The second thing is to make sure you know how far from the back of your lot you can be. Most codes include how far from the street and how far from the back of your lot you can be. They want to make sure that you are not too close to your neighbors. For example some codes say that the back of your house can't be less can 30 feet from the back of your property. This is a very important thing to remember. You need to make sure that when you are marking out your lot for where you want your excavator to dig that you draw a diagram with spray paint or something long those lines for yourself so that you can get out your measuring tape and make sure that your house is not going to sit closer than 25 feet from the back of the curb or less than 30 feet from the back of your lot. The reason why you will wast to makes sure that you take time to do this is so that you pass code and don't have to modify your house.

The third thing is making sure that you are with in easement. Easements are where the utility lines lay like your gas, water, sewer, and electricity. Because of this it is against code that you build to close to these incase something happened and they need to be dug up for repair. Some codes say you can build within 10 feet while others are further away or even sometimes a little closer depending on what type of utilities they are. You will also want to make sure that you find out about cantilevers and other over hangs to see if they are permitted to be over the easement or if they have to be the same distance away.

The fourth thing is to make sure that you find out exactly what your setbacks consist of. For example some cities to meet code consider setbacks to be measured from the front of curb while others consider setbacks to be measured from the back of sidewalk. You will want to make sure that you get this clarified before you start digging so that you don't end up having to spend more money then you need to,

These are just some of the things that you will want to take into consideration when making sure you have proper setbacks, and you meet code. If you do not take the time to pay attention to these type of things you might end up having to pay some hefty fines along with having to redo some of your house so make sure to do it right the first time and make sure you have the proper set backs.