How to Measure Your Yard

The classic approach. Grab a 100-foot tape measure and measure the length and width of each area of your yard. For a rectangular lawn, multiply length by width to get square feet.

For irregular shapes, break the yard into rectangles, triangles, and circles, measure each, and add them up. A triangle is ½ × base × height. A circle is π × radius².

A licensed surveyor uses GPS equipment and established markers to determine exact property boundaries and dimensions. This is the gold standard for accuracy and the only option for legal purposes like boundary disputes and new construction permits.

Enter your address on LotSite to see your property on high-resolution satellite imagery with a measuring grid. Identify your boundaries from visible features, fences, driveways, hedges, then paint different areas, grass, driveway, patio, garden beds, to get square footage for each. A careful trace takes a few minutes.

Accuracy depends on the imagery and your tracing: a careful trace is typically within a few percent of a physical measurement. LotSite shows imagery, not parcel records. For the recorded legal boundary, consult your county assessor's records or a survey.

For most homeowners, the answer depends on why you need the measurement:

• Buying lawn products (fertilizer, seed, mulch): Use LotSite. You need a good estimate, not legal precision.
• Planning a fence or landscaping project: Use LotSite to get dimensions and visualize your lot's visible edges. Follow up with a tape measure for exact placement.
• Building a structure or resolving a dispute: Hire a licensed surveyor. Only a professional survey provides the legal documentation you need.
• Selling or buying a home: The lot dimensions in the property listing come from county records; use LotSite to trace the property and sanity-check those figures against what you can see from above.