What a permit site plan is
A permit site plan, which many checklists call a plot plan, is a scaled drawing of one lot: its property lines, what already stands on it, the work you propose, and the distance from that work to each line. Apex, North Carolina's deck plan checklist asks for a plot plan that shows the structure outline, decks, porches, easements, cantilevers, mechanical equipment, electrical panels and service equipment, with their distances to the property lines [5]. Lorain, Ohio requires a plot plan with every fence permit application [6]. Metro Nashville states the drawing standard plainly: the plan need not come from a licensed professional, but it must be accurately dimensioned and drawn to scale [1].
Innowave Studio draws permit site plans for homeowners and their contractors, to the checklist the jurisdiction publishes for the project. How a site plan differs from a plot plan and a survey is set out in site plan vs plot plan vs survey, and the general definition is in what is a site plan.
What the plan shows
The same items recur across county and city checklists. Each row below names the checklists that ask for the item.
| Item | What the checklists ask for |
|---|---|
| Property lines and lot dimensions | Property lines and lot dimensions on Miami Beach's residential pool checklist [3]; the lot boundaries on Gwinnett County's addition location plan [7]; lot dimensions on Los Angeles County's dwelling plan review list [8] |
| Existing structures | Existing structures labeled, in Metro Nashville [9]; both existing and proposed structures, in Miami Beach [3]; the existing home and driveway, in Gwinnett [7] |
| The proposed work, dimensioned | The deck, porch and cantilever outline, in Apex [5]; the location and dimensions of the pool, in Nassau County, Florida [10]; the proposed location of the addition, in Gwinnett [7] |
| Distance to each property line | Distances to property lines, in Apex and Metro Nashville [5, 9]; setbacks from the pool to each property line, in Nassau [10]; how far off the property lines the fence will be, in Massillon, Ohio [11] |
| Easements | Easements, in Apex, Metro Nashville and Gwinnett [5, 9, 7]; easements, conservation and wetland areas and setbacks, in Hillsborough County, Florida [12]; public or private easements, in Wake Forest, North Carolina [13] |
| Parcel, north arrow, scale and date | The parcel identification number, the address, a north arrow, the scale, a bar scale and the date the map was prepared, in Wake County, North Carolina [14] |
| Equipment and utilities | Mechanical equipment, electrical panels and service equipment, in Apex [5]; overhead or underground power lines, in Nassau [10]; the private sewage disposal system, utilities and easements, in Los Angeles County [8] |
| Impervious area | Impervious square footage is the most common extra item, especially in North Carolina, Washington and Georgia [15, 14]; Wake Forest asks for existing and proposed impervious surface area [13] |
| Grade | Grade elevation as per survey, in Miami Beach [3]; contour lines for existing and proposed grades at 2-foot intervals on the NAVD 88 vertical datum, in Bellevue, Washington [16] |
Scale and sheet size are set locally. Gwinnett County's addition location plan is drawn to scale, at 1 inch to 10 feet or 1 inch to 20 feet [7]. Wake Forest's driveway checklist (8/2021) asks for a scale not less than 1 inch to 50 feet [13]. Bellevue sets a minimum sheet size of 18 x 24 inches [16], while Wake County accepts deck plans drawn by hand [14].
What each permit asks for
The rules differ by project. These are the requirements the departments publish, with the page in this line that covers each project.
