tools to help you on your ADU and new house journey

Architect Design Tips: Selecting the Right Lot/Site

No matter where you have decided to build your forever home, making sure that your lot/site is suitable is the starting point on your design-build journey. If you get this wrong, then everything that follows will be a disappointment or worse, a disaster. In urban areas, the decision is particularly difficult whether your lot is vacant, or you are considering a teardown. While things may be easier in a more rural setting, understanding the size and orientation of the lot is still extremely important and it’s not as easy as just having the measurements.

Recognising the seriousness of this problem is something that Opoplan, as an automated virtual architect system, should be able to help solve, or at the very least make it easier for self-builders. As a team, we know how difficult it is to have to make some very important decisions by yourself, often without any real professional assistance. So, we have turned part of our system into a Free Lot Check service where you can map your lot/site and Opoplan will instantly tell you what size house will fit on that parcel of land, taking setbacks and boundaries into account, even if there is already an existing building. Opoplan will also tell you if the lot is too narrow or not deep enough to fit an average size house.

Taking things a step further in your lot selection process as part of your design brief, Opoplan examines the proposed lot, looking at slope, access route, boundaries, view, sunrise and sunset as well as the nearest building and orients the house to optimise the positioning of your new home. Even if you don’t want or like the houseplan that Opoplan produces for you, registering for free on the website will give you access to this data and it also takes the size of your proposed house into account.

Using the Opoplan system as part of your design-build project is a no brainer because we want to help as much as we can and that’s why we give so much information for free.

Try LotCheck now or start a Design Brief to see how Opoplan can help. Only Opoplan has the technology.

The Opoplan suite of technology products has been created to improve the pre-build design and planning process for professionals and consumers, in the single family homes market.

Meet LotTech™

Manage new enquiries quickly and decisively with LotTech™ from Opoplan – the smart lot analysis tool for Builders, Real Estate Brokers and House Designers.

Sign up to our newletter