Make a floor plan of your existing house, without drawing it
Rules as published in TNCDBR 2019, Rule 35(1)(a) (non-high-rise residential, CMA) · Last reviewed
Give the outside size of your house in feet and Plot2Plan shows it as one box. You then split it into rooms one wall at a time and name each part. No drawing, no upload, about a minute for a small house. The result is an ordinary editable plan: change it in plain words, see it in 3D, and check it against today's building rules. Free during the beta.
Most people cannot draw the house they live in. They do know it, though: the hall is in front, the bedroom is behind it on the left, the kitchen and toilet are on the right. This way in asks for exactly that, in feet, and never hands you a blank sheet.
How it works
- Give the size. Width along the road and length from front to back, in feet. A rough size is fine.
- Add a wall. Choose left | right or back / front, and slide the wall until both parts read the right number of feet.
- Name the part. Hall, Bedroom, Kitchen, Toilet, Pooja, Sit-out, Stairs, Store.
- Fix anything. Make a room bigger or smaller by moving its wall, or remove a wall to join two rooms.
- Repeat, then open the plan. Doors and windows are placed for you as a first guess; move any that are wrong.
Four ways to copy a house you already have
- Split it into rooms yourself. This page. The sizes are the ones you type, so it is the exact way.
- Draw it with your finger. Sketch the walls roughly on the screen and tap to name each room. It is read the same way as a photographed sketch, so you get a rough plan to fix.
- From a floor plan on paper. Photograph the drawing, a printed sheet or a rough sketch in pen, and it is read into an editable plan. The result is an approximation that lists what it assumed.
- From a video or photos. Walk through the house with your phone. You get a rough plan to fix; the video itself never leaves your browser.
Not sure which? If you know roughly how big each room is, split it yourself. If you only have paper, photograph it.
Why put your current house on screen?
- Planning one more floor or an extension. Start from the house as it stands instead of from an empty plot.
- Renovating. Try moving the kitchen or adding a bedroom, and see it in 3D before anyone lifts a hammer.
- Talking to a builder or an architect. A plan with sizes on it is a better starting point than a description.
- Knowing where you stand. See how the house compares with what today's setback and FSI rules allow on your plot.
What it will not do
- It does not measure. The plan is as accurate as the sizes you give.
- It does not certify. A plan made here is not an approved drawing and says nothing about whether an existing house was sanctioned.
- It starts from a rectangle and covers the ground floor. Other floors are added on the plan afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a floor plan of my existing house without drawing it?
Give the outside size of the house in feet. It appears as one box. Add a wall to split the box in two, slide the wall to where it really is, and name each part: hall, bedroom, kitchen, toilet. Repeat until the rooms match your house. A one-bedroom house takes three walls. You never draw a line or drag a corner.
Do I need the exact measurements?
No. A rough size is enough to start, and every size can be corrected afterwards on the plan. The sizes you give are used as you give them, to the nearest half foot; nothing is guessed from a photo.
What can I do once my house is on screen?
Everything you can do with a generated plan: ask for a change in plain words, such as an extra bedroom or one more floor, drag and resize rooms, move doors and windows, walk through it in 3D, see a rough materials estimate, and export or print it.
My house is older. Will it be marked as illegal?
The plan is checked against today's rules for a new building, and an older house often stands closer to the plot edge than those rules allow. The checks say where. That is not a statement about your house's approval, which depends on the rules in force when it was built and on its own sanctioned plan. It is useful to know before you plan an extension or another floor.
What if my house is not a simple rectangle?
The builder starts from a rectangle. For a house with a cut-out corner, name that part Sit-out, or delete it on the plan afterwards. If you have the plan on paper, or can walk through the house with your phone, the photo and video ways in may be quicker.