| Project | What the checklist or code says | Project page |
|---|---|---|
| Deck | Apex wants the deck outline, porches, cantilevers, easements and equipment with their distances to property lines [5]; Wake County wants the parcel number, address, north arrow, scale, bar scale and date, and accepts hand-drawn deck plans [14]; Austin exempts decks under 200 sq ft and under 30 inches high outside flood hazard areas (R105.2, 2024 IRC local amendments) [17] | Deck site plans |
| In-ground pool | Miami Beach (checklist of 5.23.2024) wants setbacks, existing and proposed structures, property lines, lot dimensions and grade elevation as per survey, plus a signed and sealed site survey [3]; Hillsborough wants easements, conservation and wetland areas, setbacks and a statement that no trees will be removed [12]; Okaloosa sets 5 feet from the edge of the pool water to any side or rear property line [18] | Pool site plans |
| Above-ground pool | Nassau requires no permit when the pool is less than 24 inches deep, holds no more than 5,000 gallons and is installed entirely above ground [10]; Indian River asks for three legible surveys or site plans showing the distance to the structure [19] | Pool site plans |
| Shed, detached garage, carport | Maricopa County keeps accessory buildings from occupying more than 30% of a required yard or sitting nearer than three feet to a side or rear lot line, and waives zoning clearance for non-habitable single-story structures of 200 square feet or less (s.1106.2) [20]; the City of Maricopa wants a permit and a site plan above 120 square feet (Rev. 10/2024) [21]; Wake County wants a building permit when any dimension is greater than 12 feet [22]; Metro Nashville covers storage buildings of 100 square feet or more [9] | Shed site plans |
| Home addition | Gwinnett wants a location plan drawn to scale with the lot boundaries, the existing home and driveway, easements, streams, buffers and the addition [7]; Los Angeles County item 22 (Code 106.4.3) lists lot dimensions, yard setbacks, street names, north arrow, buildings to remain, distance between buildings, private sewage disposal, utilities and easements [8]; Houston takes a survey by a Texas registered surveyor or a complete site plan with dimensions [23] | Home addition site plans |
| Fence | Lorain requires a plot plan with every application [6]; Massillon's plan shows how far off the property lines the fence will be [11]; Maple Heights asks for two plot plans showing property lines and all existing driveways, sidewalks, fences and structures [24]; Cincinnati's shows the fence location, height and opacity [25]; Metro Nashville does not currently require a fence permit [26] | This page |
| Driveway | Wake Forest wants a north arrow and a scale not less than 1 inch to 50 feet, property lines and dimensions, public or private easements, setbacks and dimensions at the right-of-way, and existing and proposed impervious surface area [13] | This page |
| Ground-mount solar | Raleigh requires no site plan for rooftop solar on a single-family dwelling and requires one for a ground-mounted system [27] | This page |
Some departments also count the small structures toward zoning limits. Denver's residential permitting guide, updated in September 2026, lists accessory structures, garages, carports, decks, patios, pergolas, swimming pools and hot tubs in its zoning calculations [28]. The state pages for North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, Arizona and Washington cover the commercial rules in the same jurisdictions.
Where an unsealed plan is accepted, and where a sealed survey is required
Who may draw the plan is the jurisdiction's call, and the written rules fall into the groups below.
| Rule | Jurisdiction | What the jurisdiction says |
|---|---|---|
| No licensed preparer required | Metro Nashville, Tennessee | A residential site plan need not come from a licensed professional; it must be accurately dimensioned and drawn to scale [1] |
| No licensed preparer required | Wendell, North Carolina | A residential structure's site plan need not be professionally drawn [2] |
| No licensed preparer required | Dayton, Ohio | A fence permit's site plan need not be prepared by a professional licensed and registered in Ohio [29] |
| No licensed preparer required (an illustrative example) | Scranton, Pennsylvania | Most residential plot plans need no professional seal or stamp when the owner knows where the property line is [30] |
| The owner sets the line | Lakewood, Ohio | The fence plan is "measured from a point that the homeowner deems as the property line" (fence packet, rev. 11/18/25) [31] |
| Survey or site plan | Houston, Texas | A survey by a Texas registered surveyor, or a complete site plan with dimensions [23] |
| Survey or site plan | Okaloosa, Indian River and Orange counties, Florida | Pool permits take a certified survey, a plot plan or a site plan [18, 19, 32] |
| Sealed survey required | Davie, Florida | Pool permits need a signed and sealed survey, provided at its original size [33] |
| Sealed survey required | Miami Beach, Florida | The residential pool checklist of 5.23.2024 lists a "Site Survey Signed & Sealed" [3] |
| Sealed survey required | Cobb County, Georgia | Before a building permit, the permittee or landowner files a current plan and survey of the property sealed by a registered land surveyor (Development Standards s.103.19.1) [4] |
| Sealed plans required | Orange County, Florida | A pool entry deck needs digitally signed and sealed plans [32] |
A survey you already hold can serve as the base. Metro Nashville notes that a homeowner's mortgage loan survey works well for a site plan [9]. A mortgage inspection is a different document from a boundary survey: West Virginia requires a mortgage or loan inspection that is not a full boundary survey to be stamped as a mortgage inspection survey only, and only a licensed surveyor may certify property boundaries [34].
Plans are preliminary, and engineering is by your engineer of record. Where a jurisdiction requires a seal, as Davie and Miami Beach do for pool surveys and Cobb County does before a building permit, the sealed survey comes from a registered land surveyor [33, 3, 4]. Where sealed plans are required, as for an Orange County pool entry deck [32], the preliminary plan is what the engineer of record builds on. The same question for commercial site plans, state by state, is answered in where unsealed site plans are accepted.
