Site Plans for Permits
Every building department has its own forms, fees, and quirks — but nearly all of them ask for the same core document: a site plan. Here's exactly what reviewers look for on a residential site plan, which projects trigger the requirement, what it costs, and why plans get kicked back. Short version: it's a checklist, not a mystery.
A site plan — some departments call it a plot plan, same document — is a scaled, overhead drawing of your property showing what's on the lot today and what you're proposing to build. The permit tech reviewing your application isn't grading artwork. They're checking a short list of items, and if one is missing, the application goes back in the pile. (Completely new to the document? Start with What Is a Site Plan? — the plain-English explainer.) Here's what nearly every residential checklist asks for:
Where does that information come from? Almost all of it is already on record. Your lot dimensions, acreage, and parcel number sit in the county assessor's database — the same number printed on your property tax bill. Existing structures show up on the county's aerials and in its building records. The only thing that isn't on file anywhere is the part you're adding: the proposed work, which is the one piece you actually have to draw.
Exact requirements vary by jurisdiction. A pool in one county triggers barrier details; a shed under 200 sq ft in the next county over skips permitting entirely. Before you submit, pull your building department's own site plan checklist — it's usually one page, and reading it is the cheapest insurance in construction.
The working rule: if the project changes anything outside the existing walls of the house, expect the permit application to ask for a site plan. The usual suspects:
Even small structures get checked for setbacks and lot coverage.
Height and placement relative to the property lines is the whole review.
Setbacks, barrier locations, and distance from structures and septic.
Footprint, attachment to the house, and distance to the lot lines.
The most heavily reviewed of the bunch — setbacks, coverage, parking, and access all get scrutiny.
Footprint, height, and separation from both lot lines and the main house.
The new footprint has to prove it stays inside setbacks and coverage limits.
Impervious coverage and where the approach meets the right-of-way.
Ground-mount arrays are sited like structures; many departments want a site plan with roof-mount applications too.
Height and location relative to lot lines, slopes, and drainage.
The department wants to see what's coming down and what remains on the lot.
Different projects, same document. In every case the reviewer wants the whole lot, everything currently on it, and the new work shown in context with real dimensions.
Two edge cases worth knowing. Some jurisdictions exempt very small projects — a shed under a size threshold, a fence under a height limit — from permits altogether, though the thresholds vary widely, so confirm before you skip the paperwork. And even when the county doesn't want a site plan, somebody else often does: HOAs and architectural review boards routinely require one for exactly these projects, and it's the same drawing either way.
There are exactly three ways this gets done: draw it yourself, pay a drafting service to draw it, or generate it from the county's own parcel records. They all end in the same document — they're nowhere near each other on speed or effort. Here's the honest comparison:
| Hand-Draw It Yourself | Online Drafting Service | PlotForge — From Your Address | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | Free (plus your evening) | $89–$279 per plan | Free 30-day trial · $149 done-for-you · subscriptions from $199/mo |
| Turnaround | Hours on graph paper | 24 hours to several days | Minutes self-serve · 48–72 hrs done-for-you |
| Property lines from | Tape measure and guesswork | Public GIS parcel data | County parcel records, pulled automatically |
| Setbacks | You measure and draw them | Drafter adds them | Auto-computed and dimensioned |
| Output | Paper or a scan | PDF + DXF (CAD) | |
| Revisions | Redraw it | Another round-trip, sometimes billed | Self-serve: edit anytime · done-for-you: 5 free revisions |
| Rejection risk | Highest — scale and measurement errors | Low | Low — to scale, north arrow, title block on every sheet |
Most departments genuinely accept hand-drawn site plans for residential work, and if you enjoy graph paper, nobody's stopping you. The reality: it takes hours, and the two things that get DIY plans bounced — accurate scale and accurate property lines — are exactly the two things that are hardest to do by hand. A fence line is not a boundary line, and a reviewer can tell.
Online drafting services charge $89–$279 per plan and typically deliver in 24 hours to a few days. The plans are fine. What's worth knowing: most of them work from the same public GIS parcel data that software can read directly — you're paying for a drafter's hours, not for better data, and every revision is another round-trip.
Type the address, and the software pulls your parcel's recorded geometry from county GIS, drops it on the sheet to scale, and computes the setbacks. Need topography or distance-to-road? One click adds USGS contour lines and automatic road-centerline setback dimensions — or shades the lot by ground slope with a printed legend, while a live takeoff panel totals square footage and approximate impervious coverage as you draw. Have a house plan or an old site plan already? Import it as a see-through underlay, calibrate its scale with two clicks, and trace over it. Place the proposed shed, deck, or addition; dimensions update as you drag. Export a permit-ready PDF — plus DXF for CAD, included on every subscription (+$20 as an add-on to done-for-you orders). It's free to use for 30 days with a free account, no credit card. If you'd rather hand it off entirely, the done-for-you service is $149 with delivery in 48–72 hours and 5 free revisions. Pulling permits every week? Subscriptions are $199/mo for 20 plans — about $10 a plan, delivered instantly instead of in days.
