Read the lot before anyone draws it.
These are the public maps and records we open first when someone sends us an address. Between them they will tell you a parcel's flood zone, its design wind speed, what the soil will take, which ordinance governs it and which office permits it. Every one of them is free, and every one is the source a surveyor, an engineer or a plans reviewer would cite.
- The site analysis
- Orientation and exposure
- Sun path, prevailing wind, and the direction weather actually arrives from.
- Flood zone and elevation
- Zone, base flood elevation, and the freeboard the local ordinance adds.
- Wind exposure category
- The design wind speed and the exposure category the structure answers to.
- What the lot allows
- Setbacks, utilities, drainage, and any regulatory or historic overlay.
Parcel boundaries and deeds
A lot needs a boundary, an acreage, a deed and a plat before it needs anything else. These tools give you the parcel the way the county records it, and the documents underneath that record.
County parcel viewer
Boundary, acreage, parcel number, owner of record, zoning and the tax record behind it.
Use it for Confirming what you are actually buying.MapRegister of Deeds
Recorded deeds, plats, easements, restrictive covenants and the chain of title for a parcel.
Use it for Reading the easements and covenants.LookupGeneral resources
Flood zone and base elevation
Flood zone, base flood elevation and the freeboard a local ordinance adds set the height of the ground floor, the stairs, the parking and how the house meets the ground. These tools show you the mapped answer for a specific parcel.
Design wind speed and code
Design wind speed and exposure category drive the structure, the openings and every attachment detail. These tools give you the mapped wind speed for the coordinates and the code text that applies to them.
Why a coastal house answers to a different structural standard is the subject of Built to the Physics of the Coast.
CAMA setbacks and wetlands
A lot inside an Area of Environmental Concern answers to CAMA as well as to the town. These tools show the shoreline setbacks, the annual erosion rate and the wetlands on or beside a parcel.
Septic suitability and water service
Public water and sewer, or a well and a septic field. These tools tell you which one a parcel has, and what the ground under it will take.
Environmental health and septic
Who evaluates the soil, what an improvement permit costs and how long the queue runs.
Use it for Starting the septic evaluation.PortalWater and sewer service
Whether public water and sewer reach the parcel, and which authority owns the line.
Use it for Checking for a tap at the street.MapGeneral resources
Sun path and site elevation
Orientation, shade, prevailing wind and grade shape massing long before a floor plan exists. These tools let you read all four from a desk.
Zoning setbacks and permits
Setbacks, height, coverage, tree protection and permitted uses come from one ordinance, and one office applies it. These tools tell you which ordinance and which office, for the parcel in front of you.
County development ordinance
Zoning districts, setbacks, height, lot coverage, tree protection and the permitted use table.
Use it for Reading the setbacks that bind the lot.DocumentPermits and inspections
Who reviews the drawings, who inspects the framing, what a permit costs and how to file it.
Use it for Finding the office that permits the house.PortalGeneral resources
Three counties, three ordinances. Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender each publish their own, and the towns inside them publish their own on top of it.
Evacuation zones and road projects
Road projects, evacuation zones, historic listings and protected habitat all reach a parcel from outside the zoning map. These tools show what is already on record.
Coastal insurance rates and standards
Flood zone, design wind speed and construction standard all reappear in what a coastal home costs to insure. These tools cover the standards and the market a coastal policy comes from.
Ordinances change. The parcel decides.
Map panels get revised, ordinances get amended, and a portal can lag the record it draws from. The current adopted code and the parcel itself decide what can be built. Where a public map and the office that issues the permit disagree, the office is the one to call. Every link on this page leaves this site.
Tell us about the lot you are looking at.
Send the address or the parcel number and what you hope to build there. The site analysis starts from the same public record you have been reading, then adds the walk, the survey and the offices that decide. You keep that document whether or not we build the house.
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