Essential Guide: How to Read Site Plans

A site plan, or plot plan, is a detailed architectural drawing that illustrates the layout of a property, including the positioning of homes and buildings, landscaping and any other key outdoor features. It outlines both the existing and proposed conditions of the property including the surrounding area.

Understanding what a site plan is and how to read it is essential, as it plays a crucial role in your home building journey, as well in real estate and in any home improvement projects you may wish to undertake.

At Carlisle, we aim to empower you with comprehensive information, ensuring your home building journey is as stress-free and enjoyable as possible. In this article, we will break down the main components of detailed site plans and highlight key things to look out for when reviewing them.

Navigating your Carlisle Contract Appointment

During your Carlisle contract appointment, you’ll be presented with your home’s final site plans. These plans allow you to visualise how the finished spaces and proportions in your home will look. If you’ve never seen site plans before, they can be overwhelming with a variety of lines, numbers, and symbols to digest. Understanding what they all mean can help you feel more at ease during your appointment.

There’s no need to stress though, because your Carlisle Client Liaison Executive will be right by your side to explain exactly what you're looking at and answer any questions. This site plan review process is an important step in your home building journey, as these plans dictate what will be built on site.

Understanding construction site plans: Breaking down the main components

Your detailed construction site plan

A detailed site plan is a bird's-eye view and graphic representation of your entire property that includes various structural elements like buildings, as well as property boundaries, neighbouring properties and key landscape features. 

The objective of a site plan is to show a clear overview of the existing and proposed conditions on the site. Key elements typically included in a good site plan are:

• Boundary Lines: These define the boundaries and fence lines of your property.
• Existing Structures: Includes current buildings, trees, and landscaped areas. 
• Proposed Buildings: The new development planned for the building site.
• Landscape Elements: Gardens, patios, pools and other outdoor features.
• Power Lines: Location of utility lines.
• Drainage Systems: Placement of stormwater drains and downpipes.

Your site plan is what is used to obtain necessary building permits from the different building authorities. This ensures that the proposed development complies with zoning laws, local building codes and other regulations. 

External Elevations

Front setbacks 

The front setback on your plan refers to the distance between your property's front boundary line and the front wall of your house. You would have likely encountered this term during your search for your dream home, as it impacts which houses fit on which lots.

Knowing your front setback is important for compliance with building regulations and determining if council approval is required.

Solar panels

As part of our seven-star minimum energy efficiency requirement, your home will come with a gas-boosted solar hot water system. The location of your solar panels is shown on your site plan, ensuring optimal efficiency by placing them as close to north-facing as possible.

Windows and external glass doors to enhance natural light and aesthetics

Windows and external glass doors are crucial elements shown on your floor plan. They enhance natural light and contribute to the aesthetic appeal of your home.

The sizes and locations of your windows are shown on your internal floor plan and external elevations. Window measurement is always shown as height x width.

If the window has ‘DG’ beside it, this means it is double-glazed. If nothing is noted, this means that the window is single-glazed.

Internal doors

Your floor plan will show you the location, width and style of the door to every room. If there is an asterisk (*) beside the width of the door, this indicates the door is an increased height of 2340mm rather than the standard 2040mm door height.

Hinged vs cavity sliders 

A hinged door (opens via hinges) and a cavity slider door (opens into a wall space) will be shown on your internal floor plans. It’s important to note that with cavity sliders, you cannot have full-height wall tiling on the related wall.

Preparing your land for construction: Site works 

Your site plan includes site works required for construction, such as cut and fill, retaining walls, and batter. These are determined from your site analysis and are crucial for creating a level building platform and ensuring the stability of the structures. 

Site works: Cut vs. fill

Cut and fill refer to the process of removing or adding soil to create a level building platform (or flat surface) for your new home.

• Fill refers to soil that is added to your land. The fill area will be marked on your plan with a grass pattern. 
• Cut refers to the soil that is dug out and removed from your land. The cut area will be marked with dashed lines on your plan. 

Site works: Batter 

Batter refers to the slope created to avoid a steep edge, which can eliminate the need for retaining walls. To achieve this, the existing soil is battered at a 45-degree angle. On your plans, batter will be denoted as follows: 

• Blue = 45-degree batter line
• Yellow = Natural ground level
• Green = Excavation point               
• Red = Level building platform after cut and fill  

Site works: Retaining walls

A retaining wall is a structure that is designed to hold back soil that may otherwise fall back into the cut area of the site, or to retain the soil within the building platform. Our engineers will determine whether your site requires retaining walls based on the survey/site plans.