Is Your Site Buildable?

The term buildable means different things to different people when searching for a site to build their own home. Depending on who you talk to, buildable might simply refer to a particular lot being zoned for residential construction. In this case your home might be buildable only in a legal sense.

Other people might refer to a site as buildable in a more practical way. If a site has loamy soil, a high water table, or too steep of a slope it my be deemed “not very buildable” or even “unbuildable” regardless of whether or not it’s legal to build there. Further, if the person you’re speaking to is a builder, contractor, or other type of professional construction engineer, a buildable site likely refers to one that ready to build on immediately. What that means is that the site is geologically sound with a good base and acceptable slope as well as being legally buildable. Usually, this means that all the permits and requirements have been taken care of to the point where the building can literally begin immediately.

Some legal concerns for you to consider before building can go forward are easements, zoning, liens, and covenants.

Easements are usually right-of-ways, parts of the land set aside before you’ve purchased the land, that are to be used by another party (usually the state). Zoning must be in accord with your building plans, take a look at your local zoning laws.
A lien is the right to retain lawful possession of property until the owner fulfills some kind of legal duty to the person holding the property.
Finally, covenants are certain conditions and restrictions agreed upon by homeowners to govern the ways in which homes can be built in a particular area. For your site and home to be buildable, they both must be in compliance with the four, above-mentioned legal restrictions.

There are a few other concerns that ought to be considered also. If you’re not building in an established residential area, then you should look into environmental factors. Is your site encroaching on a protected sanctuary or wetlands area? If you are building in an established neighborhood, then you may have to consider local restrictions governing what might be considered a historical neighborhood.

Once you’ve looked into each of these, you are ready to go to the local planning department (contactable through the local yellow pages) to have them assess if, in fact, your site is buildable. If it isn’t, they’ll be able to tell you what you must do to make your site legally and physically buildable.