Each one covers a different point in the early development process. Take one, or move through all three as the project develops.
The single most valuable bit of planning work you can do — and the one most developers leave too late or skip altogether.
The most common cause of wasted design fees is an architect briefed without a planning framework. This service heads that off.
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.
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.
The things developers, builders and owners ask us most often before they engage.
Five to seven business days from engagement for a full feasibility and planning strategy. 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.
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.
A written read on a single address: the zone and its objectives, the key LEP controls covering height, floor space ratio, minimum lot size and setbacks, any SEPP overlays that apply, and a plain-English view of what is realistically possible. It is built for sizing up a site before you buy.
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.
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.
Yes. For DA and CDC work we prepare the Statement of Environmental Effects and the planning argument, fold the specialist reports into it, and coordinate lodgement through the NSW Planning Portal. Post-lodgement council liaison is charged hourly at a rate stated upfront.
Usually it works the other way around. A pre-design planning 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.
Most of our work sits across Sydney — Inner West, Canterbury-Bankstown, Ryde, Sutherland Shire, Bayside, Georges River, Parramatta and the northern councils — along with the Central Coast, Illawarra and Blue Mountains. If your council is not one we work in often, we will tell you upfront.
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. The only hourly item is post-lodgement council liaison, at a rate stated before you engage us.