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Practical projectsFree AutoCAD course about 150 min

Project 4: Site plan

Draw a residential site plan: plot the boundary from survey bearings and distances, place the house with setbacks, add the driveway, levels and a north point, and present it at 1:200.

By the end of this project you will

  • Draw a boundary from bearings and distances
  • Place a building with setbacks and check them
  • Add site features, levels and a north point
  • Present the site at 1:200

Project brief

Objective

Produce a 1:200 site plan showing the boundary, building footprint, setbacks, driveway, key levels and north point.

Skills you need

The brief

A residential lot fronting a street to the south. The boundary is given as a closed traverse:

  • Front: 18.00 m along the street (due East).
  • East side: 38.00 m (due North).
  • Rear: 18.40 m heading back west, 1° north of due West (an angle of 179° in AutoCAD).
  • West side: closes back to the start.

Place the house from Project 2 with at least 6.0 m front setback, 1.0 m side setbacks and 6.0 m rear setback (check your local planning rules — they vary). Add a 3.0 m wide driveway to a garage, paths, and a 2.4 m wide crossover to the kerb.

A rectangular site boundary with a house footprint inside it, setback distances to each boundary, a driveway to the street, a north arrow and the street name along the bottom.HOUSEdrive300025006000EXAMPLE STREETNnorth
Figure: A simple site plan. Original KitWren diagram.

Step 1 — Units and the boundary

  1. 1Site plans are often drawn in metres; this project uses millimetres so you can reference the house directly. Set up as usual.
  2. 2Draw the boundary as a polyline with polar coordinates: 0,0, @18000<0, @38000<90, then @18400<179… and close with C.
  3. 3Check the closing side (about 38.3 m) and the area (about 694 m²).
  4. 4Give the boundary a Property boundary linetype (chain line) on layer C-PROP.

Surveyors give bearings (from North, clockwise). AutoCAD's default angles run from East, counter-clockwise. Convert bearings — or set UNITS to Surveyor's units — before drawing real surveys.

Step 2 — Setbacks and the building

  1. 1Offset the front boundary 6000 inward and the sides 1000 on a temporary no-plot layer to show the building envelope.
  2. 2Xref or insert the house plan's external outline; move and rotate it into position inside the envelope.
  3. 3Dimension the setbacks from the building to each boundary.

Step 3 — Site features

  1. 1Draw the driveway and paths; hatch them (concrete).
  2. 2Draw the kerb line and crossover in the street.
  3. 3Add finished floor level (FFL) and a few ground levels as text, e.g. FFL 25.450.
  4. 4Insert a north point and a street name label.

Step 4 — Sheet

  1. 1Create an A3 layout, viewport at 1:200, locked.
  2. 2Add the lot area and site coverage (building area ÷ lot area) in a note.
  3. 3Plot to PDF and check scale with a known boundary length.

Your task

Check compliance

  1. Calculate site coverage as a percentage.
  2. Move the house 500 closer to the street and see which setback fails.
  3. Convert the lot area into square feet and acres with KitWren's area converter.

You should end up with: A compliant site plan and its key numbers.

Completion checklist

0 of 6 checked · saved on this device

Project quiz

1 / 4

A surveyor's bearing is measured from…

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