Expert - Block & Test Fits

The role

Before a single foundation is poured, someone has to figure out whether the building works at all. Block and test fits are where development feasibility lives or dies: where GFA, massing, setbacks, parking ratios, loading, and planning constraints either stack up into a viable scheme or they don't. Build automates this process for institutional developers and investors. Our agents run block fits at speed across multiple sites, configurations, and planning scenarios. The domain expert makes sure the outputs are right, and that the judgment behind them is sound. "The AI does the work. The domain expert makes it right." This role is for someone who has spent years producing and reviewing block and test fits in a real development, planning, or design context. You know what a viable scheme looks like before you've finished drawing it. You understand the planning constraints that kill deals and the design moves that save them. You'll review, validate, and steer AI-generated feasibility work across live client engagements, and help define what good judgment looks like in practice.

What you'll do

• Execute test fits at 10x the speed using Build's internal tooling
• Review and validate AI-generated block fits and test fit outputs for accuracy, feasibility, and planning compliance
• Apply practitioner judgment to massing, GFA calculations, site coverage, setbacks, parking, servicing, and planning constraints
• Identify where AI outputs are incorrect, incomplete, or inconsistent with local planning policy or development norms
• Collaborate with Build's engineering and domain teams to improve workflow accuracy and output quality over time
• Produce written assessments, feasibility notes, and scheme commentary where needed
• Help articulate what 'correct' looks like: the assumptions, constraints, and judgment calls that determine whether a scheme is viable

What we're looking for

• 5+ years producing block fits, test fits, or development feasibility work at an architect's practice, developer, planning consultancy, or real estate advisory firm
• Strong working knowledge of planning policy and development constraints in one or more major markets (UK, US, or European cities preferred)
• Proficiency in the tools used to produce and review block fits: AutoCAD, Revit, Rhino, or equivalent
• The ability to explain why a scheme works or doesn't, not just produce it
• Clear, direct written communication. Our workflows are asynchronous and our clients move fast.
• Comfort working with AI-generated outputs and improving them, not just reviewing from a distance
• Preference for flexible, contract-based engagements over traditional employment

How it works

• Fully remote, contract-based
• Engagements vary in scope and duration: some short-term, some ongoing retainers
• Hourly rate: $75-$200 depending on experience and scope. Exceptional expertise goes higher.
• Ongoing collaborations structured as monthly retainers where volume justifies it
• Assessment: CV review and a paid work sample if there's a fit