vs Manual Lookup
The old 8-step ritual, shortened to 1.
VicPlan → zone → planning scheme PDF → schedule text → overlay list → overlay detail → cadastre → council site. Eight tabs, 8 minutes, still no confidence score. Feasibly does it once, structured, cited.
Head to head
The ritual, step by step
Task: zone, schedule minLotSize, overlays, heritage, and subdivision potential for any Australian address.
| Manual lookup | With Feasibly | |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 · Open state portal | VicPlan / NSW Planning Portal / SA Plan / QLD Globe / Landgate. You need to remember which. | One URL. Any state. |
| Step 2 · Type the address | Each portal's geocoder has quirks. | Google-backed geocoder + suburb-drift detection. |
| Step 3 · Click the parcel | Wait for the map to load, zoom, click. | No map needed: returns the parcel + cadastre. |
| Step 4 · Read the zone code | GRZ1? GRZ2? A schedule letter changes the rules. | Zone + schedule resolved together. |
| Step 5 · Open the planning scheme | Separate 200-page PDF. Find the schedule. | Schedule values extracted + cited. |
| Step 6 · Cross-check overlays | Read the overlay list, open each schedule. | All overlays that hit the parcel, with impact notes. |
| Step 7 · Check heritage registers | VHR + VHI + council heritage, three registers. | All three, unified. |
| Step 8 · Work out subdivision | Calculator, napkin, trial & error. | Lot-yield range with complexity score. |
| Time | ~8 min per property. | ~30 sec per property. |
| Confidence | Your best guess. No record of when the PDF was published. | Per-field tag + daily freshness check against source. |
Decision
What you're actually trading
The manual way
- Free, if your time is free
- Easy to misread a schedule
- No auto-detection of amendments
- No batch option
Feasibly
- 20 free lookups/month, $29 for 200
- Schedule values human-verified + AI-cross-checked
- Daily amendment monitor: stale data flagged
- Batch endpoint on Pro tier
Closing
The honest comparison
- If you do 2 lookups a month, manual works.
- If you do 20, you'll spend $29 to save ~16 hours.
- If you do 200, you need Feasibly.