Interactive lesson

Building plan and permits, step by step

Interactive lesson: what the homestead needs, where each building goes, what to ask the council or county, what you may build yourself, budget, site and safety.

Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Building plan and permits module. Already bought? Unlock

This lesson is general guidance, not professional training. Local regulations and expert advice always take precedence. Read our disclaimer.

The whole lesson as text

1. What the homestead needs

Before the first sketch, write down what you need, not what looks nice.

A list before the sketch — For each building answer: what goes in it, how much of it, how often you go in and what it needs. A typical 1 ha (2.5 acre) homestead has 5–8 buildings.
A dry place first — Priority 1 is a dry place for tools and materials: without it everything else rots in the rain. A tool store is roughly 2.4 × 3 m (8 × 10 ft).
Firewood and animals — Firewood dries for a year, so the woodshed comes straight after the store. Get animals only once their housing is finished.
One roof for three — A 4 × 8 m lean-to can have a store at one end, the woodshed in the middle and machinery at the other: one foundation, one roof. Fences come fourth.

Why: In the country people build "as they go", and ten years on the buildings are in each other's way. One plan for all buildings at once, then build by priority: no building may block the way to another.

A realistic time to build up a homestead without borrowing is about 10 years.
Hen house: 1 m² per 3–4 hens. Goat or sheep house: 1.5–2 m² per animal, plus a yard.

2. Where each building goes

Where a building stands decides how many steps you take for the next thirty years.

Sun and shade — Polytunnel, hen house and woodshed in the sun. Cellar, cold store and dairy on the north side or dug into the slope.
Water and ground — Never in a hollow or in the path of runoff. Floor 15–30 cm (6–12 in) above the surrounding ground, ground level, firm and with no made-up fill.
Access and boundary — A lorry with firewood, a tractor with a trailer and a fire engine get in without manoeuvring across the garden. An outbuilding roughly at least 1–3 m from the boundary.
Well, fire, power line — Animal house and manure heap 20–30 m or more downhill of the well, hay roughly 5–10 m from the house. Local rules set the exact figures, and you never build under a power line.

Why: A building in a hollow or on made-up ground settles and cracks in the first wet autumn. Hay next to the house is a fire risk, and an animal house next to the well pollutes the water.

Before building, dig a trial pit 50 × 50 cm, 80–100 cm deep (more in the Foundations module).
Before you dig, find out where cables and pipes run: in the US call 811, in Canada use Click Before You Dig, in the UK and Ireland ask the operators.