Questions

What this can and cannot tell you.

Can you tell me for certain whether I can build on a property?

No, and nobody can from public data alone. Whether a specific structure can be built at a specific spot depends on a site evaluation, a survey, soil testing, county approval and often an engineer. What we can do is find the things that would make that harder or more expensive, so you know what to investigate and what to budget for before you spend money.

Where does the data come from?

Official sources only: the Montana State Library cadastral framework for parcels, USGS 3DEP for elevation, USDA NRCS SSURGO for soils, FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer for flood, the USFWS National Wetlands Inventory for wetlands, BLM surface management for public land, and Montana State Library frameworks for roads, structures, boundaries and conservation easements. Every figure cites its source and the date we retrieved it.

Does "outside the mapped floodplain" mean the property will not flood?

No, and we will never say it does. FEMA mapping is a regulatory insurance map covering the larger drainages. It routinely does not model small tributaries, alluvial fans, ice jams, irrigation infrastructure or intense local rainfall, and large areas of rural Montana are not mapped at all. Being unmapped is not a finding of low risk — it means no determination exists.

Is a mapped wetland a legal wetland?

No. The National Wetlands Inventory is interpreted from aerial photography, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states plainly that it makes no attempt to define the limits of federal or state jurisdiction. Only a delineation by a qualified consultant, and a determination by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, answers that. NWI also systematically under-maps small, narrow and forested wetlands, so its silence is weaker evidence than its findings.

Does a road on your map mean I have legal access?

Absolutely not, and this is the distinction we are most careful about in the entire product. Mapping can show that a physical route appears to exist. Legal access comes from recorded easements, deeded rights of way and plat dedications, none of which appear in any GIS layer. Confirm legal access through a title commitment every single time.

Why does the complexity score go up when data is missing?

Because an information gap is a real cost, and a score that rewarded missing data would be worse than no score at all. If a county publishes nothing about zoning, that uncertainty is something you have to resolve. We also show you what share of the score is uncertainty rather than a known physical constraint, so you can tell the difference between a complicated property and a poorly documented one.

A high complexity score means it is a bad property, right?

No — and this is the most common misreading, which is why we did not call it a buildability score. A creek, mature trees, a hillside view and forty acres of privacy will score higher than a flat, featureless lot on a paved road. High complexity means more to work through, and frequently describes the more desirable land.

Do you cover every Montana county?

Our regulatory registry covers all 56 counties, with ten higher-volume counties researched in depth including permitting and subdivision authorities. Parcel-level analysis is being switched on county by county. Where a county is not live yet, we tell you rather than showing you a thin report.

Do I need an account?

Not for the free snapshot. The paid report is a one-time purchase for a single property and does not require a subscription.

Why don't you just rebuild the water and wildfire analysis here?

Because our sibling platforms already do it properly, and two platforms producing two different numbers for the same parcel would be worse for you than one. Montana Water Report owns well, groundwater and water-right analysis; Montana Fire Report owns wildfire exposure. We summarise and link out.

What is this not?

It is not legal advice, land surveying, title research, engineering, geotechnical analysis, a wetland delineation, a septic approval, a zoning determination, or a building permit. It is preliminary property intelligence: organised public data that tells you what to investigate and who to ask.