Who may draw the plans for a house, shed or garage
State architecture laws decide who may prepare building plans, and several leave a house and its outbuildings outside the architect's seal:
| State | What the law leaves outside the architect's seal |
|---|---|
| Georgia | One- and two-family residences and domestic outbuildings, regardless of cost (O.C.G.A. 43-4-14(b)) [35] |
| Maine | Detached single or 2-family dwellings and incidental sheds, storage buildings and garages (32 M.R.S. section 226(2)) [36] |
| Vermont | A detached single, two, three or four-family dwelling, or a shed, storage building or garage incidental to it (26 V.S.A. Ch. 3) [37] |
| West Virginia | Detached single-family dwellings and incidental sheds, storage buildings and garages (WV Code 30-12-12) [38] |
| Nebraska | Detached one-family through four-family dwellings under 5,000 SF of above-grade finished space, a limit the Board expanded to under 10,000 SF by counting all potentially habitable space; incidental sheds, storage buildings and garages are left out of the tabulation (Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-3449) [39] |
| Pennsylvania | Drawings for detached one-family or two-family dwellings of not more than three stories, and their accessory structures (63 P.S. 34.15) [40] |
Los Angeles applies the same line at the permit counter: its Department of Building and Safety lets an unlicensed person prepare the architectural plans for a two-story single-family dwelling, and asks for a licensed signature only on structural drawings where engineering details appear [41]. Who prepares each layer of a commercial plan is covered in who prepares a site plan.
State rules that change the plan or its review
| State | Rule |
|---|---|
| North Carolina | The initial review of residential building plans is due within 15 business days; after 20 business days the local government refunds 10% of the permit fee for each business day, for up to 10 days (G.S. 160D-1110(b)) [42, 43] |
| Virginia | In Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, 2,500 sq ft of land disturbance brings erosion and sediment control and stormwater criteria, against 10,000 sq ft elsewhere (9VAC25-875), so residential permit site plans in Tidewater show the disturbance area [44, 45] |
How ordering works
Orders go through the Start a Project form:
- Open start a project and choose the residential project type: deck; pool (in-ground or above-ground); shed; detached garage or carport; home addition; fence; driveway; ground-mount solar; ADU; or lot split or middle housing division.
- Give the location as the city or county and the state. The jurisdiction decides the checklist, the setbacks and whether a seal is needed.
- Under program and stage, describe the work: its footprint, its height and where it will sit on the lot.
- Attach one file, the most useful you have: a survey or mortgage loan survey, or a sketch with measurements. If the department has given you a checklist or reviewer's comments, name them under program and stage.
- The studio reads the brief, checks the jurisdiction's rules and replies by email to scope the plan.
Permit site plans by project
- Deck permit site plans, pool permit site plans, shed permit site plans and detached garage and carport site plans.
- Home addition site plans.
- ADU site plan requirements, site plans for pre-approved ADUs and who can draw ADU plans.
- California ADU site fit and Oregon middle housing land division.
- Site plan for a permit, how to get a site plan of my property, the Florida pool permit survey guide and ADU laws by state.
Developers planning a subdivision or a commercial site should start with preliminary site plans instead. To order a permit site plan, start a project and choose the residential type that matches your permit.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a surveyor for a permit site plan?
Often not. Metro Nashville does not require residential site plans to be done by a licensed professional, only an accurately dimensioned scale drawing [1], and Wendell, North Carolina says the site plan for a residential structure does not have to be professionally drawn [2]. Some jurisdictions do require a sealed survey: Davie, Florida and Miami Beach for pool permits [33, 3], and Cobb County, Georgia before a building permit [4].
Can I use my mortgage survey for the site plan?
What scale should a permit site plan be drawn at?
Does every project need a site plan?
No. Raleigh requires none for rooftop solar on a single-family dwelling [27], Metro Nashville does not currently require a fence permit [26], Nassau County, Florida requires no permit for an above-ground pool less than 24 inches deep that holds no more than 5,000 gallons [10], and Austin exempts decks under 200 sq ft and under 30 inches high outside flood hazard areas [17].
Must the plan show impervious area?
Can I draw the permit site plan myself?
In some places. Wake County accepts hand-drawn deck plans [14], Metro Nashville asks only that the plan be accurately dimensioned and drawn to scale, not that a licensed professional draw it [1], and Lakewood, Ohio measures a fence plan from the point the homeowner deems the property line [31]. Where a sealed survey is required, as in Cobb County, it is prepared by a registered land surveyor [4].
