Site Plans for Exterior Home Renovation Permits

Are you renovating the exterior of your home? Whether or not you need a permit depends both on the kind of work you plan to do and on where you live.

For example, while constructing an addition to your house almost always requires a permit, the rules tend to vary more for projects like deck-building, putting up fences, and even – in some cases – painting.

So, if you haven’t determined whether you will need a permit, stop right now and make that your first priority. Reach out to your local building department or look the rules up for your area online. Be sure you find the most up-to-date information since laws and regulations are continuously evolving.

What do site plans have to do with exterior home renovation permits? They help you get approval for your permit.

Why Exterior Home Renovation Permits Are Easier to Get with Site Plans

There are several reasons site plans make obtaining home renovation permits easier.

1. Sometimes a site plan is required. That’s a pretty good reason, right? If you don’t have a site plan, in some cases you may not be able to get a permit. It’s as simple as that.
   
   
2. Site plans let permitting offices visualize the job. A site plan is basically just a very detailed picture of your property that works as sort of architectural “before-and-after” photos. Your site plan can show building officials both the current state of your property and how you want it to look after you finish your renovations.
   
   
3. Site plans help prevent mistakes. As mentioned above, building rules and regulations are always changing. Beyond this, in many areas they’re just plain complicated. You may not realize that your renovation needs to be X number of feet away from a tree or sewer line. You will want to make measurements on the ground and provide them to us so that we can add them.
   
   Creating a site plan makes measurements and numbers explicit, so you can make alterations before you begin construction. This is something that saves both money and time, because having to go back and fix mistakes can be even costlier than the initial job.

Our plans start as low as $99. And we’ll have a finished draft to you within 24 hours of starting your order.  

We use a combination of county GIS information, satellite imagery, client provided information to create our plans. You will want to check all dimensions once you receive your first draft and mark up the plan with any changes. We make the adjustments free of charge. If you need exact measurements and don't have the ability to make the measurements yourself then you will want to hire a surveyor. We are unable to make any representations regarding accuracy and all of our sources will only provide approximate measurements.

If your building department does not require a stamp from an architect, engineer, or surveyor, then using our services can save you time and money.