Launching in South Florida

Stop Wasting Hours
Searching for Drainage
Design Criteria.

Drain Start pulls flood zones, base flood elevations, water tables, and local design standards into one dashboard — in minutes, not hours. Built by civil engineers, for civil engineers.

1–3 hrs→2–5 minper project
Join the Waitlist →Be the first to access Drain Start when we launch.
5,000+ engineers in South FL58,000+ permits/year in Miami-Dade$370–$920 lost per project
The Problem

Before you can design,
you need the data.
And the data is everywhere.

Before a civil engineer can run a single calculation, they must gather mandatory design parameters scattered across multiple government sources, PDFs, and portals — with no single tool to consolidate them.

1–3 hrsgathering data before any calculation begins
8+ sourcesportals, PDFs, and pages per project
High riskwrong criteria → rejected plans and cost overruns
No guidemost firms have no internal documentation
Where you currently search — per project
  • FEMA FIRM Maps
    msc.fema.gov — Flood zone & BFE
    Manual
  • Municipal Codes (PDF)
    Freeboard & storm event criteria
    Manual
  • County Engineering Criteria
    BFE alternatives & local amendments
    Manual
  • City Drawing Standards
    One page per city, no index
    Manual
  • Water Table Tables
    Physical tables only — not digitized
    Manual
  • Property Appraiser Portal
    Folio, lot area, zoning
    Manual
  • Section Maps by County
    County section identification
    Manual
  • DOT / State Standards
    Additional standards in PDF format
    Manual
Total time lost per project1–3 hours of non-billable work
2–4 hrs
per project
gathering data
$185–$230
billable rate / hr
civil engineer
BLS · ASCE 2024 Salary Report · ACEC
$37K–$92K
lost per firm
per year
How It Works

One address. All the criteria.

Drain Start consolidates data from FEMA, county records, municipal codes, and local standards — so you don't have to.

Step 1 — Drain Start: enter a property address to resolve jurisdiction
Data Delivered

Every parameter.
One search. One panel.

All design parameters are sourced from official government and municipal databases.

ParameterSourceTypeExample
Flood Zone Classification
FEMA flood zone for the exact parcel
FEMA FIRM Maps
API
AE
Base Flood Elevation (BFE)
Regulatory BFE per FIRM panel
FEMA
API
8.0 ft NAVD88
BFE Alternative
County-specific BFE — critical in Zone X
County Engineering Criteria
Indexed
9.5 ft
Freeboard
Freeboard requirement per local ordinance
Municipal Code
Indexed
+1.0 ft
Storm Event Criteria
Design storm return period and duration
Municipal Code / County
Indexed
25-yr / 24-hr
Water Table
Groundwater elevation — digitized from physical tables
County Records
Indexed
4.5 ft NGVD
Drawing Standards
Official drawing standards for the jurisdiction
City / County Portal
Indexed
Indexed & downloadable
Folio Number
Official parcel identification number
Property Appraiser
API
30-4012-005-0010
Lot Area
Net lot area from official records
Property Appraiser
API
11,250 sq ft
Zoning
Current zoning classification
Property Search
API
Residential (RS-6)
County Section
Section, Township, Range identification
Section Maps by County
API
Sec 4, T54S, R40E
APILive data via official APIIndexedCurated & indexed from official sources — updated when regulations change
More Than Data

Design guidance built into the platform.

Drain Start isn't just a data tool — it's a reference library built by engineers with 23 years of field experience in South Florida drainage design.

📐
Methodology Guides

Step-by-step walkthroughs for the Rational Method, TR-55, and other standard drainage calculation approaches. Know which method to apply and when.

✓
Plan Approval Checklists

What every drainage plan needs to pass review on the first submission. Avoid costly revision cycles.

⬡
Grading & Drainage Integration

How to interrelate grading design with your storm drainage system — the connection most junior engineers miss.

📁
Drawing Standards Library

Downloadable CAD standards for every city and county in the coverage area. No more hunting across government websites.

Drain Start desktop interface: address search for property design criteria
The software you already use — HEC-RAS, ICPR, StormCAD — calculates. Drain Start gives you the correct inputs to calculate well. We complement — we don't compete.
Why Drain Start

Built by engineers who live this problem every day.

Drain Start is a product designed by civil engineering professionals based in South Florida — with over 23 years of hands-on experience in drainage design across the tri-county area.

This platform exists because we've spent thousands of hours doing the exact same manual data gathering we're eliminating. We know the problem from the inside, because we're engineers first.

23
years of
experience
15+
years in
South Florida
FL
licensed PE
PMP · LEED AP
📍 South FloridaPMP CertifiedLEED AP BD+CSouth Florida drainage specialist
Coverage

Launching in South Florida.
Your county is on the map.

Drain Start launches with Miami-Dade County coverage, with Broward and Palm Beach counties rolling out shortly after. If you work anywhere in South Florida's tri-county area, this tool is being built for you.

4,800–5,600
civil engineers
in the tri-county area
58,000+
permits per year
in Miami-Dade alone
3 counties
Miami-Dade · Broward
· Palm Beach

Be the first to access Drain Start.

Join the waitlist and help shape the tool your workflow has been missing. We'll notify you as soon as access is available in your area.

Asterisk indicates a required field.

Which county do you primarily work in?
How many storm drainage projects per year?
Time spent gathering design criteria per project?
Individual engineer or part of a firm?

Your data stays private. We'll only contact you about Drain Start.