Straight answers

No. Our standard sets are unstamped, and nobody at YardSet is a licensed architect or engineer. Every sheet carries a preparer statement saying so. Where the law lets a company that is not an architect or engineer prepare plans for one- and two-family homes and their accessory buildings, and the building sits inside the residential code's prescriptive tables, the set is sold as an unstamped prescriptive set with a code compliance report.

When your site, your state or your town needs a seal, the same set is reviewed and sealed by an independent engineer or architect licensed in your state, under a separate agreement with you, at added cost. We call that the sealed upgrade.

The building official decides, in every state, and we never promise approval. What we can say: in Massachusetts, state law (M.G.L. c.112 s.60L) allows plans for one- and two-family homes and their accessory buildings to be prepared without an architect's licence, and the state building code (780 CMR, based on the 2021 International Residential Code) applies in every town. Some building departments still ask for stamped structural details; where yours does, the set is reviewed and sealed by our licensed partner.

Either way, the compliance report is written for the plan reviewer: every structural member with the code section and table it came from. One round of written responses to the reviewer's comments is included with a site-adapted set.

Then it gets one. Our gates check wind, seismic, snow, flood zone, frost, soil, slope and the building's geometry against the code's prescriptive limits before any drawing is issued. If a gate fails, or your town requires a seal, we tell you in writing which gate and why, and offer the sealed upgrade: an independent engineer or architect licensed in your state reviews and seals the set under their own agreement with you (their fee is typically about $1,000, quoted by them, plus our $500 coordination fee). If you would rather not, we refund the site-adapted set price in full.

For a deck, shed, garage or ADU in Massachusetts on a site inside the code's prescriptive limits, state law does not require one to prepare the plans, and that is the product we sell. Your building department can still ask for a stamp on specific items. For any site outside the prescriptive limits, the code itself calls for engineered design. We do not say "no engineer needed" for your project until the Fit Check has looked at your address and your town, and even then the building official can ask for more.

YardSet Plans is a small drafting and plan-preparation company founded by a structural designer who has spent his career producing residential and structural drawings. He is not a licensed engineer or architect. The drawings are generated by software we wrote, which applies the prescriptive tables of the adopted residential code, and a person checks every set before it goes out. More on the about page.

No. Nothing that sizes a footing, header, joist, rafter or braced-wall panel is left to a language model. Those values come from the code's prescriptive tables through tested, deterministic rules, and every one is traceable to its table in the compliance report. The software never fills in a missing fact: an unknown soil or an unusual condition is flagged or routed to the licensed-review lane. A person reviews every set.

Cover sheet with the 3-D view and project data; general notes and design criteria (including your town's wind, snow, frost and seismic values on a site-adapted set); site plan (site-adapted sets); foundation plan; floor plan(s) with framing and braced-wall panels; roof plan and framing; exterior elevations; building and wall sections; schedules and wall types; structural details; and, for habitable buildings, an electrical and life-safety plan. Nine to eleven sheets at 24 x 36, as PDF, with the DXF on the CAD tier, plus the code compliance report as PDF.

A document generated from the same data as the drawings. It lists the design criteria used, every gate and its result, and every structural member with the code section and table it was selected from (for example a rafter from Table R802.4.1, a header from Table R602.7, a footing from Table R403.1). It is written so a plan reviewer can check our work line by line without rebuilding it.

PDF is the stock plan as drawn for the catalog design envelope, a design document for one build. CAD + PDF adds the DXF so your local designer can edit it. Site-adapted is the real permit product: we re-run the plan for your address with your town's adopted code edition and published criteria, draw the site plan from your survey, and write the compliance report for your reviewer, with one round of plan-review responses included. A PDF or CAD purchase is credited toward the site-adapted tier of the same plan within 90 days.

The set of conditions every stock plan is drawn for: ground snow up to 50 psf, wind up to 130 mph in suburban exposure, seismic design category A to C, frost depth up to 48 inches, climate zone 5A insulation, 1,500 psf soil, outside flood zones, under the 2021 International Residential Code as published. If your site is more severe on any count, or your town has adopted a different edition or amendments, the stock plan does not fit as drawn and needs the site-adapted tier or a local professional's adaptation.

Small changes within the building families and the prescriptive limits (door and window moves, a different door size, mirroring, a deeper garage) are handled on the site-adapted tier or as a custom site-adapted set. Anything that leaves the tables (a 9 ft garage door header, a wide open span, a flat roof) goes to the licensed-review lane. You may also have the CAD file edited by your own designer; edited drawings carry no YardSet responsibility and stay under the single-build licence.

For a site-adapted set we draw the site plan from the survey, certified plot plan or other site information you give us. Many towns want a certified plot plan to verify setbacks; a site plan drawn from an uncertified sketch is marked as such and may not be accepted for that purpose. We do not survey, measure or visit the site.

You do, as owner of record, or your builder does with your authority. You pay the town's fees, answer its administrative questions and arrange inspections. We do not file applications or act as your agent. Forward the plan reviewer's comment letter to us and we write the responses and revise the drawings where needed, through you.

We do not publish a turnaround time yet, because we have not run enough real sets to state one honestly. The terms give a target measured from a complete intake, clearly marked as an estimate, and exclude the town's review time and the licensed partner's time. When the first sets are through plan review we will publish what we actually measured.

Site-adapted sets: full refund of the set price if our gate check finds your site cannot use the prescriptive lane and you decline the sealed upgrade, or if we find after payment that we cannot serve your address. Cancellations before and during the work are refunded less stated charges; no refund after delivery. A permit rejection alone is not a refund reason, but our included response round applies and revisions caused by our error are free. Catalog downloads are final once downloaded; defective files are replaced. Details on the refund policy page.

Massachusetts, statewide; flood-zone lots go to licensed review. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and New York are next. Everywhere else is waitlist only, and in states that require a seal on every set we offer licensed-review sets by request. The map has every state's status.

Not yet. Before the first paid set in each state we want a licensing attorney's written opinion and a few pilot sets through real plan reviews. The waitlist tells us where demand is and lets us research your town first. When your state opens we email you, and the Fit Check and feasibility report run ahead of any order.

Yes. The builder plan keeps your repeat designs as models and adapts them per lot for a flat per-lot fee, each with its own compliance report and one review round. Tell us about your lots on the contact page.

We can tell you what your town's published zoning rules say about the building you want, as we read them on a stated date, in the feasibility report. We cannot give a zoning determination, legal advice, or a promise. Only your zoning officer can say yes or no for your parcel, and some towns require a zoning permit before the building permit.

Our sets show rafter-framed roofs from the tables, or reference a truss package where you prefer trusses (the manufacturer supplies sealed truss drawings). The electrical and life-safety plan shows what the permit drawings need (outlets, lighting, alarms, egress); mechanical, electrical, plumbing and energy-rating work is designed, sized and permitted by the trades.

No. Every tier is a single-build licence for one building at one address. Sharing, posting or reselling the files, or building a second structure from them, is outside the licence. Builders who want repeat builds use the builder plan or buy an extra build licence. The plan licence has the details.