A rejected site plan doesn't just cost pride — it costs the review cycle. Depending on the department's backlog, a resubmission can push your permit back days or weeks, and if a crew is scheduled behind that permit, the drawing just became the most expensive sheet of paper on the job. Reviewers across the country bounce site plans for the same handful of reasons, and every one of them is preventable:
Not drawn to scale
Fix: pick a stated scale — 1"=20' is the residential workhorse — and hold it everywhere on the sheet. "Approximately to scale" is not a scale.
Missing setback dimensions
Fix: dimension from the proposed work to every property line, not just the closest one. The reviewer needs numbers, not visual spacing.
Outdated or missing existing structures
Fix: show everything currently on the lot — including the old shed you forgot about. A plan that doesn't match the aerial photo raises questions.
No north arrow or scale bar
Fix: add both. They take two seconds and reviewers explicitly check for them.
Property lines guessed from fences or Google Maps
Fix: use the recorded parcel geometry from county records. The fence is where somebody put a fence — it is not the boundary.
PlotForge handles all five automatically: property lines come from county records, setbacks are computed rather than eyeballed, and every sheet exports with the scale, north arrow, and title block already on it.
There is no national site plan standard. Every county — sometimes every city — publishes its own checklist, and the parcel data behind your lot lives in your county's records. That's why PlotForge pulls parcel geometry straight from county GIS endpoints: deep, verified integrations in a growing list of counties, backed by a national parcel database that covers most US addresses. When you type your address, the lot lines on your sheet are your county's recorded lines — not a tracing of an aerial photo, and not a generic template.
Two honest caveats. First, PlotForge plans are non-certified: this is not a survey, and it doesn't establish legal boundaries. For most residential permits that's exactly what's expected — departments routinely accept non-certified, owner- or contractor-prepared plans for sheds, fences, decks, pools, and similar work. Second, some jurisdictions require a sealed survey or stamped engineering drawing for specific situations — new construction, boundary disputes, engineered retaining walls. When yours does, that's a different document from a licensed professional, and no software plan (ours included) substitutes for it. Check your department's checklist; it will say so plainly.
For most exterior projects, yes. Sheds, fences, pools, decks, additions, detached garages, and ADUs almost always require a site plan showing where the work sits on the lot and how far it is from the property lines. Interior-only remodels usually don't. If the project changes anything outside the existing walls, plan on needing one.
Usually, yes. Most building departments accept owner- or contractor-prepared site plans for residential permits. The catch: it must be drawn to scale, fully dimensioned, and complete. A rough sketch with guessed property lines is the fastest route to a rejection letter.
Usually not for residential work. Most departments accept non-certified site plans for sheds, fences, decks, pools, and similar projects. Some jurisdictions do require a sealed survey or engineered drawing in specific situations — new construction, disputed boundaries, work near an easement — so check your jurisdiction's checklist. If a stamp is required, that's a different document than a standard permit site plan.
Common residential scales are 1" = 10' or 1" = 20'. Pick a scale that fits the whole lot on the sheet with room for dimensions, and note the scale on the drawing — an unlabeled scale is a common rejection reason. PlotForge sets the scale automatically and prints it on every sheet.
Anywhere from $0 to a few hundred dollars. Drawing it yourself is free but slow. Online drafting services run $89–$279 per plan. PlotForge runs from about $8 per plan on a high-volume subscription to $149 for a done-for-you plan — and you can use it free for 30 days with a free account, no credit card required.
With PlotForge self-serve, minutes: enter the address, place the proposed work, and export the PDF. The done-for-you service delivers in 48–72 hours. Traditional drafting services typically quote 24 hours to several days, plus another round-trip for each revision.
Most building departments accept non-certified site plans for residential permit work, and county GIS parcel records are the same public data many drafting services draw from. No one can honestly guarantee acceptance — every jurisdiction sets its own rules, and a few require a sealed survey for certain projects — but for typical residential permits, a clean, to-scale plan built on county records is exactly what departments are used to seeing.
Self-serve PlotForge plans are editable — reopen the project, move or resize the proposed work, and export again. Done-for-you orders include 5 free revisions, so send the change and we'll turn around an updated sheet.
Type your address, place the proposed work, export a permit-ready PDF. Free for 30 days — no credit card. Or hand it off and we'll deliver it in 48–72 hours.