The site plan in the permit drawing set starts as a quick rectangle — width, depth, four setbacks. When the lot isn't square, Enter property lines from the survey turns it into the plat itself: one row per line, the bearing typed the way the plat reads it (N 45°30′15″ E), as a turn off the line before (R 90°) or as an azimuth, then the distance and that line's own setback. The closure is checked as you type — Lot closes ✓ with the area and the precision, or the misclosure, with the line that was entered backwards named and fixed in one click. Set how far plan north sits from true north and the site plan is drawn with true north straight up, each line labelled with its true bearing, while the floor plan and every other sheet stay square at plan north, their north arrows marked PN. Drag the building on the sheet and the distance to every line follows, red inside a setback. Built exclusively for post-frame and barndominium builders — on rural acreage, the setbacks from the street and the property lines are the first thing to ask a building department about. The sheet says what it is: not a survey — the lot lines, bearings and distances come from the survey, by others.
Also called: site plan · plot plan · site plan for building permit · true north · plan north · north arrow · survey bearings · bearings and distances · metes and bounds · property lines · lot lines · setbacks · point of beginning · lot closure · misclosure
Type the lot the way the plat reads it
Try itEnter property lines from the survey turns the rectangle into the plat: one row per line — L1 N 63°13′27″ E, 182.46, setback 30, along County Road 340, then four more lines back to the iron pin. A bearing can be typed as the plat reads it, as a turn off the line before (R 90°) or as an azimuth; distances in feet and hundredths, with each line's own setback. The closure is checked on every change: Lot closes ✓ · 57,815 sq ft (1.33 ac), with the perimeter and the precision. Drag a corner in the preview to reshape the lot; the square is the point of beginning.
The lot isn't a rectangle, so a rectangle on the site plan isn't the lot.
The surveyor has already measured the lot. Typing the plat line for line, instead of approximating it as a rectangle, means the lot on the sheet is the lot on record.
One line backwards? It names the line
Try itType line 3 the wrong way round — N 60°59′46″ E instead of S 60°59′46″ W — and the closure turns red: Misclosure 306.88 ft — reverse line 3? The gap is measured, the line that closes the lot when it's reversed is named, and Reverse line 3 fixes it in one click. When no single reversal closes it, Close the lot with a last line adds the line that does. The preview draws the gap back to the point of beginning in red.
One line typed the wrong way round leaves the lot open, and finding it means re-checking every bearing.
One N typed for an S throws the whole lot off, and the mistake hides among the bearings. Naming the line turns checking every bearing by eye into one click — before the site plan goes anywhere.
True north on the site plan, plan north on every other sheet
Try itSite & north sets one angle: how far plan north — the top of every construction sheet — sits from true north. Drag the dial's PN handle, or type it as surveyors write it: 23°15′ west of true north. The site plan is drawn with true north straight up and the building turned under it; the floor plan, slab, roof and electrical sheets stay square at plan north. Every north arrow shows both: on A1 north points up with a PN tick, on A2 plan north points up and N is turned. On a survey lot, Square the building to the street line sets the angle that lines the street wall up with the street.
Turn the site plan to true north and every other sheet in the set turns with it, to an angle nobody frames from.
The site plan has to read to true north; the crew builds from sheets square to the building. One angle gives each its own orientation, and the arrows on every sheet say how the two relate — so nobody frames off a plan drawn at 23 degrees.
Every line with its bearing, its length and its own setback
A1 draws the lot from the survey with true north up: each line labelled with its true bearing and length — L1 N 63°13′27″ E 182.46′ along County Road 340 — the P.O.B. at the iron pin, the setback envelope dashed inside, the building and its roof edge, and the driveway out to the curb. The Setbacks table has a row for each line, L1 to L5, required against provided; the site data gives the lot's area from the survey, 1.33 acres, and says how plan north relates to true north. The notes say plainly: not a survey — the lot lines, bearings and distances are from the survey, by others.
Front, rear and side setbacks don't map onto a lot with five sides.
When the sheet's bearings and distances match the plat line for line, the plan reads the way the lot is recorded. A setback figure for every line — not just front, rear and sides — answers the question for each one.
Drag the building; every distance follows
Try itOn the site plan, pick the building up and move it. The distance to every lot line redraws as it moves, a line whose setback is broken turns red, and a small readout follows the pointer with the three tightest lines and their setbacks. Let go and the sheet keeps the place — it saves with the plan; on a survey lot the building's centre is kept to the quarter foot from the point of beginning. On a rectangle lot, dragging sets From front lot line and From left lot line the same way.
Each nudge of the building on paper means re-measuring every lot line.
Placing a building on an odd-shaped lot by hand is trial and error — move it, re-measure five lines, move it again. Measuring as it moves means the building lands where every setback holds, at the desk.
The rectangle stays the quick default
Try itMost lots start as a width, a depth and four setbacks: Lot width (frontage), Lot depth, Front, Rear, Left and Right side setback, which wall faces the street and how far the building sits from the front and left lines. Enter property lines from the survey sits right under them, and starts from that rectangle — and Use a rectangle lot instead goes back.
Typing a full survey for a square lot is work nobody needs.
Not every job needs the plat typed in. The quick rectangle gets a site plan on the sheet in a minute; the survey is there for the lot that needs it.
- 1In the permit set, open Sheet set details — the Site & north section holds the lot, the north angle and where the building sits
- 2For a lot that isn't a rectangle, press Enter property lines from the survey — it starts from the rectangle, so nothing on the sheet jumps
- 3Type each line off the plat: a bearing (N 45°30′15″ E), a turn off the line before (R 90°) or an azimuth, then the distance and that line's setback
- 4The closure is checked as you type: Lot closes ✓ with the area, perimeter and precision — or Misclosure … reverse line 3? with a Reverse line button
- 5Drag a corner in the preview to reshape the lot, name the point of beginning, and pick the line that runs along the street
- 6Set plan north: drag the dial or type the angle, west or east of true north — on a survey lot, Square the building to the street line does it in one click
- 7The site plan is drawn with true north up, every lot line labelled with its true bearing and length; the floor plan and the other sheets stay at plan north, their arrows marked PN
- 8Drag the building on the site plan: the distance to every lot line redraws, red inside a setback, and the setback table says OK or CHECK for each line
- 9Pick Site point and choose the road, meter, pole, well, septic tank, septic field or propane tank, then click A1 where it stands: each is drawn with its run to the house — straight to the nearest wall, rounded up — and drag the building and every run re-measures. Site items lists them, Edit length takes a run you know better and marks it edited, A1 prints a Utility runs table, and the estimate's Site, utilities & travel card prices them with Price these runs
- 10A wall within 3′ of a lot line gets a red box on A1: rated 1 hour from both sides, with no openings (Oklahoma's amendment to IRC Table R302.1(1)); On this sheet can hide it (Lot-line fire separation box)
Property lines are often not square, and the site plan has to sit on its sheet oriented to true north — so the lot runs at an odd angle. Turn the building with it on every sheet and the floor plan, the slab and the elevations run at the same odd angle, which nobody frames from; keep the building square and the site plan is wrong. A builder asked for exactly this split: the site plan at true north, every construction document at plan north. So the lot is typed once, the way the surveyor wrote it; one angle turns the site plan to true north and leaves every other sheet square to the building; and the distance from the building to each line is measured, not estimated, so a setback problem is found at the desk instead of at the permit counter. The sheet still says plainly that it is not a survey.
- A site plan drawn as a rectangle when the lot isn't one
- Construction sheets turned to an odd angle to match true north
- A survey line entered backwards that nobody can find
- A building inside a setback, found at the permit counter