Yard Rules Tools
A generic answer can tell you what a setback is. It cannot tell you what is left to build on after yours, whether your state statute guarantees your ADU, or what three projects at once do to your coverage allowance. These four tools work from the numbers you enter and end in questions to put to your department.
ADU Feasibility Calculator
Enter your ZIP and unit size to see whether a state statute guarantees approval, what protections apply, and what is still decided locally.
Open the adu feasibility calculator →Permit Threshold Screener
Enter your project dimensions to see whether a shed, fence, deck or pool usually sits inside a permit exemption, and what ends that exemption.
Open the permit threshold screener →Setback & Coverage Visualiser
Draw your buildable envelope from your own lot dimensions and setbacks, then run the lot coverage and impervious caps on your figures.
Open the setback & coverage visualiser →Multi-Project Checklist Builder
Select every project you are planning and get one merged, deduplicated and printable checklist ordered by stage.
Open the multi-project checklist builder →For the typical standards behind each tool, see the yard rules hub, the yard rules guides, or the yard rules checker.
What these tools do that a definition cannot
Zoning rules are usually published as definitions and maximums, and that is where most homeowner confusion starts: knowing what a rear setback is does not tell you how many square feet remain buildable on your lot. These four tools work in the other direction. They take the numbers you supply — lot dimensions, structure footprint, the locally applicable figures — and return the arithmetic that actually decides what you can put where: buildable envelope, remaining coverage allowance, whether a project crosses a permit threshold, and how several projects interact when planned together rather than one at a time.
They are calculators, not determinations. None of them can tell you what your jurisdiction permits, because the applicable figure comes from a local ordinance that varies by city, county, and sometimes by neighbourhood overlay district — and that ordinance changes. What they can do is narrow the question you take to the counter: instead of asking whether you can build something, you arrive knowing your lot coverage percentage, the distance from the side property line you are proposing, and the specific section you are unsure about. That is a materially faster conversation, and it is the reason every tool ends in a printable list of questions rather than an answer.
Choosing between the four
The ADU feasibility tool suits the earliest stage, when you are testing whether an accessory dwelling is realistic on your lot at all — it combines the statutory, dimensional, and utility questions into one screen. The permit threshold screener suits the moment you know roughly what you want and need to know whether it is a permit-and-inspection project or something that does not require approval. The setback and coverage visualiser suits any project where the constraint is dimensional, which is most of them. And the multi-project checklist suits phased work — the case where a deck, a shed, and a fence planned in three separate years add up to a coverage or impervious-surface problem that none of them would trigger alone.
Where a tool needs a jurisdiction, it uses the ZIP code to identify the state and city and then shows the typical standard for that state, paired with the questions to verify locally. Typical is not binding, and a state statute that guarantees a right to build an ADU, for instance, still leaves the dimensions, setbacks, and utility connections to the local code. Read the state material as the starting position and the local department as the authority.
What none of them can settle
Four things sit outside any of these calculators. Overlay districts and special designations — historic districts, flood zones, coastal zones, hillside ordinances, and homeowner association covenants — can impose stricter rules than the base zoning and are not captured by state-level typical figures. Non-conforming status: an existing structure that predates current rules may be legally allowed to remain but restricted in how it can be altered, which changes the answer for any project touching it. Easements and utility corridors, which can make a portion of your lot unbuildable regardless of zoning. And the difference between what is allowed and what will be approved — a variance is discretionary, so a project that complies dimensionally can still be refused on other grounds.
Every calculation runs in your browser and nothing you enter is uploaded. Print the output and take it to your planning or building department, or use the state contacts directory to find the right office. If you are working through the process for the first time, the yard rules guides cover measuring setbacks, applying for a variance, and walking a permit application through to approval.
ZoneFig provides general reference information, not legal advice. Yard and zoning rules are adopted locally, so the only binding answer for your address comes from your city, town or county planning and building department. Typical thresholds shown here describe patterns across many jurisdictions and are not the rule at any specific property.