Scope
What each product answers — and where it stops.
There are three levels of detail. Each one answers a different question, and each one has a point past which it does not go. Both halves are stated here, before you buy, so nothing about the document is a surprise when it arrives.
- 01
Property level
What does the code and zoning say about this address, before I have a project?
What it covers
- the zoning district and the dimensional standards that actually govern it — setbacks, height, coverage, FAR
- what the district permits, and what it does not
- the adopted code editions and the local amendments that differ from the model code
- overlays, planned-development plans and special districts most people never find
- site-level facts that do not depend on a design: wildfire, hazards, and what is scheduled to change
Where it stops
It stops before anything that depends on WHAT YOU BUILD. Egress, energy compliance, structure, fire, the trades and the alteration rules are not evaluated here — they cannot be, because they follow the design.
Delivered by: Property report
- 02
Design level
I have a project in mind — what does the code require of THIS design, and what changes if I change it?
What it covers
- everything at property level, plus the domains that depend on the design
- the thresholds that turn requirements on: impervious area, disturbed area, earthwork volume, appliance input, occupant load, work area
- the trades — mechanical, plumbing, electrical, energy — with the jurisdiction's own adopted figures
- the alteration path for existing buildings, and what reconfiguring the space changes
- an architect's review of your project against all of it: a direct answer, the few risks most likely to change your cost or schedule, and your own questions answered
Where it stops
It stops before drawing-board detailing and before engineering. It will tell you a requirement applies and what turns it on; it does not size a beam, lay out a stair, or certify a design. And where a threshold depends on measuring the ground — earthwork volume, cut and fill, disturbed area — we give you the number that makes the rule fire, not the measurement. The site plan places a footprint in two dimensions; it does not model the surface. Ground quantities come from a surveyor.
Delivered by: Architect Review
- 03
Designer and AHJ level
Who signs it, and who decides the calls that are genuinely judgment?
What it covers
- the stamped design — structural sizing, mechanical sizing, the drawings themselves
- determinations that belong to the jurisdiction: how a rule is applied to your specific facts
- variances, alternates, appeals, and anything discretionary
Where it stops
Nothing here is a code or zoning determination. Where a rule is discretionary, the AHJ decides, and this tool's job is to tell you the question exists and what it turns on — early enough to be useful.
Note: No product delivers this today. It is described here so the ladder is complete, and so nobody assumes the level below reaches it.
Side by side
The free property report answers the address. The Architect Review answers the project you build on it, with an architect’s judgment.
| What you get | Snapshotno account | Property reportfree with an account | Architect-Reviewed Report$499 |
|---|---|---|---|
| About the property — true before you have a project | |||
| Zoning district, and what it permitsEvery use the district allows, conditions, and what it forbids. | Partly includedThe district itself is shown at once. What it permits is in the full report. | Included | Included |
| Setbacks, height, coverage and floor areaThe district's own figures, with the datum each is measured from. | Not included | Included | Included |
| Your buildable envelope, drawn on your lotThe county parcel boundary with the envelope drawn inside it. | Partly includedYour lot is drawn to shape at once. The envelope and setback lines are in the full report. | Included | Included |
| Adopted code editions and local amendmentsWhere this jurisdiction differs from the model code. | Partly includedThe adopted editions are shown at once. The local amendments are in the full report. | Included | Included |
| Design criteria — wind, ground snow, frost depth, seismic, climate zoneThe figures the town publishes, with the document they come from. | Included | Included | Included |
| Overlays, planned-development plans, special districtsIncluding recorded PUD plans most people never find. | Partly includedYou learn at once THAT one governs your parcel. What it says is in the full report. | Included | Included |
| Mapped soils, wildfire and hazards | Not included | Included | Included |
| What is scheduled to changeAdopted-but-not-yet-effective editions, and pending amendments. | Not included | Included | Included |
| Every figure cited to the section it came from | Not included | Included | Included |
| A PDF you keep, dated and sourced | Not included | Included | Included |
| About your project — these depend on what you build | |||
| Requirements for YOUR designEgress, energy, structure and fire, evaluated against the project you describe. | Not included | Not included | Included |
| The trades: mechanical, plumbing, electrical, energyWith this jurisdiction's own adopted figures, not the model default. | Not included | Not included | Included |
| The thresholds that turn requirements ONImpervious area, disturbed area, earthwork, occupant load, work area — the number that makes a rule fire. | Not included | Not included | Included |
| The alteration path for an existing buildingWhat changes because you are touching something already there. | Not included | Not included | Included |
| An architect's direct answer: works, works with conditions, or does notReviewed by an architect who lives and works in the Front Range, and dated. | Not included | Not included | Included |
| The few risks most likely to change your cost or schedule, rankedEach with what to do about it, plus your own questions answered. | Not included | Not included | Included |
| A 15-minute call to walk through itBy phone or video. | Not included | Not included | Included |
| None of these do this — and no review short of a design honestly can | |||
| A stamped or engineered designWe will not size a beam, lay out a stair, or certify anything. | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| A code or zoning determinationWhere a rule is discretionary, your jurisdiction decides. We tell you the question exists. | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Variances, alternates and appeals | Not included | Not included | Not included |
The property report on a real Longmont lot, and the same report on a commercial parcel, so you can see it on a building that is not a house.
Note: The site plan is drawn from the county's own parcel boundary. Where a jurisdiction publishes no boundary for a lot, the report still gives the setback, height and coverage figures — without the drawing. We tell you which you are getting before you pay, never after.
No subscription. The property report needs a free account, which keeps every property you look up so you can reopen it any time.
Why we draw the line here
A property report that tried to answer everything would be a worse document, not a better one: most of the code depends on what you are building, and evaluating it against a project that does not exist yet produces pages nobody can act on. So the report answers the property, and the architect review answers the design.
Wherever we do not hold a rule, we say so and name who does. A gap is recorded as a gap — it is never filled with a plausible number.