Can I draw my own plans for a building permit?

The building code doesn’t require a professional for every set of plans. The International Residential Code, the model code most states adopt, says the drawings must be prepared by a registered design professional where state law requires it, and lets the building official ask for one when special conditions exist.

So the real answer comes from two places:

• State licensing laws. Each state’s architecture and engineering laws say which buildings need a licensed professional, and which ones anyone may design. The exemptions are usually written around small, conventional residential buildings.
• Your building department. It applies those laws, adds its own submittal rules, and can ask for professional work when something about your project calls for it.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your state’s rules and your building department are the final word.

For a conventional single-family home or a garage, often not. Two examples show how states draw the line:

• California’s architecture law lets anyone prepare plans for wood-frame single-family homes of up to two stories and a basement, garages and other structures that go with them, and wood-frame agricultural buildings, unless the building official sees an undue risk. If part of an exempt building goes beyond conventional framing requirements, that part must be designed and stamped by a licensed architect or engineer.
• Florida’s architecture law doesn’t require an architect for one- and two-family homes, their outbuildings, or farm buildings for a farmer’s use. Most other buildings are exempt only below a cost limit.

Other states draw the line differently, for example by building size, number of units, use or cost. And an exemption from the architecture law isn’t an exemption from engineering. Your design can be yours and still need an engineer for one part of it.

You’ll likely need a licensed professional for some or all of the work when:

• The building is larger, has more units, or isn’t residential
• Part of the structure goes beyond the code’s standard span and framing tables
• You’re in a high wind, snow or seismic area
• You need a retaining wall, an engineered foundation or a large beam
• Your state’s law or your building department says so

For the details, see when you need an engineer’s stamp.

Once you’re allowed to draw them, what matters is whether a reviewer can check them. The model code asks for drawings clear enough to show the location, nature and extent of the work, and to show in detail that it meets the code. In practice, that means:

• Drawn to scale, with the scale noted on each drawing, and a north arrow on plans
• Fully dimensioned, so nobody has to measure the paper
• Legible at the printed size, including scans and PDFs
• A complete sheet list: usually a site plan, floor plans, elevations, a section and a foundation plan, plus framing, electrical and energy information where needed
• Consistent sheets, so a window on the floor plan also shows on the elevation
• A title block with the address, owner, sheet title, number and date

Some departments accept neat hand drawings for small projects. Others want drafted sheets on a set paper size. For the full list of sheets and what each shows, use the building permit drawings checklist.

People use these terms loosely, and the code itself calls the drawings you submit “construction documents.” The useful difference is who the drawings are for:

For a simple owner-built project, one well-drawn set often does both jobs. Keep the approved set on site for inspections.

“Owner-builder” is about who acts as the contractor, not who draws the plans. Many states let you pull permits and build on your own property without a contractor’s license, with conditions. Common ones:

• The building is for your own use, not built to sell or rent right away
• You sign an affidavit or disclosure saying you understand your responsibilities
• You supervise the work yourself, and some places require licensed contractors for certain trades

Florida, for example, has you personally sign the permit application and gives you a disclosure statement explaining the owner-builder exemption. Selling, leasing or offering it for sale within a year of completion can be treated as evidence you built it to sell.

You can be an owner-builder and still hire a designer, or draw your own plans and hire a contractor. Ask your building department what it requires of owner-builders.

1. Call your building department first. Ask whether you may prepare the plans, which code edition applies, and which parts need a licensed professional.
2. Get their submittal checklist. Note the sheets, paper size and whether they want PDFs or paper.
3. Measure and gather site information. Your survey or plat, setbacks, easements, and design values like wind speed, snow load and frost depth.
4. Draw the site plan and floor plan first. Everything else builds on them.
5. Add elevations, a section and the foundation. Then framing, electrical and energy notes as needed.
6. Bring in a professional where needed, and put their sizes and details into your set.
7. Check every sheet for scale, dimensions and consistency, then print a test copy at full size.
8. Submit, and answer comments one at a time. Revision rounds are normal.

AI CAD PRO is a free Windows app for owner-builder house plans and smaller projects. Describe what you’re building, and its AI assistant, Astra, which runs on your own ChatGPT subscription, helps you draw editable walls, rooms, doors, windows, dimensions and notes on real sheets: site plan, floor plan, electrical plan, elevations and sections, with a title block and sheet index. Attach your survey or your department’s submittal checklist as a reference. Print preview matches the exported PDF on Letter, Tabloid or Arch D paper.

It has drafting checks, but it doesn’t check code compliance, do structural engineering or stamp anything. Where a licensed professional is required, you still need one.