What a Permit-Ready Plan Set Includes: Sheet-by-Sheet Checklist

A permit-ready plan set is a group of drawings and documents that lets a plan reviewer confirm your project meets the adopted codes, and lets a contractor and inspector build and check it. Missing sheets are the most common reason a submittal is returned before review even starts. Use this checklist to see what a typical residential set contains.

The sheets, in the usual order

1. Cover sheet

Project address and parcel number, owner and designer contact details, scope of work, the code editions used, a sheet index, and key data such as building area, occupancy and construction type. Reviewers read this first, so errors here set the tone for everything else.

2. Site plan

Property lines with dimensions, existing and proposed structures, setbacks, easements, driveways, utilities and drainage direction. Larger site work may need a separate grading plan. See site plans for permits.

3. Demolition plan (alterations only)

What is being removed, especially walls, beams and openings, so the reviewer can follow what changes structurally.

4. Floor plans

Dimensioned plans for each level with room names, door and window sizes, stairs, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and emergency escape openings.

5. Elevations

All exterior sides showing heights, finishes, roof pitch and grade lines.

6. Building and wall sections

Cuts through the building showing floor-to-floor heights, insulation, roof and wall assemblies and how the structure stacks.

7. Foundation plan

Footing sizes and depths, slab or crawlspace details, anchor bolts, hold-down locations and reinforcement.

8. Framing plans

Floor and roof framing with joist and rafter sizes, beam and header sizes, post locations, shear walls and bearing lines.

9. Structural notes and details

Design loads, material grades, connection details, nailing and fastener schedules. Where the design goes beyond the code’s prescriptive tables, these sheets are sealed by a licensed engineer. See structural engineering.

10. Calculations

The engineer’s calculation package for beams, footings, lateral bracing and anything else designed by analysis.

11. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing

For small residential jobs this may be notes on the floor plans. Larger projects need panel schedules, load calculations, plumbing risers and HVAC layouts. See MEP engineering.

12. Energy compliance

The form or report showing insulation, windows and equipment meet the adopted energy code.

13. Deferred submittals

Items designed later by a supplier, such as roof trusses, are listed as deferred, with the truss drawings submitted before framing inspection.

Format rules that get sets bounced

• Drawings not to scale, or no scale noted
• Text too small to read when printed at the required sheet size
• Missing or invalid digital seals and signatures where seals are required
• PDFs that are locked, scanned at low resolution or uploaded as separate pages when the portal wants one file
• Sheets that contradict each other, such as a beam size on the framing plan that differs from the calculations

How Residential PE helps

We prepare the engineered sheets and calculations, check them against your jurisdiction’s checklist and format rules, and answer the plan reviewer’s comments until the permit is approved. If you already have drawings, our review and stamp service checks and seals them.

Common questions