Site development plan for a house in the Philippines: what it shows and what it is checked against
What a site development plan for a house must show under the building permit rules, the lot rules it is checked against, and who may sign it.
A site development plan is the drawing of the house sitting on its lot, seen from above. It is the sheet a building office reads to decide whether the house fits the lot under the rules, so most of the questions about a permit application end up on it. Our permit and documentation assistance service draws it as part of the architectural set.
The term also turns up in school lessons and in plans for whole subdivisions or campuses. This page is about the sheet that goes into a building permit application for a house.
What the rules ask it to show
Section 302 of the 2004 implementing rules of the National Building Code (PD 1096) lists the documents a building permit needs. The site development plan is the second architectural sheet, after the vicinity map, and it shows:
- The technical description of the lot, the boundaries as the title describes them.
- The boundaries and the orientation, so north on this sheet is north on every other.
- The position of the proposed building in relation to the lot.
- The existing or proposed access road and driveways.
- Existing public utilities and services, such as the water line, power and drainage the house will connect to.
- Existing buildings within the lot and on the lots next to it, hatched, with the distances between them and the new building marked.
Only a registered and licensed architect may prepare, sign and seal it. The Supreme Court settled that on 15 March 2023, in DPWH v. Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, when it reinstated Section 302(3) and (4) of the 2004 rules.
What the office checks it against
The rule says what the sheet shows. These are the rules the house on it has to meet. Each is from a law text already read for this site’s other guides.
| Check | The figure | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| How much of the lot the house may cover | 80 percent on an inside lot, 90 percent on a corner lot | PD 1096 Section 708(a) |
| Distance from the property line | at least 2 m | PD 1096 Section 708(a), subject to the Civil Code on light and view |
| A wall with windows facing the neighbour | 2.00 m from the line for a direct view, 0.60 m for a side view | Civil Code Article 670 |
| A strip along a river, creek, lake or the sea | 3 m in urban areas, 20 m in agricultural areas, 40 m in forest areas, with no structure on it | Water Code Article 51 |
| The septic tank | at least 25 m from a well, spring or cistern, and never under the house | PD 856 rules, Section 4.1.6 |
| In a BP 220 housing project | yards of 1.5 m in front, 1.5 m at the side and 2.0 m at the rear | 2008 BP 220 rules, Section 5.C.5 |
Section 708(a) says “the property line” without saying which one, and whether a side may be built closer, for example behind a firewall, is a question for the implementing rules and the building official. Your city or municipality’s zoning ordinance can set its own setbacks on top of all this; the CLUP guide explains where those come from.
The lot coverage calculator runs the first three checks on your own lot. The easements guide covers the distances to neighbours in full, and the septic tank guide covers where the tank and the leaching field may go.
What a good site plan settles early
The site plan is where the expensive decisions are made, because moving a house on paper costs nothing and moving it after the footings are poured costs a great deal.
- Which way the house faces. The afternoon sun and the prevailing breeze decide where the living areas and bedrooms go. The climate guide covers this.
- Where the car goes, and how it gets in. The driveway, the gate and the carport take a large share of a small lot.
- Where the water goes. The septic tank needs to be reachable by the desludging truck, and rain has to drain away from the house and not onto the neighbour’s lot.
- What is left open. The open part of the lot is where the light and air for the rooms come from, and on a small lot it is easy to cover it with a kitchen extension later.
How it differs from the other plans
| Sheet | What it answers | Who signs |
|---|---|---|
| Vicinity map | Where is the lot, in the town? | Architect |
| Site development plan | Where is the house, on the lot? | Architect |
| Lot survey plan | Where exactly are the lot’s boundaries? | Geodetic engineer |
| Floor plans | What is inside the house? | Architect |
A site plan is only as good as the lot survey under it. If the boundaries on the title, the survey and the fence on the ground do not agree, sort that out first; the guide to reading a land title explains what the title can tell you. The guide to reading a house plan covers every sheet in the set.
A subdivision site development plan is a different document
A developer laying out a subdivision also prepares a site development plan, for the whole project, and builds to the approved plans under PD 957 or BP 220. That is the work of our subdivision and housing development planning service. A family building one house on one lot needs the sheet described above.
Getting the site plan right
Our permit and documentation assistance service draws the site development plan against your title and survey, checks it against the rules above and your town’s zoning, and files it with the rest of the set. If you are still deciding on the house itself, custom house design starts from the site plan.
More guides
- Why a 3D walkthrough is worth doingWhat a virtual walkthrough shows that a floor plan cannot, and why changing a wall in a model costs nothing while changing it on site costs a great deal.
- 50 sqm house design in the Philippines: what fits on the floor and on the lotHow big 50 sqm is (5 m by 10 m), what a 50 sqm house holds, a 50 sqm lot under the lot coverage and BP 220 rules, and when to build up on a 100 sqm lot.
- How architect fees work in the PhilippinesThe four ways architects in the Philippines charge, what each one suits, what moves the number, and which costs are the architect's fee and which are the build.