Common questions about Urban Pulse.

Checking an address is free today, with no account, on the What can I build page, and so is opening, reading and signing a document someone sends you. For the rest, register interest and we'll email you when access opens. Existing members can sign in.

In seven states and territories: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. The Northern Territory is not live. The read gives the zone and zone name, what the council allows, the overlays to check and the likely pathway, free and with no account. New South Wales goes deepest, because it's the only state where we pull the mapped overlays for you. In Queensland the read comes from the council's own planning scheme, and today that covers five councils: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan, Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast. Where a council's data is only partly mapped the read says so, and overlay layers we did not read are listed as Not checked.

You lodge it, and you stay the applicant. On Planning Pro, Planning builds your planning pack for you to review and lodge, and includes a list of the documents to attach, shaped by the mapped overlays on the site (for NSW, separate lists for a development application and a complying development certificate), naming any layer we could not check and marking each document attached or not started. You lodge it yourself, or bring in a town planner through Marketplace to help. The decision on approval sits with the council or the relevant authority.

Marketplace is open. Anyone with a verified account, Free or paid, can see open jobs and bid on them. A verified account is one whose email address has been confirmed with the 6-digit code we send. Free includes 3 open-board quotes a calendar month and unlimited quotes on jobs you’re invited to. Any paid plan removes the cap. On any paid plan you can also post a job, invite the businesses you want, compare their quotes and choose who gets the work. Awarding is that choice. The agreement is a separate step, and it only shows as signed once the business you chose has signed it.

Signed out, a job shows its suburb and never the street. The description, documents and bids are for signed-in members only. Phone numbers, emails and websites stay hidden on both sides until the job is awarded. Until then you talk in Marketplace chat, which is on paid plans. A phone number or email typed into a post or a message before the award is hidden, and the sender is told why. Location data is stripped from photos when they upload.

Trades record their licence, insurance and ABN on their own profile. Urban Pulse doesn't check them with the issuer yet, and they aren't shown to hirers in the product today, so ask the trade for them before you award the work. Look the ABN up on the Australian Business Register, and check the licence with the licensing authority and the insurance with the insurer.

Yes. Each document opens from its own private link, with no account and nothing to install. Sent to sign, your client reads it and signs on the same page. Sent to view, they can read it and download it, with nothing to sign.

Card payment on a signed document is coming soon. Until then, your client signs on the page and settles with you the way they do now.

Download your stored files from Settings, under Export & delete. An owner or admin gets a download link for every document and upload your business has stored. It covers stored files only, not job records or change history.

Referral rewards aren't available yet.