Sources
- 1)Residential Permit Procedures (brochure), Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Codes Administration. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 2)Building Permits, Town of Wendell, North Carolina, Planning Department. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 3)Permit Checklist for Pool, Residential New (5.23.2024), City of Miami Beach, Florida, Building Department. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 4)2026 Variance Application and Schedule, citing Development Standards s.103.19.1, Cobb County, Georgia. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 5)Deck Plan Checklist, Town of Apex, North Carolina. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 6)Fence Permit Application, City of Lorain, Ohio, Building Department. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 7)Building Addition to a Home, permit requirements (revised August 2012), Gwinnett County, Georgia, Planning and Development. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 8)One- and Two-Family Dwelling Plan Review List (v2.0, 1-1-2023), Los Angeles County Public Works, Building and Safety. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 9)Residential Building Permit Procedures, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Codes Administration. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 10)Residential Swimming Pool Plan Review Checklist, Nassau County, Florida, Building Department. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 11)Fence Information Packet, City of Massillon, Ohio, Building Department. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 12)Residential Pool Requirements, Hillsborough County, Florida. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 13)Driveway Permit Submittal Checklist (8/2021), Town of Wake Forest, North Carolina, Planning Department. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 14)Build a Deck or Porch, Wake County, North Carolina, Permits and Inspections. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 15)Addition / Alteration / Accessory Structure Checklist, Town of Apex, North Carolina. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 16)Residential Site Plan, City of Bellevue, Washington, Development Services. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 17)Residential Plan Review (2024 IRC local amendments), City of Austin, Texas, Development Services. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 18)Permit Guide for Residential Swimming Pool, Okaloosa County, Florida, Growth Management. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 19)Swimming Pool Permit Checklist, Indian River County, Florida, Building Division. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 20)Accessory Structures, Equipment, and Setbacks (DD-3012-01), Maricopa County, Arizona, Planning and Development. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 21)Accessory Buildings and Structures (Residential), Rev. 10/2024, City of Maricopa, Arizona, Development Services. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 22)Build an Accessory Building, Wake County, North Carolina, Permits and Inspections. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 23)Residential Permitting 101, City of Houston, Houston Permitting Center. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 24)Fence Permit Application Packet, City of Maple Heights, Ohio, Building Department. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 25)Fence permit and approval information, City of Cincinnati, Ohio, Buildings and Inspections. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 26)Building Permits Central: I Want to Build a Fence, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Codes Administration. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 27)Residential Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System, City of Raleigh, North Carolina. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 28)Residential Permitting Guide (updated September 3, 2026), City and County of Denver, Community Planning and Development. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 29)FAQs: Do I need a permit to build a fence?, City of Dayton, Ohio. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 30)Plot Plan Instructions, City of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 31)Fence Packet (rev. 11/18/25), City of Lakewood, Ohio, Department of Housing and Building. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 32)Residential Swimming Pool Permit, Orange County, Florida. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 33)Residential Pool Checklist, Town of Davie, Florida, Building Division. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 34)Land surveying law and rules (WV Code 30-13A; 23 CSR 1), West Virginia Board of Professional Surveyors.
- 35)O.C.G.A. 43-4-14 (2024), architects: exempt structures (via law.justia.com), State of Georgia. Accessed 2026-08-02.
- 36)32 M.R.S. section 226, architects: exemptions, State of Maine.
- 37)26 V.S.A. Chapter 3, Architects, Vermont General Assembly.
- 38)W. Va. Code 30-12-12, architects: exemptions, West Virginia Legislature.
- 39)Neb. Rev. Stat. 81-3449, exemptions from the architecture provisions, Nebraska Legislature.
- 40)Architects Licensure Law, 63 P.S. 34.15, Pennsylvania Department of State, State Board of Examiners of Architects. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 41)Information Bulletin P/BC 2023-073, Policy 4: Stamped Plans, City of Los Angeles, Department of Building and Safety. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 42)Formal interpretation 231010: G.S. 160D-1110(b), 15 business day residential plan review, North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 43)G.S. 160D-1110, building permits (2024; via Justia), North Carolina General Assembly. Accessed 2026-10-10.
- 44)Virginia Register Vol. 41 Iss. 4 (Fast-Track), 9VAC25-875, Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Regulation (October 7, 2024), Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Register of Regulations.
- 45)Virginia Erosion and Sediment Control Program (revised 4/8/2024), Mecklenburg County, Virginia.