ScaffPlan has outlined plans for a major push into the North American scaffolding market after giving contractors their first public look at its wider software platform at the SAIA Convention in Nashville.
The Australian company has expanded well beyond the 3D scaffold design software on which it built its name, developing a single system intended to carry a scaffolding job from the first inquiry through estimating, design, site operations, commercial management and equipment control.
Our sister publication Scaffold & Access Magazine was given a private walkthrough of the platform ahead of its public presentation in Nashville.
At the centre of the system is ScaffPlan AI, which the company says can work across live project and business information to answer questions about costs, estimates, variations, labour and equipment.
During the demonstration, managing director Ben Beaumont showed how a contractor could ask which current jobs were at risk of losing money. The system identified a project running above budget, along with outstanding variations and the financial effect of those issues.
The idea is to give contractors access to information that can otherwise be spread across estimating software, spreadsheets, site records and accounting systems.
ScaffPlan was founded in 2019 by Australian scaffolder Simon Boyes, who spent more than 20 years in the industry before developing his own software.
Boyes initially spoke with around 200 scaffolders about the problems they had with existing design tools before testing an early version with 12 businesses. The commercial product followed in July 2022.
ScaffPlan now says its software has supported more than 117,000 scaffolding projects across 21 countries.
The company has since brought in Beaumont, a chartered civil engineer with more than 21 years’ experience in scaffolding and temporary works.
Before joining ScaffPlan in 2023, Beaumont founded UK scaffolding design consultancy 48.3, which grew to a team of more than 50 temporary works engineers. He also served as a director of the Temporary Works Forum and co-authored industry guidance covering the management of scaffolding under BS 5975.
From estimating to site operations
The wider ScaffPlan system links several stages of a scaffolding contract.
A contractor can model a scaffold in 3D and use information from the model to produce quantities and equipment requirements. Those figures can then feed into estimates and customer proposals.
Once a contract moves on site, planned modules cover labour scheduling, RAMS, scaffold registers, inspections, handovers and permits.
Individual scaffolds can also carry QR codes giving site teams access to information including drawings, photographs, inspection records and 3D models.
The commercial side of the software is being developed to track costs against budgets, manage variations and monitor progress claims. A separate asset module will cover equipment registers, yard stock, deliveries, hire charges and equipment use.
ScaffPlan is releasing those parts of the system in stages.
Sales & Estimating and its Design products are already available. Field Ops is due to launch at the end of August, followed by Commercial in September.
The Assets module is planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
Businesses will be able to take individual modules or use the wider platform.
AI built around company records
ScaffPlan AI sits across those modules and uses information held within the system. The company says the AI draws on scaffold industry knowledge built into the product, information supplied by each individual contractor and live data produced by jobs running through ScaffPlan.
That means a contractor could ask whether an estimate is consistent with similar previous projects or whether enough equipment is available in the yard for forthcoming work.
The system can also prepare documents such as work packs or variations for review. ScaffPlan says actions that alter company information require approval from an authorised user.
Early access to ScaffPlan AI is being opened to the first 250 businesses on its waiting list.
US expansion
The Nashville launch forms part of a wider move into North America.
ScaffPlan’s 2026 software includes imperial measurements and a frame-and-brace design module aimed at systems widely used by US contractors.
Its design software works within Tekla Structures, SketchUp and Revit.
Boyes is also due to relocate to the United States in October to lead the company’s expansion there.
Beaumont said: “It’s time to go and talk to the market properly.” ScaffPlan already had a small number of US customers ahead of the Nashville launch, according to the company.
The move into the US comes as ScaffPlan develops from a specialist scaffold design product into a much broader business system.
The next test will come as its Field Ops, Commercial and Assets modules reach contractors over the coming months and begin running alongside the design and estimating tools already in use.
