Site Assessment and Planning
The Site Assessment and Planning domain tests your ability to gather site facts before anything is designed or built: reading drawing sets and survey information, measuring slope and drainage, identifying microclimates, checking bylaws and setbacks, inventorying existing trees, and turning a client's wish list into a program, budget and phased plan.
Reading the drawing set
- Check every sheet for scale, north arrow, legend, benchmark and contour interval. A bar scale survives photocopying; a stated ratio often does not.
- Spot elevations give exact points; contours show shape. Tightly spaced contours mean steep ground, and contours forming a V that points uphill follow a drainage swale.
- Calculate slope as rise ÷ run × 100. Report a percentage and state the direction of fall.
Site inventory
- Climate and microclimate: hardiness zone, frost-free period, prevailing winter wind, heat reflected off south and west walls, low frost pockets, road salt spray.
- Water: where it enters, where it ponds, seasonal high water table, downspout outlets, neighbouring grading, and any infiltration or retention requirement.
- Soils (texture, depth, compaction, pH), existing vegetation to keep, remove or transplant, utilities and easements, well and septic clearances, overhead lines, and equipment access.
- Client program: use, number of users, maintenance tolerance, budget, timeline and phasing.
Regulation and protection
- Confirm zoning setbacks, lot coverage, fence height limits, permits for decks, retaining walls and grading, and any tree bylaw before committing to a layout.
- Establish a Tree Protection Zone before demolition. A common arboriculture guide is 30 cm of protected radius per 2.5 cm of trunk diameter, but the municipal bylaw governs.
Worked example
Two spot elevations on a proposed patio read 24.10 m and 23.65 m over a 15 m run, falling away from the house. Slope = 0.45 ÷ 15 × 100 = 3.0%. That satisfies the usual 1.5-2% minimum for surface drainage, so the patio can follow existing grade; the outlet still has to be checked so water does not discharge onto the neighbour.
Traps that cost marks
Trusting a stated drawing scale after printing; reporting slope as an angle; judging a whole property from one soil sample; assuming the fence line is the property line.