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Land and site · Goals, land search and buying safely · site-2

Select land against clear criteria

Screen candidate properties on sun, water, soil, slope, aspect, hazards, access and services before you fall in love with a view. Rejecting a poor site early saves far more money than any later design trick.

How

  1. Solar access: on site, look south (north in the Southern Hemisphere) from where the house and array could go. Note tall trees, ridges and buildings that would shade the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. peak period, especially in winter.
  2. Water: identify a realistic legal source (well, spring, stream, rainwater). Ask local licensed well drillers or the regulator what depths and yields nearby wells achieve, and ask the legal module (legal-1) how water rights work in your area.
  3. Soil: look up the property on a national soil map (in the US, the USDA NRCS Web Soil Survey) and read the ratings for dwellings, roads and septic absorption fields.
  4. Slope and aspect: walk the land with a phone inclinometer. Gentle slopes facing the equator are usually warmer and easier to build on; steep ground raises road, foundation and septic costs.
  5. Hazards: check official flood maps (in the US, FEMA's Flood Map Service Center), landslide susceptibility maps and wildfire hazard maps. Treat land in a mapped high-risk flood zone with great caution.
  6. Earthquake: check seismic hazard too. US: the ASCE Hazard Tool by address. Europe and the Mediterranean: the ESHM20 maps at hazard.efehr.org. See design-24.
  7. Microclimate: note frost pockets in hollows, wind exposure on ridges, and cold air drainage paths.
  8. Access and services: check that the road reaches the property in all seasons, and measure travel time to fuel, hospital, school and building suppliers.
  9. Legal access: confirm the property has a recorded legal right of access, not just a track over a neighbour's land. Note any easements for power lines, pipelines or rights of way.
  10. Score each property on your site-1 scorecard and shortlist the best two or three.

Safety: Do not walk unfamiliar steep or wooded land alone; tell someone your route.

Sources

  1. Flood Maps. FEMA, accessed 2026-11
  2. FEMA Flood Map Service Center: FAQs. FEMA, accessed 2026-11
  3. U.S. Landslide Inventory and Susceptibility Map. US Geological Survey, accessed 2026-11
  4. Protecting Your Private Well. Mississippi State University Extension, accessed 2026-11
  5. Solar Orientation: Solar Arrays and Panels. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Building America Solution Center (US DOE), accessed 2026-11
  6. Steps for Using a Soil Survey. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, accessed 2026-11
  7. RAINSS: Using Web Soil Survey. American Geosciences Institute, accessed 2026-11
  8. ASCE Hazard Tool (Building America Solution Center library entry). Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for US DOE, accessed 2026-11
  9. ESHM20 Overview: 2020 European Seismic Hazard Model. European Facilities for Earthquake Hazard and Risk (EFEHR), accessed 2026-11

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