Two minutes from now you have all three, as one PDF you can print or email to your building department.
Scaled plot plan
Top-down drawing of your lot with the fence, every side dimensioned, posts and gates marked, and a stated scale a reviewer can measure with an engineer's scale.
Fence elevation
The side view permit offices ask for — height, panel layout, and every gate drawn at its real width.
Ordinance checklist
For supported cities, each fence rule checked against your plan, with a pass / fail / verify mark and a signature block.
- Will my building department actually accept this?
- Almost every US building department accepts an owner-drawn plot plan as long as it's to scale, dimensioned, and shows the fence relative to your property lines — which is exactly what Fence Plotter produces. Of the 58 cities whose fence codes are encoded on this site, exactly one asks for a land survey with the application. Surveyors price per lot rather than from a rate card, so there is no honest average to quote — if your city is the one that demands a stamped survey, ring two local firms for a real number.
- My city's form says “site plan” — is that the same as a plot plan?
- For a fence application, yes. Building departments use both names for the same drawing: a to-scale, dimensioned overhead view of your lot showing the property lines, the house and other existing structures, and what you propose to build. That is what Fence Plotter prints, with a stated scale and a north arrow so a reviewer can measure it straight off the page. The one thing that is genuinely a different document is a surveyed or stamped site plan — that has to be prepared and sealed by a licensed surveyor, and no drawing tool can produce one.
- Are the lot lines real, or estimated?
- For supported cities the property outline is the actual parcel polygon from the county GIS, not a guess. That's accurate enough for a fence permit but it is not a legal survey — if a foot matters at a boundary dispute, hire a licensed surveyor. Everywhere else you trace your lot from the aerial image yourself.
- What if my city isn't on the list?
- The tool still works. You get the same scaled plot plan and elevation for any US address — you just trace your lot lines from the aerial photo instead of having them loaded for you. Supported cities additionally get real parcel lines, the local ordinance checklist, and in some cases the city's own permit form filled in.
- Is it free, and do I have to sign up?
- Free, and there's no account. The fence you draw is saved in your own browser, and the only things that take it off your device are ones you ask for: a share link, or asking us to post you a printed packet, which sends us that same link — it carries the drawing and the owner name, phone and property address you typed, though never the PDF itself. Your address is the exception: it goes to a geocoding service (Nominatim or Mapbox) in the web address of the request, so that company logs it. It also goes to our own parcel lookup — but in the body of the request rather than the URL, so what our host writes down for that call is your IP address and a timestamp, without the address in it. We also count pageviews ourselves rather than through an analytics company: opening a page sends which page you opened and which page you came from to factscore.mrcto.ai, another site we run, along with a random marker we keep in your browser so a repeat visit counts as one person. A few moments in the tool are counted the same way: when your permit packet PDF finishes generating we send which city you picked and whether county lot lines were found; when a lot is located, a fence is finished, the download menu is opened, a packet is asked for or the print dialog is opened we send the name of that step; and when you download the city permit form or the neighbour consent letter we send which of the two it was. Never your address, your name, the fence you drew, the parcel number or any of the PDFs. Full detail is on our privacy page.
- Do I still need a permit?
- Yes. Fence Plotter prepares the drawings your application asks for; it doesn't file anything for you or approve anything. Always confirm height, setback, and material rules with your building department before you build.