Pearson Partners
Lot Size Is a Filter. It Isn't an Answer.
House, garage, shed, pool, setbacks. We measured the ADU that fits in each back yard — and who owns it — so you start at the pitch. Better than one lot in five that clears the size screen does not survive measurement.
Effective October 1
Seven Cities Stop Being Able to Say No.
Utah law now requires cities to permit a detached ADU on lots of 11,000 sq ft or more with a single-family home on them. Seven cities in our coverage do not allow one today. On October 1 that changes — and we have already measured every back yard in them.
- 7,259 Sandy
- 4,187 Orem
- 3,443 Highland
- 1,964 Taylorsville
- 1,930 American Fork
- 1,730 Alpine
- 1,149 Saratoga Springs
Those homeowners do not know it is coming. The builder who reaches them first will not be competing on price. Get Territory Pricing
The Data
One parcel of at least 11,000 sq ft, holding a single-family home that is someone's full-time residence, with a measured buildable rectangle in the yard, and driveway-width room to build access to it from the street.
Sample Data: Five verified sites in Herriman, drawn to one shared scale. Two rectangles matter on each: the pad is everything you could build on, and the dashed unit is what the city actually allows — 1,000 sq ft here. The gap between them is siting freedom, and it is where the pitch lives.
| Address | Lot | Existing home | Buildable pad | Pad size | Access room |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5338 W Emmeline Dr | 16,390 sq ft | 2,172 sq ft | 3,551 sq ft | 53 × 67 ft | 17.8 ft |
| 5303 W Shooters Ridge Cir | 15,666 sq ft | 2,814 sq ft | 2,967 sq ft | 43 × 69 ft | 29.8 ft |
| 5264 W Emmeline Dr | 11,604 sq ft | 2,096 sq ft | 1,890 sq ft | 42 × 45 ft | 25.2 ft |
| 14226 S Knapper Way | 14,507 sq ft | 5,142 sq ft | 1,092 sq ft | 28 × 39 ft | 38.0 ft |
| 5176 W Rolling Brook Dr | 13,003 sq ft | 2,976 sq ft | 960 sq ft | 32 × 30 ft | 12.0 ft |
Buildable pad Unit at the city cap Existing home Room to build access Street at bottom of each plan · one shared scale · Herriman caps a detached unit at 1,000 sq ft
Layers of Data Enrichment
Anyone can filter a parcel roll by lot size. The work is everything after that.
-
Throw Out What Cannot Qualify
Residential, incorporated, addressed, 11,000 sq ft or larger, and owner-occupied — with a confirmed single-family dwelling on it, not a shed.
-
Count Only the Buildings on Your Lot
Footprints are traced from aerial imagery and real roof outlines cross property lines, so a neighbour's house can be counted against your lot. Ours are tested for containment before anything is subtracted.
-
Find the Street-Facing Edge
Setbacks are directional, so every number downstream depends on knowing which lot line faces the street. That edge is resolved per parcel, not assumed — and the setbacks applied against it are the real ordinance figures for that city and zone, not one blanket rule across the valley.
-
Name the Zone It Sits In
The zone decides which setbacks and which cap apply, so it is carried on the row rather than inferred — 99.2% of rows name their zone. It also flags the 5.4% sitting in planned developments, where a recorded agreement can govern the back yard regardless of what the zone allows.
-
Measure the Rectangle That Fits
Setbacks and structures come out, and the largest rectangle that actually fits in what remains is solved to the foot. Not leftover open area — scattered slivers survive on almost every lot and none of them is a building site.
-
Prove a Vehicle Can Reach It
A pad nobody can reach is not worth a call. Nothing is built back there yet, so what matters is whether there is room to build access — the narrowest point along the whole way in is measured, because a wide curb cut means nothing if the house pinches the side yard to three feet.
-
Read the City's Size Cap
A pad tells you what fits. The ordinance tells you what is allowed, and they are rarely the same number — where the city publishes a cap, we carry it on the row with the rule it came from, now on two thirds of rows. Across those the pad runs a median 2.9× the cap, which is siting freedom, not wasted land.
-
Check Every Row Before It Ships
Seventeen automated checks run on every row before it ships — the pad inside its own parcel, clear of every structure, dimensions agreeing with area, and the access room physically fitting through the frontage it claims.
Territory Details
Owner-Occupied Only
Absentee landlords are filtered out. Nobody commissions a detached unit on a rental they do not live in.
Owner Contact
Name and mailing address on 99.5% of rows. Included in licensed territories.
Ownership Tenure
How long the current owner has held the property — the closest available read on equity, which is what finances the build. Utah County today.
Built to Your Buy Box
Minimum pad dimensions, tenure bands, structure age, lot slope, or a filter specific to what you build. Custom enrichment is quoted per territory.
Coverage
Territories are licensed by city or by county.
- Bluffdale
- Cottonwood Heights
- Draper
- Herriman
- Holladay
- Midvale
- Millcreek
- Murray
- Riverton
- Salt Lake City
- Sandy
- South Jordan
- South Salt Lake
- Taylorsville
- West Jordan
- West Valley City
- Alpine
- American Fork
- Cedar Hills
- Draper
- Eagle Mountain
- Highland
- Lehi
- Lindon
- Mapleton
- Orem
- Payson
- Pleasant Grove
- Provo
- Salem
- Santaquin
- Saratoga Springs
- Spanish Fork
- Springville
- Vineyard