Finding land to build on is tricky because there are so many unknowns that it takes time and effort to figure out, including:

• Location (location, location! (and impact on budget))
• Service availability, such as electricity (and impact on budget)
• Lot characteristics, such as soil quality (and impact on budget)
• Appropriateness for our project, such as potential house location and orientation (and impact on budget)
• Municipal or provincial development constraints, such as protected wetlands (and impact on budget)

Essentially, it’s like navigating without a compass and learning how to sail as you go. It can be hard to gauge what’s insurmountable and what’s not, and whether you’ll be able to afford it in the end.

Our search quickly became our part-time job. We filled our spare time on the hunt and researching everything under the sun. Some of the key resources we used included the following.

Local Conservation Authority

• Conservation Authorities in Ontario are responsible for watershed management and can provide information on things like location of protected wetlands, floodplains, and natural hazards
• As we were looking in Ottawa, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s mapping tool was particularly helpful (fun fact, a good portion of Ottawa is swampland)
• RVCA is responsible for septic system permit approvals in Ottawa and we were able to speak with their planner to determine whether there were any concerns that could prevent a septic permit approval for lots we were looking at. Note: in other municipalities, septic system approvals for rural lots may be done through the municipal building department or the health unit.
• RVCA also offers a property file search service (for a fee) to identify any previous proposals or reviews related to the property 

Local Municipality (City of Ottawa in our case)

• In Ottawa, we were able to speak with a planner to confirm zoning and setback information
• The City of Ottawa has geoOttawa, a mapping tool where you can find a host of property information, including zoning and services
• Updated floodplain maps are also available on the City website
• The City’s Official Plan and draft Official Plan were also other important sources information for identifying development constraints and potential future considerations

It’s also a good idea to identify a builder early in the process as we found they were happy to visit properties with us to check for any immediate concerns and sometimes had useful background info to pass along from nearby projects they had worked on. If I can sum up the process that worked for us in seven key steps it would be:

1. Identify your goal
2. Figure out approximate budget (budget determines everything really)
3. Find a potential builder
4. Look for land
5. Research the land
6. Place an offer
7. Repeat steps 4-6 as necessary