Site Plans for Permits: The Complete Guide

Every year, thousands of permit applications get delayed for the same unglamorous reason: the site plan. Not the deck design, not the shed size, the drawing of the lot. This guide explains what a permit-ready site plan is, what your building department checks on it, when you can draw one yourself, and what to look for if you pay someone to draw it for you. It is written for homeowners, in plain English, by people who draw these plans every day.

What a site plan is (and what it is not)

A site plan is a to-scale, bird's-eye drawing of your property. It shows your lot boundaries, everything already built on the lot, and the project you propose to build, with the distances from your project to the property lines written on the drawing.

That is the whole job. A site plan is not a blueprint, a framing plan, or a design document. It does not show what your deck is made of or how your shed is framed. It answers one question for the permit reviewer: where on your property is this project going, and does that location follow the rules?

Here is the difference between how the code says it and what it means:

The code says: "Plans shall be drawn to scale upon suitable material and shall indicate the location, nature and extent of the work proposed, showing in detail that it will conform to the provisions of this code."

In plain English: draw your lot from above, put every existing building on it, add your project, label the distances to the property lines, and make sure the measurements are real.

If you want the shorter version of this page, read What is a site plan? For the difference between the three documents cities ask for, read Site plan vs plot plan vs survey.

What your building department actually checks

Plan reviewers work through a checklist, and knowing it turns the site plan from a mystery into a form you fill out with a drawing. On a typical residential application they verify:

• Setbacks. The measured distance from your project to each property line, compared against the minimums for your zone. This is the single most checked number on the page.
• Lot coverage. Your lot size versus the total footprint of everything built on it, including the new project. Most residential zones cap coverage at a fixed percentage.
• Easements. Utility, drainage, and access easements are off limits for most structures. Reviewers check that your project stays out of them.
• Scale and dimensions. The drawing must be to a stated scale, with the project's dimensions and the setback distances labeled, not implied.
• The basics block. North arrow, scale notation, parcel or address identification, and the names of adjacent streets. Miss these and many departments will not even start the review.

Before you submit: requirements vary by city and county. Most publish a one-page site plan checklist on their building department website, and it is worth two minutes to compare your drawing against it. When in doubt, call the counter. Reviewers would much rather answer a question than write a correction notice.

When a hand-drawn sketch is enough

Honest answer: sometimes. Plenty of building departments accept a homeowner sketch for small projects, and if yours does, a careful sketch is a legitimate option. The trade is your afternoon plus the resubmission cycle if it bounces, against $89 for a drawing that arrives done. Here is how to judge it.

A DIY sketch has a real chance of passing when all of these are true:

• The project is small and simple: a fence, a shed under the exemption size, a ground-level patio.
• Your city accepts hand-drawn plans (the checklist or the counter staff will tell you).
• You have a document with your real lot dimensions: a plat map, a mortgage survey, or your county GIS printout.
• You can draw it to a stated scale, label every setback distance, and include the basics block above.

The sketch usually fails when any of these are true:

• The project sits close to a setback line, where "about 5 feet" is not good enough.
• Your lot is irregular: flag lots, curved frontages, corner lots with sight triangles.
• The city requires a specific scale, sheet size, or digital submission.
• The application is for a garage, an addition, or anything with foundations, where most departments expect professional-quality drawings.
• There are easements on the lot and you are not certain where they run.

If you are on the failing side of that list, getting the drawing done properly costs less than the resubmission cycle it prevents. That is the honest trade. And if you do go DIY, run the finished sketch through the Pre-Submission Checklist before you hand it to the counter.

The four ways to get a site plan

For most residential permits, the middle path wins: professional drafting at a fraction of surveyor cost, delivered in a day or two. Here is the full picture:

Leaning toward the DIY row? Read how to draw your own site plan for the full six-step method, and the software breakdown if you want a tool instead of graph paper. Both end at the same quality gate: the Pre-Submission Checklist.

Two clarifications that save people money:

You usually do not need a surveyor. A survey legally certifies your boundary locations. Most residential permit applications do not require that level of certainty; they require a clear, scaled drawing. Online services (ours included) plot boundaries from county GIS records and satellite imagery, which most building departments accept for small residential work. If your jurisdiction specifically demands a stamped, certified survey, only a licensed surveyor in your state can provide it. And if you already have a survey from your home purchase, upload it with your order; we draft on top of it and you get surveyed accuracy at drafting prices.

You usually do not need a stamp. Most residential site plans for decks, fences, sheds, patios, and small garages do not require a Professional Engineer or Architect stamp. Some jurisdictions and project types do. Confirm before you order anything, from anyone.

How to choose an online site-plan service

The online drafting market is crowded, and the products range from excellent to a template with your address typed on it. Ask these six questions before paying:

1. What happens if the city asks for changes? The only answer worth paying for is free revisions until the plan is accepted. Rejections are usually small fixes, a missing dimension, a label, and you should not pay again for them.
2. What exactly is drawn on the plan? Property lines, lot dimensions, existing structures, your proposed project drawn and dimensioned, setbacks labeled, north arrow, scale, parcel ID. If the sample plans do not show all of that, neither will yours.
3. Can I see real delivered plans? Not mockups. Real, redacted plans that went through real permit reviews.
4. What is the actual turnaround? "Fast" is marketing; a number is a commitment. Anything from 24 to 72 hours is normal for residential work.
5. Where do the property lines come from? GIS and satellite data is the standard for non-certified residential plans. A service that cannot tell you its source is guessing.
6. What do they do when your lot is odd? Flag lots, easements, slopes, corner lots. Ask before ordering, and expect a plain answer about what they can and cannot handle.

We keep a fuller version of this list, with our answers to each check on the record, on the service comparison page. The short version: we publish our answers to all six on the site plans page: $89 to $259 tiers, 24 to 48 hour delivery, free revisions until acceptance with a full refund if your jurisdiction cannot be satisfied, and real sample plans on every product page.

Why site plans get rejected

Across the thousands of plans we have drawn, the correction notices cluster around the same short list. Run your drawing, whoever made it, through the PermitsGuide Pre-Submission Checklist (there is a printable version here):

1. Every setback distance is labeled with a number, not implied by the drawing.
2. The scale is stated on the sheet, and the drawing actually matches it.
3. All existing structures are shown, not just the new project.
4. The project's own dimensions are written out.
5. Easements are drawn and the project stays clear of them.
6. North arrow, parcel or address block, and street names are present.
7. The file or sheet format matches what your city asks for (many now want PDF uploads; some still want two paper copies at a specific size).

Six of those seven are drafting discipline, not skill, which is why rejection is so preventable and why a revision, when it happens, is normally a one-day fix.

Site plans by project type

Every project type gets reviewed a little differently, so we draw and document them separately:

• Deck site plans, and the deck permit rules by state
• Fence site plans, and the fence permit rules by state
• Shed site plans, and the shed permit rules by state
• Patio site plans, and the patio permit rules by state
• Garage site plans, and the garage permit rules by state

Planning an accessory dwelling unit? ADU applications get the closest site-plan review of any residential project; what cities check on ADU site plans covers the current rules.

If you are earlier in the process, start with how to apply for a building permit in 10 steps.