Setbacks are not a single number you can look up — they fall out of your zone, your overlays and your actual lot geometry. Draftly returns all three free, then sites the structure against the real boundary.
Free, no account, not metered. Runs the full site brief — zone, overlays, verified lot boundary, easements and design wind — and gives you the PDF.
Every free brief returns the whole picture — not just the one line you came for. (Your check lands in the brief's Overlays & Controls — setbacks section.)
| Check | Property-data platforms | Draftly site brief |
|---|---|---|
| Flood report | $39–$69 | Free |
| Bushfire pre-screen | $39–$69 | Free |
| Planning PDF | around $9 | Free |
| Geotechnical desktop study | around $119 | Free |
| State heritage certificate | $63.04 | Free |
Source: Draftly's public comparison audit, last updated 2026-08-12 — the same figures shown at /compare/. Figures are point-in-time and describe the property-data category generally, not any one named vendor; verify current pricing with the vendor. A state heritage certificate fee is set by the state heritage body.
"How far from the boundary can I build?" has no general answer, and every general answer published online is wrong for most of the people reading it.
The requirement falls out of several things at once: the planning zone, the schedules to any overlay that applies, the class and height of the structure, and the actual shape of your lot. Two neighbouring properties can carry different answers.
A registered easement can prohibit building over it outright — drainage and sewer easements routinely do — regardless of boundary distance. It is the single most common late discovery on a backyard project, because it is invisible from the ground and lives on the title rather than in the planning scheme.
Draftly surfaces registered easements in the free brief, where the title service exposes them, precisely because finding this out after the design is drawn is the expensive path.
Where Draftly goes beyond a lookup is what happens next. The verified boundary in the brief is the boundary the structure gets sited against, with per-edge clearance recolouring live as you move it. The setback stops being a number you look up and becomes a constraint the design is built inside — and the drawings and engineering downstream inherit it.
A survey is still a survey. For construction close to a boundary, a licensed re-establishment survey is the document that governs, and the brief does not pretend otherwise.
| Dimension | Draftly | Canibuild | Buildertrend / CoConstruct | Archistar | Property-data platforms | ClearCalcs | Council & state portals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Address-to-answer speedType an address → a useful answer, with nothing in between. | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 1 |
| Planning data reliabilityHow much of the planning answer is real government data vs inference. | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4.5 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Visual UXMap, drag-and-drop, live feedback — how it feels to use. | 4 | 5 | 3.5 | 4 | 3 | 3.5 | 1 |
| Drafting & exportDrawings, DXF/PDF sets, documents a council or certifier accepts. | 4.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 1 |
| Engineering defensibilityStructural calculations, member schedules, AS/NZS-referenced outputs. | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Commercial readinessPricing clarity, payments, onboarding, market maturity. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | — |
| Partner / trade ecosystemPartner programs, integrations, API access, white-label. | 4.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Running the buildSchedule of works, trade dispatch, purchase orders, and what the homeowner can see. | 3 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — |
| What you get before payingHow much of a usable answer arrives without a subscription, a per-report fee, or a sales call. | 5 | 1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 3 |
Scores are calibrated for ONE job: the address-to-permit-to-built workflow for Australian backyard structures and small residential builds (pergolas, decks, sheds, carports, granny flats) — for trades, builders and homeowners. They are not a verdict on general construction software. A tool can score low here and be excellent at what it is actually built for.
Scored 1–5. “—” means the dimension does not apply to that product. Last updated 2026-08-12. See the full comparison · Report an error.
This table is an audit, not a brochure. These are our own limitations, published because a comparison that only flatters us is worth nothing.
Free, no account, not metered. Runs the full site brief — zone, overlays, verified lot boundary, easements and design wind — and gives you the PDF.