For builders and developers

Site screen: readings and questions to ask

What public sources show at an address, and who to ask about each topic

Type a United States address to see what free public sources show there: flood zone, wetlands, soil, elevation, slope, drainage and land cover. Below the readings are questions for the planning office, septic office, floodplain administrator, surveyor, engineer, utilities and attorney. ABODE does not receive the address. It asks questions and gives no verdict on the site.

In short: Type an address to read free public sources for flood, wetlands, soil, slope and drainage, then get questions for each office and professional. It gives no verdict on the site.

Screen an address Builders and developers

Questions only. Not an inspection, survey, permit determination or flood determination.

Site screen

Which address do you want to screen?

The screen

What do the sources show, and what should you ask?

The screen appears here after you enter an address. It shows the seven public-source readings, then questions for each office or professional. You can print it or copy it as text. Changing the use above changes the questions without reading the sources again.

Next steps

What should you do with the questions?

Find the right office with the county offices finder, then ask each question and request the answer in writing.
Turn the questions into an ordered list with the builder site checklist or the developer land workplan.
Lay out the schedule in the build timeline planner and the budget in the construction budget worksheet.
See the rest of the tools and guides for builders and developers.

For decisions about a purchase, a build, septic, flood insurance or wetlands, ask the people who can look at the ground and the records: a licensed surveyor, a civil engineer or soil scientist, your insurance agent, the county planning and health offices, and your attorney.

Before you rely on it

What do these readings not tell you?

Each reading is background context at one point, not a flood determination, wetland delineation, soil or septic test, survey, inspection, appraisal or zoning opinion. “Nothing mapped” is not “none”. Parcel boundary and assessment, zoning, ownership, taxes, utilities, easements, permits and listing data are not part of these readings. They come from county and municipal offices and need their own checks.

Flood zone

FEMA’s map is not an official flood determination and does not replace a survey, an elevation certificate or an insurance quote. Preliminary and pending map data are not for rating insurance. A point with no mapped zone may simply be outside the mapped area. Source: FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer.

Wetlands

Wetlands are mapped from high-altitude imagery and can differ from conditions on the ground; not all wetlands are wet all year. The data shows type and extent by a biological definition and does not set any agency’s regulatory boundary. For regulatory questions contact the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the state agency. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory.

Soil map unit

Soil survey map units are broad averages for an area, not a test of this site. This is not a septic, foundation or building suitability determination. Some areas have no completed survey. Source: USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO).

Elevation

Elevation is read at one point from USGS 3DEP, whose resolution varies by area. It is not a survey and says nothing by itself about slope across a parcel. Source: USGS 3D Elevation Program.

Ground slope estimate

Slope here is an estimate from five elevation readings around one point, not an average across the parcel and not a survey. Elevation resolution varies by area and small errors matter over short distances. It says nothing about whether anything can be built. Source: USGS 3D Elevation Program, computed by ABODE from five readings.

Drainage catchment

The catchment is a drainage-area reference number from the USGS hydrography network, found by a point lookup. It does not show how far a stream is, whether water reaches the property, flood risk or water rights. Source: USGS Network-Linked Data Index.

Land cover

Land cover is a satellite-based estimate on 30-meter cells (annual NLCD). A cell can be wrong, and a mixed cell shows one class. It is not a zoning, land-use or tree-health finding, and it does not mark a parcel boundary. The nine samples are a coarse look at the surroundings, not an area measurement. Source: USGS Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2025).

Location

Coordinates come from the U.S. Census Bureau address locator and can be off for rural addresses. They are not a parcel boundary.

Questions

Site screen: frequently asked questions

Does the site screen say whether a lot can be built on?

No. It lists what free public sources show at the address and then the questions to put to each office or professional who decides that topic: planning and zoning, the septic or health office, the floodplain administrator and your insurance agent, a surveyor, an engineer, utilities and an attorney. Their written answers are what matter.

How are the questions chosen?

A standard set applies to any site. A few more appear when the readings raise a topic, for example when the flood map places the point inside a Special Flood Hazard Area, when a wetland is mapped nearby, or when a soil map unit or slope estimate is returned. Those are tagged “Raised by the readings”. The choice of use at the top adds questions for land near water or for dividing land into lots.

Where does my address go?

Your browser sends it directly to the U.S. Census Bureau and then sends the coordinates it returns to FEMA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA and USGS. ABODE does not receive, store or log the address or the results.

Does it cover states other than Tennessee and Florida?

The readings work for any U.S. address. The wording about who permits what is general, and the checklists and guides it points to cover Tennessee and Florida. For another state, ask the equivalent offices there.

Private consultation

Ask an advisor about a site

Do not include the address unless you want us to see it. An ABODE advisor replies privately. We aim to reply within one business day.

Sources and notes

FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer. Source for the flood zone reading.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory. Source for the wetlands reading.
USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO). Source for the soil map unit reading.
USGS 3D Elevation Program. Source for the elevation reading.
USGS Network-Linked Data Index. Source for the drainage catchment reading.
USGS Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2025). Source for the land cover reading.