1. What are you allowed to build here?

Start from the building you want, not from the lot. Which requirements apply to this particular parcel, and who enforces them? The answer differs between a city lot, a rural municipality, a bare land condominium and a lot inside a provincial park — and the authority responsible for that specific property is the only source worth relying on.

2. What already reaches the property?

Road access in every season, power, water, sewer or septic, gas, and communications. For each one: is it at the lot line, is it nearby, or does it not exist. The difference between those three answers can be larger than the price of the lot.

3. How does the building sit on the ground?

Where the house, driveway and outdoor space can actually go, given setbacks, trees, slope and where water moves across the site. Ground conditions and drainage are investigated by people with the right equipment; what you can do before that is notice whether the site asks obvious questions.

4. What do the documents say?

Title, easements and restrictive covenants, and — depending on the lot — condominium or development documents. A bare land condominium lot has its own ownership arrangements and its own rules about what you may build; Manitoba's condominium information is a reasonable place to understand the terminology before reading them. For a lot inside a provincial park, start with the Manitoba Parks cottaging and development information.

5. What has to be confirmed before you can budget?

Which items need a quote, a test or an approval before a schedule and a number mean anything. This is the question that decides whether a lot is cheap or merely low-priced. A lot that needs a well, a septic field, a long service run and a new approach costs what it costs regardless of the asking price.

Why I ask these in this order

Because each one can end the conversation. There is no point costing a driveway on a parcel you cannot build the house you want on. Working from intended use outward saves the money people usually spend investigating lots that were never going to work.

More in the answers, or see how I work on land and building questions.