Apartment buildings along rail ways
Development Services Center

Building Inspection Counter Appointments

Building Inspection plan review and zoning review counters will be open to the public by appointment only.

Digital Plan Submittal and Review

Our office accepts digital plans for 1 & 2 family homes. Please see the requirements below.

If you cannot meet the digital plan requirements, you can still submit two hard copies of plans. Plans must be drawn to scale. You must make an appointment to submit these plans. Schedule an appointment at the permit counter.

Requirements for digital plan submittal
  • Draft plans with CAD programs or draw by hand. Both must meet the requirements listed here.
  • Format plans as a .PDF file type.
  • Scan and convert hand-drawn plans to PDF. We cannot accept photos of plans in any form.
  • Group all building plans in one PDF. You can provide supplemental documents as separate PDFs attached to the same email. For example: REScheck reports, structural calculations, truss packets, application for review, etc.
  • Keep the site plan on its own separate page of the plans. (It can be in the same PDF as the rest of the building plans, but on a page showing only the site plan.)
  • Attach all PDFs for one project in one email. We cannot accept multiple emails per project. We cannot accept links to files in cloud storage. We can accept zipped or compressed files.
  • Preferred formatting size for plans is 11x17 inch. Max allowed formatting size is 24x36 inches.
  • Label each page of the plan set with the scale and the title or description of the page. For example, “first floor framing, ¼” = 1’,” or “north elevation, 1/8” = 1’.”
  • Draw building plans to an architectural scale such as 1/8”, ¼”, 3/16”, 3/8”, ½”, or 1”.
  • Draw site plans to either an architectural scale (above) or a landscaping scale (also called an engineering scale) such as 1:10, 1:20, 1:30, 1:40, 1:50, 1:60.
  • Provide one scale per page. Use the same scale for all drawings on any single page of the plans. (In other words, do not use two different scales on the same page. You can use different scales on different pages. For example the page showing an elevation can used a 3/16” = 1’ scale, while a different page showing a floor plan can use a ¼” = 1’ scale.)

How to submit digital plans
  • Include the property address in the email submission subject line.
  • Include all required documents in one email. We cannot accept partial submittals or multiple emails. We will let you know if a submittal is missing information. We will not save submittals with missing information. You will need to submit a new email with all the required documents in accepted formats.
  • Submittal must include the 1&2 Family Home Application for Plan Review.
  • Attach PDF of plans and supplemental documents to an email. Send email to planreview@cityofmadison.com 

Next steps
  1. Permit counter staff will check if the submittal meets the requirements.
  2. If the submittal is incomplete, we will email you. We cannot save incomplete submittals. However, you may re-submit your plans after addressing any issues.
  3. If the submittal is complete, it will go in line for review. If your project requires Zoning review, we will forward your plans to the Zoning review queue.
  4. Once a building plan reviewer reviews your plans, we will contact you by email. Once a zoning reviewer reviews your plans, you will receive an email.
    1. If we do not approve your plans, you will receive emails with a summary of items to revise. You may email revised plans directly to your plan reviewer. The revised plans must meet all digital plan submittal requirements.
  5. We will email you when the building plan reviewer approves your plans. We will email you when the zoning reviewer approves your plans.
  6. Once both reviewers approve your plans, you can pay the permit fees. We will email you about fees due and other items (such as Engineering holds, Parks impact fees, historic review, etc.). Once you pay the fees, we will issue the permit and email it to you.
  7. Woohoo! Get to work!
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