Plot Plan Generator
PlotForge™ is a plot plan generator that pulls your parcel straight from county GIS records and turns it into a to-scale drawing you can hand to the permit counter — in minutes, not days. Free for 30 days. No credit card.
If you've ever paid a drafting service and waited a day or two for a drawing of a rectangle with a shed on it, you already know why this tool exists. A plot plan is not complicated — the slow part has always been getting accurate property lines and drawing everything to scale. PlotForge does both automatically. Here's the whole process:
Type the property address. That's the entire input — no tracing over screenshots, no scaling off an aerial photo by hand, no CAD file to set up.
PlotForge pulls the parcel from your county's GIS records — boundary lines and dimensions — and draws it to scale automatically. Real recorded geometry, not a guess.
Auto-place existing buildings from footprint data, then add proposed structures, driveways, and decks. Setback lines are computed automatically from the distances you enter.
Download a to-scale PDF ready for the permit counter — plus a DXF if you or your drafter want to keep working in CAD.
The point is the clock. A traditional drafting queue turns a one-page drawing into a 24-hour (or 3-day) wait — and when the plans examiner asks for one more revision, you wait again. With a plot plan maker that runs on live parcel data, the first draft takes minutes and every revision after that takes less.
Let's clear this up, because it costs people real time: for residential permits, a plot plan and a site plan are the same document. Most building departments use the terms interchangeably. In Los Angeles and much of Southern California the counter asks for a "plot plan"; in other regions the identical drawing is called a "site plan," and a few jurisdictions still say "plat plan." Whatever the label, the reviewer wants the same thing — a scaled drawing of the parcel showing property lines, structures, setbacks, a north arrow, and a scale.
So don't hunt for separate "plot plan software" and site plan software — it's one tool. What actually matters is the checklist your permit office hands you: required scale, what has to be dimensioned, which features must be labeled. Pull that checklist first and draw to it. For the deeper dive on what permit counters require, see our guide to site plans for permits.
Everything a residential permit reviewer typically expects to see, drawn to scale and labeled:
Every element is editable before you export. Nudge a building footprint, rotate a proposed garage, relabel a driveway, change a setback distance — the plan redraws to scale as you work. And because the drawing is generated rather than hand-drafted, a revision request from the plans examiner means a two-minute edit and a fresh PDF, not another trip through the drafting queue.
A lot of people land here searching for the plot plan of a property they already own — usually because the permit office just asked for one. There are three legitimate ways to get it, and the honest answer is that all three can work:
Your deed packet or closing file from when you bought the property sometimes includes a plot plan or survey. If it's there and nothing on the lot has changed since, it may be all you need. Dig out the folder before you spend a dime.
Counties often have an old plot plan or survey on file from a previous permit. It can take a records request and some waiting, and the drawing is frequently decades old — it won't show a garage, deck, or addition built after it was drawn.
PlotForge draws a fresh plot plan from your county's live parcel data — today's recorded boundaries, with existing buildings placed and your proposed work added. Current, editable, and re-exportable whenever the project changes.
If an old plan surfaces from Route A or B, check the date before submitting it. Permit reviewers compare the drawing against what's actually on the lot, and a plan that predates your recent additions creates questions instead of answering them. When the old paper doesn't match the property anymore, generating a current plan is the fastest fix.
Some contractors want the tool; some just want the drawing to show up in their inbox. PlotForge does both, and the math is simple: if you pull two or more permits a month, a subscription beats the per-plan price almost immediately. If this is your one project for the year, order it done-for-you and get back to work.
Free for 30 days
Create a free account — no credit card — and use the full generator free for 30 days, plans exported and ready to submit. It's the same self-serve tool behind our free site plan maker. If you pull permits every month, subscriptions are $199/mo for 20 plans — roughly $10 per plan at volume — or grab a one-time pack ($29 for 1 plan, $49 for 3, $144 for 12) for one-off jobs.
$149 / plan
Send us the address and project details and we build the plot plan for you, delivered to your email within 48–72 hours. Five free revisions are included, so the drawing matches your permit checklist before you submit. Need CAD? DXF is a $20 add-on.
| Do It Yourself | Done-For-You | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Free for 30 days — no credit card | $149 |
| Ongoing cost | $29–$144 one-off (1–12 plans), or $199/mo for 20 plans (~$10–$12/plan at volume) | $149 per plan |
| Turnaround | Minutes | 48–72 hours |
| DXF / CAD export | ✓ Included on subscriptions | +$20 add-on |
| Revisions | Unlimited — edit and re-export yourself | 5 free revisions |
| Best for | Contractors pulling permits every month | One-off projects, no time to DIY |
A plot plan is a scaled drawing of a single property showing the parcel boundaries with dimensions, existing and proposed structures, setback distances from the property lines, and site features like driveways and the fronting street. Building departments ask for one with most residential permit applications so the plans examiner can see exactly what you're building and where it sits on the lot.
For residential permit purposes, yes. Most building departments use the two terms interchangeably — some regions, like Los Angeles, say plot plan, while others say site plan or plat. The contents are the same: property lines, structures, setbacks, north arrow, and scale. Follow the checklist your permit office gives you, whatever name is printed at the top.
Usually not for residential permits. Most departments accept non-certified plot plans drawn from county parcel records for projects like sheds, garages, additions, decks, pools, and ADUs. A stamped boundary survey is a different document — it's sometimes required for new construction, lot splits, or boundary disputes — so check your jurisdiction's checklist. PlotForge plans are not licensed survey or engineering documents.
Most residential permit counters accept non-certified plot plans, and PlotForge output includes what reviewers typically look for: a to-scale drawing with dimensioned property lines, setbacks, north arrow, scale, and a title block. Requirements do vary by jurisdiction, though, and no software can guarantee acceptance — check your department's checklist first, and if they require a stamped survey or engineered drawings, that's a different document.
Minutes. The parcel loads as soon as you enter the address, and most users place structures, set setbacks, and export the PDF in a single short sitting — no drafting queue, no 24-hour turnaround to wait through. If we generate it for you instead, the done-for-you service delivers in 48–72 hours.
With a free PlotForge account the generator is free to use for 30 days — no credit card. After the trial you have three options: a one-time self-serve pack for one-off jobs ($29 for 1 plan, $49 for 3, or $144 for 12), the done-for-you service at $149 per plan, or a subscription at $199/month for 20 plans, which works out to roughly $10 per plan at volume with DXF export included.
From your county's own GIS parcel records — the same boundary data the county assessor publishes. PlotForge queries the county's live parcel layer for boundaries and dimensions, and in areas where the county doesn't publish a usable layer, a national parcel dataset fills the gap, giving coverage across most of the US.
Enter the address, watch the parcel load from county records, and export a permit-ready PDF. Free for 30 days — no credit card required.