A planning application lives or dies on its drawings, and an accurate existing floor plan is the foundation the rest is built on. Get the measured survey right and your architect, agent, or planning portal upload has a dependable base to draw the proposal over. This guide covers what a floor plan for a planning application needs to show, the scales councils expect, and how to capture a clean, to-scale existing plan on an iPhone with RoomPlot.
What a planning application asks for
Most householder applications in England and Wales need a small set of drawings: a location plan, a block plan, and existing and proposed floor plans and elevations. The floor plans must show each storey on its own sheet, drawn to a recognised scale, with room layouts, wall thicknesses, doors, windows, and stairs. The job splits cleanly in two: the existing plans record the building as it stands today, and the proposed plans show the change. RoomPlot is the fast, accurate way to produce the existing set; a designer then draws the proposal over it.
Scale and what to include
- Scale. Floor plans are usually drawn at 1:50 or 1:100, stated clearly on the sheet, with a scale bar so a printed copy can still be checked.
- One storey per drawing - ground, first, loft - each labelled.
- Dimensions - overall sizes and key room dimensions, plus wall thicknesses.
- Openings - doors and windows in their correct positions, with door swings.
- Room names and any changes in level, such as steps or a split floor.
- A north point so orientation is unambiguous.
Capture the existing plan
Walk the property and capture each room. With LiDAR on an iPhone or iPad Pro you scan the shell in seconds and RoomPlot detects walls, doors, and windows automatically; without LiDAR you draw the walls by hand from a room-shape template and smart snapping keeps the corners square. Add each storey as its own floor so the ground, first, and loft plans stay separate and correctly labelled. Then refine: set exact wall lengths, add dimensions where the council will look for them, and drop a north arrow that bakes into the export.
Get the area right
Space standards and policy checks often hinge on room and floor areas, so it helps that RoomPlot calculates gross internal area from the wall centrelines offset to the inner faces, with a per-room breakdown you can override if needed. Label each room with its name and area, and you have answered the area questions before they are asked. If you are unsure how the figure is derived, our guide to calculating floor area walks through it.
Export for submission
Export a clean A4 plan at 300 dpi per storey, with dimensions, the scale bar, and the north marker switched on, ready to hand to your architect or upload alongside the rest of the application. Need CAD? Export DXF and the geometry opens in any drawing package so a designer can build the proposed layout straight on top of your survey. The measured existing plan is the part you control - get it accurate and the proposal goes faster.
RoomPlot will not draw your proposed scheme or replace a planning consultant, but it gives you a precise, to-scale existing plan in an afternoon. See how to create a floor plan for the full workflow, or browse all guides. Measure once, export a clean set, and start your application on solid ground.