By Mukul Verma
  www.businessreport.com

The crucial task of reviewing a building's blueprint sometimes took days- until he found OptaSoft of Baton Rouge, a young software company that has made Taylor's job easier.

"This cuts our time to about 25 percent of what it used to be," said Taylor, a plan reviewer for Spokane Valley City, Wash.

For complicated projects, the software saves even more time. "I can usually submit all the information into the program in two to three hours, and it used to take me four or five days." Taylor says the program also contains public spending, keeping the local government from hiring more reviewers, especially important because Spokane Valley City is a newly incorporated town under a tight budget.

Hearing Taylor's review makes Eiad Odeh turn up the marketing volume. Odeh, one of two driving forces behind the software, has been pushing the product with unrelenting force, calling people again and again to tell the story of OptaSoft .

Odeh, an immigrant from Kuwait who has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from LSU, developed the idea for OptaSoft when he joined the city-parish Department of Public Works, where he works as a systems administrator in the building review department. Soon after joining the DPW arm, Odeh realized there was no software to review building specifications, a tedious task fraught with pitfalls because of the multitude of rules- rules that keep changing.

In 2000, Odeh started developing the logic behind the software, then went to NetShapers, a local Web and software company, for hosting services. There he met Mike Giddens, a programmer and Web designer who signed on with Odeh to work on OptaSoft .

"He was the brains, and I was the programmer," says Giddens.

Odeh turned codes into mathematical formulas and then into computer logic; Giddens took the logic and turned it into software.

Each worked on the project in their spare time, believing they would have it ready to market in just six months. "Three years later, we are finished," says Giddens, who estimates he spent up to 3,000 hours over three years writing the software.

Odeh says he slogged along each evening and night, straining his personal life.

What the two developed is more than just a database of building codes. The software, says Odeh, is unique because it guides the user by prompting questions about the proposed building and recommends changes when the codes are not met.

Another advantage: Plan analysts learn about building codes as they use OptaSoft , making them more efficient at handling future buildings, Odeh adds. He hopes the software will be used by both designers and reviewers, putting them on the same page and reducing review time and mistakes.

So far, a handful of agencies have bought the software, which starts at $1,200 for a license to use one copy. Two licenses cost $1,800. The software works in other localities because building codes are generally the same across the country. OptaSoft customizes the program to account for what minor differences do exist between states.

East Baton Rouge Parish is using the software free of charge, which gives Odeh and Giddens a chance to work out the bugs. Mississippi's fire marshal bought four copies last week, and an architect in Maryland is using OptaSoft as well. "In five years, we could sell millions of dollars of the software.

Everyone has this problem with building code review, not only counties and parishes, but also architects who design the buildings.

" Making money from his past three years of toil would give Odeh a chance to breathe.

"I have been working 17 hours a day. My body is telling me to retire, retire, retire. "