Site Planning

Strategic Property Layout

Every Chicago lot has a story written in setback requirements, utility easements, drainage patterns, and zoning restrictions. Ignoring this story leads to denied permits, flooded basements, and neighbor disputes. Before designing structures, understanding how your property works—where water flows, what lines cross underground, how far from boundaries you can build—determines what's possible. For new construction, additions, and major outdoor improvements, site planning transforms constraints into design opportunities.

We analyze your property systematically: reviewing surveys and plat maps, identifying easements and right-of-ways, documenting existing drainage patterns, and locating underground utilities. This groundwork prevents the excavation surprise of hitting an unmarked gas line or the permit rejection from building over a utility easement. Grading plans ensure water flows away from structures while meeting stormwater management requirements that Chicago enforces strictly.

For rooftop projects, site planning extends vertically—understanding roof slopes, drainage directions, and access paths from ground level to roof height. Whether coordinating with surveyors on boundary verification or engineers on load paths, our site documentation creates the reliable foundation that makes subsequent design work efficient and permitting straightforward.