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Coming soonThe Plan Advice Consultant Directory is being built now — founding listings are free for 12 months.

Plan Advice Directory

The NSW consultants who pick up where your report leaves off

Every Plan Advice report names the specialists a proposal needs — a heritage consultant for a conservation area, a clause 4.6 planner for a height breach, an arborist for a tree inside the building envelope. The directory closes that loop: a short, verified list of firms who actually work in that council area, so the next step is a phone call rather than a search engine.

Register your interestSee the disciplines

No listings are published yet. This page exists so consultants can put their hand up before launch — we are recruiting a founding cohort of roughly 65–85 firms.

How it will work

Three steps, no lead-generation games

01
A report raises a trigger

Heritage, flood, a clause 4.6 variation, a tree, a CDC-versus-DA decision — the report already says which specialist the proposal needs and roughly what it costs.

02
The directory shows who covers that council

Listings are filtered to the discipline and the LGA, so a Hornsby owner sees planners who work in Hornsby, not a statewide phone book.

03
The owner contacts you directly

Phone, enquiry email and website — no bidding, no per-lead fee, no middleman sitting between you and the client.

Who we are recruiting first

Six disciplines, in the order our reports ask for them

These are the categories that follow directly from what a Plan Advice report says. Each one shows the indicative fee range we already publish to users, so a listing arrives in front of someone who knows what the work is worth.

Tier 1
Town planner
20–25 listings

The natural next step after a DA Requirements Analysis, a Pre-DA report or a clause 4.6 flag.

Town planner · typical fee $3,000–$20,000

Independent planning consultants who prepare Statements of Environmental Effects, coordinate specialists, and negotiate with council. Essential for medium-to-complex DAs.

Tier 2
Architect
15–20 listings

For users who know their development potential but need DA-issue drawings, or a design revision after a control issue.

Architect · typical fee $5,000–$60,000

Registered architect (NSW ARB) preparing DA-issue design drawings, site plans, elevations, and sections. Required for most new dwellings, dual occupancies, and commercial fitouts.

Tier 3
Heritage consultant
10–12 listings

Heritage triggers are called out in every report, so users arrive already knowing they need this one.

Heritage consultant · typical fee $2,500–$12,000

Prepares Heritage Impact Statements (HIS) for lots inside a Heritage Conservation Area, adjoining a listed item, or affecting significant fabric. Required by most Sydney inner LGAs.

Tier 4
Private accredited certifier
8–12 listings

Follows straight from the CDC eligibility assessment — critical for anyone weighing a CDC against a full DA.

Private accredited certifier · typical fee $2,500–$15,000

Issues Construction Certificates and Occupation Certificates. For a CDC pathway, the certifier is the consent authority. Talk to the certifier BEFORE lodgement to align documentation.

Tier 5
Arborist (AQF Level 5) · Environmental / contamination consultant
5–8 listings

Tree protection zones, bushfire-prone land and BAL ratings appear as report triggers.

Arborist (AQF Level 5) · typical fee $800–$4,000

Arboricultural Impact Assessment for lots with trees on or adjoining the site subject to the council's Tree Preservation Order (TPO) or vegetation clause of the LEP.

Environmental / contamination consultant · typical fee $3,500–$25,000

Prepares Preliminary and Detailed Site Investigations (PSI/DSI) under SEPP (Resilience & Hazards) 2021 Part 4.6 for former industrial / service-station lots and any land with potential contamination history.

Tier 6
Civil / stormwater engineer · Registered surveyor
5–8 listings

Drainage, flood and stormwater controls, boundary levels and survey requirements when a report flags them.

Civil / stormwater engineer · typical fee $1,500–$8,000

Prepares stormwater concept and drainage plans, on-site detention design, overland flow assessment and driveway levels. Required where a council's DCP sets drainage controls, or the lot drains away from the street.

Registered surveyor · typical fee $1,500–$5,000

Detail Survey with contours, boundaries, easements, existing structures. Required as the base for architectural drawings and essentially every DA.

The full picture

16 disciplines already sit inside our reports

Reports recommend from this whole list today, at category level. The six tiers above open for listings first; the rest follow once the founding cohort is in place. If you work in one of these and want to be early, register anyway — we are reading every response.

Acoustic consultant
Traffic / parking consultant
Structural engineer
BCA / fire engineering consultant
Landscape architect
Licensing lawyer (Liquor & Gaming)
Business accountant
Insurance broker (commercial)

Founding directory partners

Twelve months free, no card, no commitment

The first cohort lists free for a full year. In exchange we measure what a listing is actually worth — profile views, contact reveals, report click-throughs — and share those numbers with you before any paid tier is priced. If the value is not there, you will know from your own figures.

What a profile shows
  • Business name and primary discipline
  • Up to three specialties (clause 4.6, heritage areas, dual occupancies…)
  • Up to five NSW councils, or Sydney-wide / NSW-wide
  • Phone or enquiry email, plus your website
  • A 300–400 character description, and your logo if you have one
What we check privately
  • A valid ABN and a business email on your own domain
  • Professional registration where one applies (ARB, PIA, accredited certifier)
  • An undertaking to answer an enquiry within one business day

No reviews, no star ratings, no bidding for leads. Plan Advice does not take a commission on work you win, and a listing is never presented as an endorsement — we verify that a firm is real, registered and covers the area, and the owner decides the rest.

Register your interest

Put your firm on the founding list

Five minutes, taken straight from your own website. We will confirm the details with you before anything is published.

Up to five councils, or write Sydney-wide / NSW-wide.
Up to three, comma separated.
0/400 characters

We use these details to build your profile and to contact you about the directory. No payment details, and nothing is published without your sign-off.

Questions

Before you register

When does the directory go live?

As soon as the founding cohort is in place — roughly 65 to 85 firms across the six disciplines our reports ask for most. We would rather launch with two or three credible options in each council area than a page of blanks.

What does a listing cost?

Nothing for the first twelve months. Founding partners list free, and we publish what a listing actually delivered — profile views, contact reveals and click-throughs from reports — before any paid tier is priced.

How do enquiries reach me?

Directly. Your phone, enquiry email and website are on the profile, so the owner contacts you the same way they would after a referral. No bidding, no per-lead charge, and Plan Advice takes no commission on work you win.

What do you verify?

A valid ABN, a business email on your own domain, professional registration where one applies, and your undertaking to answer an enquiry within one business day. A listing confirms a firm is real and covers the area — it is not an endorsement or a recommendation.

I work in a discipline that is not in the first six. Should I still register?

Yes. Reports already recommend across all sixteen categories, and the remaining disciplines open once the founding cohort is settled. Registering now puts you at the front of that queue.

Curious what your prospective clients see first? Start with the council DA statistics or the cost of a DA in NSW.