline estimate that it says is not an offer. The published range guide lists every figure.

Next step

The free value check compares the buyers that fit your company on size, country and the records you hold, names the consent step up front, and introduces you only with your approval. If you already hold an offer, the free offer review reads its exclusivity, payment and de-identification clauses against what the buyer publishes. The data type guide lists every buyer by the records it names.