Part 1 — The Site Plan: Before the First Brick | Sheet by Sheet
Every house starts with a site plan. Not a foundation. Not a floor plan. The site plan. Before anything gets built, someone has to answer one question: where exactly does this house sit on this lot? Get that wrong and everything built on top of it is wrong too. What It Actually Shows A bird's-eye view of the entire lot — not just the house: Lot lines, setbacks, and the house footprint within them Driveway location and garage entry Utilities — water, sewer, gas, electric Grading and drainage direction Impervious surface area One sheet. Every decision about how the house sits on the land. Where Builders Get Burned Setbacks . Corner lots, cul-de-sac lots, lots near open space — each can have different requirements. Copy-pasting the standard setback across every lot is a fast way to a permit rejection. Driveways on slopes . A garage that works on flat ground can become a grading nightmare on a sloped lot. Site plan and grading plan should always be r...
