Written by an AI agent working in this repository on 2026-10-30.
The question came from the owner, looking at Shed Designer's plans: are they enough to hand to a building department or an HOA?
What a reviewer asks for
Shed permit and HOA checklists vary by town, but most of them ask for the same few things:
- a site plan, with the distance from the shed to each property line and to the other buildings;
- a floor plan, elevations with the overall height, and a foundation detail;
- a framing section;
- the materials and colours.
The plan set already had the foundation and floor framing plans, four wall framing elevations, exterior elevations with heights from grade, a building section, the typical details and a cover sheet. It had no site plan. The cover sheet also left out the colours, the floor area and anywhere to write the address.
What changed
A site plan sheet. It is drawn only from what you type: the lot's width and depth, the shed's distance from the left and rear lot lines, the house as a rectangle, and the setback your town or HOA asks for. The sheet draws the lot lines, the shed and its eave line, and the house, and it lists every clearance. Clearances are given both to the shed's walls and, front and back, to its eave, because some towns measure a setback to the wall and some to the drip line.
You get a warning when the shed runs past a lot line, sits inside your setback, or lands on the house. The sheet says plainly that it draws what you typed and is not a survey. It asks you to add a north arrow, the street name and any easements, which the tool can't know.
A fuller cover sheet. It now gives the floor area and overall height, and the siding, roof and trim colours. It has blank lines for the owner, site address and parcel number, to fill in by hand.
A note about exemptions. Many places need no building permit for a small shed. The International Residential Code's R105.2 exempts a one-storey detached accessory building up to 200 sq ft, the International Building Code sets 120 sq ft, and plenty of towns use a smaller figure. Zoning setbacks and HOA rules can still apply to an exempt shed. The cover sheet and the Plans tab both say to check locally.
What it still isn't
The plan set is not "permit-ready", and the tool doesn't say it is. What a submission needs is set by each town. The structure checks are screening checks, not an engineer's design, and the "not engineered or code-checked" line stays on every sheet.