Five services.
One straight answer.
Every job starts with a Site Check. You come in at the step that matches what you already have, and each service builds on the one before.
Every job starts with a Site Check
Come in at the step that matches what you already have. The Site Check is always done first, as part of your job, and each service builds on the one before. Already had the step below with us? You pay only for the new work.
| If you have | Start with | Fee incl. GST | After the step below |
|---|---|---|---|
| An address you’re weighing up | Site Check | $600 | Every job starts here |
| A site, but no clear plan for it | Feasibility & Options | $1,700–$3,900 | $1,100–$3,300 |
| A site and a clear idea of what to build | Design Brief | $1,600–$2,500 | $1,000–$1,900 |
| Drawings ready to lodge | Approval Package | $3,000–$7,900 | $2,400–$7,300 |
| An application already lodged | Assessment Support | Quoted | $900 or $1,500 a round |
Whatever you bring, we check it first: your survey, planning certificate, drawings and reports. If something is missing or out of date, we tell you before going further, and any change to the job is agreed in writing.
Advisory retainers from $800 a month give you regular planning input without engaging project by project. Useful if you’re managing a pipeline of sites.
Ask about retainers →All prices include GST. A signed engagement letter is required before work begins. No payment-on-approval arrangements.
Site Check
A desktop screen of one address before you buy or commit. It tells you whether the site deserves a closer look, and what could stop it.
Feasibility & Options
The single most valuable bit of planning work you can do. It is also the one most developers leave too late, or skip altogether.
Design Brief
The most common cause of wasted design fees is an architect briefed without a planning framework. This service heads that off.
Approval Package: DA or CDC
A planning report is only as strong as the argument it makes. We write reports that take on the real issues councils raise, not just the easy ones.
Assessment Support
Council’s assessment is where many applications stall. We carry yours through to a decision, one round at a time.
DA or CDC, side by side
The two approval pathways behave differently on time, risk and design freedom. This is the short version. We work it through properly against your site in a feasibility.
| Complying Development (CDC) | Development Application (DA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who assesses it | Council or a private accredited certifier | Council, as the consent authority |
| How it’s judged | Against fixed numeric standards: pass or fail | On merit, with planner discretion |
| Typical timeframe | Around 10–20 business days | Commonly 3–12 months |
| Neighbour notification | Generally none | Required, with a submission period |
| Design flexibility | Low: every control has to be met | Higher: variations can be argued |
| Variations | Not available; a near miss ends the pathway | Clause 4.6 requests where justified |
| Best suited to | Standard dwellings, duplexes and secondary dwellings on clean sites | Heritage, irregular or constrained sites, and anything non-standard |
| Main risk | Design risk: small non-compliances stop it entirely | Time and approval risk |
Indicative only. Timeframes vary with the council, the site and how complete the lodgement is.
Questions we get asked
The things developers, builders and owners ask us most often before they engage.
How long does a feasibility review take?
Five to seven business days from engagement for a Feasibility & Options. A Site Check on a single address comes back in three business days. If you are working to an exchange date, tell us at the outset and we will confirm timing before you commit.
What is the difference between a DA and a CDC?
A Development Application is assessed by council on merit, so there is room to argue variations, but it takes longer. A Complying Development Certificate is a rules-based approval issued by council or an accredited certifier, which is far quicker, but every control has to be met exactly. Which one suits you is a feasibility question rather than a preference.
What do I get for the $600 Site Check?
A written read on a single address: the zone and its objectives, the mapped LEP controls, hazards and overlays, the theoretical maximum floor area, and whether your intended development is permitted and could go through as complying development. It ends with the red flags and what to check before you buy.
Can you tell me how many dwellings I can fit?
We give you a realistic yield rather than a theoretical maximum: what the controls allow once setbacks, height, landscaped area, private open space and parking are applied, and what councils in that area are approving in practice. Theoretical yields are where most feasibilities come unstuck. That is part of a Feasibility & Options review.
What is a clause 4.6 variation?
Clause 4.6 of a Local Environmental Plan lets you seek consent for development that does not meet a development standard, most often height or floor space ratio, where you can show compliance is unreasonable or unnecessary in the circumstances and there are sufficient environmental planning grounds. It applies to DAs only; complying development has no equivalent.
Do you lodge the application for us?
Yes. For a DA we prepare the Statement of Environmental Effects and the planning argument, fold the specialist reports into it, and lodge it through the NSW Planning Portal on your behalf. For a CDC we check the design against the relevant code and work with your certifier. After lodgement, Assessment Support covers council’s requests at a fixed fee per round.
Do we need an architect first?
Usually it works the other way around. A Design Brief sets the envelope and the key numbers before your architect starts, which is the cheapest point to discover a scheme does not fit. Briefing an architect without that framework is the most common cause of wasted design fees.
Do I have to start with a Site Check?
Every job starts with one, but you don’t have to buy it separately. If you come in at a later step, the Site Check is done first as part of that job and its fee is included in the price. If you’ve already had one with us, you pay only for the next step.
What if the documents I have aren’t good enough?
We check everything you bring at the start: your survey, planning certificate, drawings and reports. If something is missing or out of date, we tell you before going further. You can supply what’s needed, or we adjust the job to cover it, agreed in writing.
Which councils do you work with?
Most of our work sits across Sydney, in the Inner West, Canterbury-Bankstown, Ryde, Sutherland Shire, Bayside, Georges River, Parramatta and the northern councils. We also work on the Central Coast, in the Illawarra and in the Blue Mountains. If your council is not one we work in often, we will tell you upfront. See all the councils we cover.
Are the fees genuinely fixed?
Yes. Every engagement starts with a written fee agreement setting out the scope and the fee, GST inclusive. If the scope changes, we agree that in writing before doing the work. After lodgement, each round of council requests has its own fixed fee.