What a site can actually carry.

Zoning, overlays, constraints and yield, assessed before you sign a contract or commit capital — not after.

Site assessment

What a site can carry, not what you hope it can.

Some clients own a site and are deciding whether to sell it or develop it. Some are under contract, or about to make an offer, and want to know what they are really buying. Some are scanning several sites and need a fast, honest read on which ones are worth pursuing.

The assumptions that go wrong are rarely about the building. They are about the site: a zone that does not permit what the agent implied, an overlay that was never checked, an easement running through the building envelope, or a yield that only works if a rule gets waived.

Site assessment answers one question before you spend real money finding out the hard way: what can this site actually carry?

What you get

A written answer, not a guess.

Zoning and overlay review

What the planning scheme actually allows on this title — zone, overlays and any permit triggers — checked against the scheme, not assumed from a listing.

Constraints check

Easements, drainage and service authority assets, heritage overlays, flooding and bushfire risk, and access or frontage issues, identified before they become a surprise mid-project.

Yield testing

A realistic dwelling or lot count against setbacks, site coverage, car parking and open space rules — not a back-of-envelope multiple of land size.

A written position

What the site supports today, what it does not, and what would genuinely need to change — rezoning, an overlay removed, easement consent — to unlock more.

How it works

Five steps before you commit.

Confirm title and planning controls

Zone, overlays, covenants and any existing permit history on the title.

Test constraints on the ground

Easements, services, heritage overlays, flood and bushfire mapping, vehicle and pedestrian access.

Model a realistic yield

Against the actual controls that apply to the site, not a hoped-for outcome.

Identify what would need to change

Rezoning, an overlay removed, easement consent — and whether that is realistic on this site.

Deliver a written position

Something you can take to a vendor, a lender, your accountant, or your own decision.

What it costs. A single dwelling site is a different job from a multi-lot subdivision candidate, so site assessment is scoped to the site and the questions that actually matter. We agree the scope and confirm the fee in writing before anything starts. There are no published fees.

Proof, not promises

Constraints we have actually worked through.

Individual past transactions, included to show how constraints were identified and managed. They are not offers, benchmarks or a guarantee of any outcome on another site.

Fire, easement, emergency order

Norlane, VIC

A fire-damaged site carrying a council Emergency Order and a build-over-easement application, assessed and sequenced into a funded four-townhouse development.

Read the Norlane case study →

Referral authority

Shepparton, VIC

A Residential Growth Zone site where a water authority's servicing objection had to be resolved with engineering evidence before the permit could progress.

Read the Shepparton case study →

Tools & reading

What to check before you sign.

The development site LVR decision tree shows how zoning, permit status and a valuer's highest-and-best-use finding change what a site will support financially — useful alongside a site assessment, not instead of one.

Build-over-easement consent: the timing risk developers miss

Development-site LVR: how a highest-and-best-use finding changes what you can borrow

The subdivision workstreams that actually gate titles

Questions

What buyers usually ask.

Can you tell me whether a site will get a permit?

No. Planning decisions rest with the responsible authority. We assess zoning, overlays and precedent so you understand the likely constraints — we do not predict or guarantee an outcome.

Do I need this before I make an offer?

Not always, but it is far cheaper before an unconditional commitment than after. Many buyers use a due diligence or subject-to-planning period to have it done in parallel.

What is the difference between this and a feasibility study?

Site assessment answers what a site can physically and legally carry. A development feasibility then tests whether building that stacks up financially. Most projects need both, in that order.

Do you replace a town planner or surveyor?

No. We coordinate them and interpret what their advice means for the site, but the professional advice remains theirs.

What if the site has an unresolved easement or overlay?

We identify it, work out what consent or process is genuinely needed, and sequence it rather than let it surprise you mid-purchase. See our note on build-over-easement timing.

Before you buy or commit

Know what you are taking on, first.

Send us the address, the title and whatever you already have — an agent's pitch, a plan, a permit history. We will tell you what the site actually supports.

Start a conversation Test whether it stacks up

General information only. This is not planning, legal, tax or financial advice, and nothing on this page is a guarantee of planning outcome, permit approval, yield or value. Siare assesses sites and coordinates town planners, surveyors and engineers; it does not replace their professional advice, and planning decisions rest with the responsible authority. Obtain your own independent legal, planning and financial advice before buying or committing to a site.