Shed plan software for your permit drawings

Before choosing shed design software, try a specific layout: can you locate the door, leave room for your equipment and revise a dimension without redrawing everything? This original planning diagram gives you a small task to reproduce in AI CAD PRO. It is an illustration, not an app screenshot, construction plan or engineered design.

1. Set the dimension reference. Ask for a 12 × 16 ft outside footprint. State the wall thickness from your chosen construction details; if you do not know it, ask the assistant to flag it as missing rather than invent it.
2. Locate the opening. Put a 6 ft opening in the center of the 12 ft end wall. Check the outside dimension chain: 3 + 6 + 3 = 12 ft. This is a layout check, not header or wall-bracing design.
3. Measure what you will store. Draw your mower, bins or tools as labeled reference outlines using their actual sizes. Include the space needed to move and operate them; check the manufacturer's instructions.
4. Make one revision. Move the opening 1 ft to the right while keeping the footprint fixed. The side dimensions should become 4 ft and 2 ft. Confirm the door and its swing still work with the storage layout.
5. Make the sheet readable. Add overall dimensions and opening locations, set a print scale, then check the PDF preview. Add the other sheets from your department's checklist before considering a permit submission.

Start with this request: “Draft a 12 by 16 foot outside shed footprint with a centered 6 foot opening on the 12 foot wall. Dimension the footprint and the opening offsets. Ask me for wall thickness, door type and missing construction details. Do not choose structural member sizes.”

For a smaller exercise, change the outside footprint to 10 × 12 ft and repeat the dimension checks. Neither size establishes a permit exemption; use the shed permit size guide and your local department's requirements.

• Editable 2D drawings: AI CAD PRO lets you revise walls, openings, notes and dimensions, then export PDF sheets. This is its focus.
• 3D views or photorealistic previews: use a tool built for those outputs. AI CAD PRO does not provide a 3D shed model.
• Framing calculations or a lumber cut list: this exercise does not supply either. Obtain the required construction details from your supplier or appropriate design professional.
• Cost and platform: the Windows app is free; AI requests use your own ChatGPT plan or separately billed OpenAI API key. A software download does not include permit fees or engineering.

Many building codes exempt small, one-story, detached sheds from a building permit. The model residential code sets that line at 200 square feet of floor area, and the model commercial code at 120 square feet. Many jurisdictions change those numbers, though, and zoning rules like setbacks and height limits usually apply either way. Running power to the shed usually needs its own electrical permit.

So the first step is a quick call or visit to your local building department. Our guide, Do I need a permit for a shed?, explains what to ask and what still applies to an exempt shed.

If your shed does need a permit, the building department will usually ask for a small set of drawings. Requirements vary, but a typical shed set looks like this:

• Site plan. Where the shed sits on your lot, with distances to the property lines and other buildings, plus any easements.
• Floor plan. Overall dimensions, the door and window locations, and anything built in.
• Elevations. Each side of the shed, with its height. Many rules cap accessory building height, so this number matters.
• Wall section or framing details. How it’s built, from the foundation or skids through the floor, walls and roof.
• Electrical plan. If you’re running power: outlets, lights and how the circuit gets there.

Ask your building department for its submittal checklist so you draw exactly what they need, and nothing you don’t.

1. Describe the shed. “Draw a 10 by 12 foot shed with a 6 foot double door on the gable end and one window on each long side.” The assistant draws the walls, door, windows and dimensions.
2. Attach what you have. Your survey or plat as a PDF for the site plan, a photo of your sketch, or drawings from a kit supplier.
3. Refine it. Ask for changes in plain words or make them yourself with the Select, Wall, Door, Window, Dimension and Note tools.
4. Add the other sheets. Elevations, a section and a site plan, in the same project.
5. Preview and export. Print preview matches the PDF. Export the set on Letter, Tabloid or Arch D paper.

For a shed, the site plan often matters more than anything else, because setbacks are where most shed questions come from. Show the property lines, your house and other buildings, the new shed, and the distances between them. Mark easements, fences and the driveway if they’re nearby.

If you’ve already drawn a site plan in another AI CAD PRO project, you can ask the assistant to reuse that plot plan instead of drawing the lot again. Our guide on how to draw a site plan covers the details, and the site plan page shows how it works in the app.

Lights and a couple of outlets turn a shed into a workspace. Add them on an electrical plan: place the devices, the panel or subpanel, and the run from the house. AI CAD PRO builds the one-line diagram from the equipment you place and the connections you define, and drafting checks flag missing connection or specification data.

Electrical work usually needs its own permit and inspection, even when the shed itself is exempt.

AI CAD PRO doesn’t know your local rules unless you tell it, and it doesn’t supply structural or other engineering calculations for things like snow or wind loads. The Resolution center helps by listing missing information and warnings, with a recommendation for each and where to find what’s missing.

No software can promise a permit. Your local permitting office decides what it needs and whether to approve.