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For landscape contractors

The Landscape Plan on the Real Property Lines.

A landscape site plan is a hardscape permit drawing, a planting plan and a proposal exhibit in one: the patio and walks with their square footage, the retaining walls with their lengths, the trees and shrub rows drawn the way a drafter draws them, all on the recorded lot with the house in place. PlotForge™ loads the lot from the address and gives you every piece with live totals, so the impervious-coverage number and the proposal drawing come out of the same file.

What is a landscape site plan and what does it show?

A landscape site plan is a to-scale drawing of a property showing the lot lines, the house, and the proposed hardscape, walls, trees and planting areas. Building departments use it to check impervious coverage, retaining-wall heights and setbacks; clients use it as the proposal drawing. PlotForge™ draws it on the recorded lot loaded from the address, with the hardscape totaled.

What the reviewer and the client look for on a landscape site plan

Two readers, one sheet. The building department reads it for coverage, drainage and wall heights; the homeowner reads it to see the yard. Both need the same drawing, done to scale on the real lot:

The lot, dimensioned — the recorded property lines with every side's length, loaded from the address

The house and the drive — placed from public footprint records and traced over the aerial, so the new work relates to what is there

Patios, walks and pads — traced at any shape with labels, live square footage and hatch fills; curved walks as true arcs

Retaining and seat walls — drawn with live lengths and a height note; walls total in linear feet on the sheet

Trees and shrub rows — one click per tree at a set canopy width, hedges that space themselves along a line, drawn so the property lines show through

Impervious coverage — the live takeoff totals the hardscape and prints the coverage, the number behind a lot-coverage or stormwater review

How a landscape contractor draws the site plan

Type the address

The recorded lot loads to scale on the aerial with the owner and parcel number filled in.

Add the house and the existing hardscape

One click places the house; trace the existing drive and walks over the aerial.

Draw the new work

Zones for the patio and beds, the wall tool for walls, the tree tool for trees and hedges. Square footage and lengths total as you go.

Export

The to-scale PDF for the permit, the PNG for the proposal, and the DXF for the designer, all from the same plan.

The tools landscape contractors use

Freeform zones & areasPatios, beds, gravel areas and future phases traced at any shape with a label, live square footage, solid or dashed outlines and hatch fills.How it works → Trees & shrub rowsTrees one click each at a set canopy width, shrub rows that space themselves along a line, drafter's symbols that never hide a lot line.How it works → Fence, wall & pool toolsRetaining walls, seat walls and fences with live measurements and fence-to-property-line callouts.How it works → Curved lines & arcsCurved walks, winding drives and bed edges as true arcs and splines, not chunky segments.How it works → Live quantity takeoffHardscape in square feet, walls in linear feet and the impervious coverage, printed on the sheet.How it works → PNG in any sheet sizeThe same clean sheet as a PNG in any size for the proposal email.How it works →

Which plan fits a landscape contractor

Proposals every week, permits when needed

Studio, $29/mo

Save every design in your account, export the proposal PNG, share the plan file with the office, and buy plan credits when a job needs the clean permit sheet. See Studio.

Hardscape permits every month

Contractor, $199/mo

Twenty permit-ready plans a month, every drawing tool and the DXF, plans saved per client. See Contractor.

Your logo on the proposal

White-Label add-on

Your company logo in the title block of every exported sheet in place of ours, +$100/mo with Studio or +$50/mo with Contractor. See White-Label.

▶ Watch the lessonZones and Revision Clouds on a Site Plan ▶ Watch the lessonHow to Draw a Driveway on a Site Plan ▶ Watch the lessonTrace a Curved Driveway on a Site Plan, Part 1

Landscape contractors FAQ

Do I need a permit for a patio or a walkway?

Often not for hardscape at grade, but many jurisdictions cap impervious coverage or require a stormwater review above a set area, and raised patios and retaining walls over a set height are permitted almost everywhere. The site plan carries the square footage and the wall heights those reviews turn on.

Can I show planting beds and trees?

Yes. Beds trace as zones with a label and square footage; trees place one click each at the canopy width you set and shrub rows space themselves along a hedge line. They draw the way a drafter draws them, without hiding a property line or its dimension.

Does the sheet give me impervious coverage?

Yes. The live takeoff panel totals structures and hardscape in square feet and prints the impervious coverage on the sheet. Trace the existing hardscape too and the number is the whole-lot figure the office asks for.

Can I use the drawing as the proposal?

Yes. Export the PNG in any sheet size for the proposal email, and export the clean PDF when the job needs the permit. On a subscription the plan stays saved, so the proposal and the permit come out of the same file.

Can my designer finish it in CAD?

Yes. The DXF export carries the lot, the house, hardscape, walls, zones, trees and dimensions on named drafting layers.

Is a PlotForge™ site plan a survey?

No. The property lines are the recorded parcel lines from public records, drawn to scale over an aerial photo. That is what most building departments accept for a permit site plan, and it is not a boundary survey or an engineered drawing. If your office requires a sealed survey for this project, PlotForge can trace that recorded survey as the boundary and the sheet prints a notice saying so.

Does it work where I am?

PlotForge™ covers all 50 states and Washington, D.C.; the only exceptions in the country are named on the coverage page. It is also expanding into Canada, starting with select counties in Ontario and Alberta. The most reliable check is free: sign up, type the address, and watch the lot load.

Draw the landscape site plan in minutes

Load the lot, trace the patio and the beds, place the trees, read the coverage. Free for 30 days, no credit card required; a clean export is $29.

Start a Landscape Site Plan Free → See Every Drawing Tool