Council Approval Group

We recently sought a preliminary assessment from Council Approval Group and paid $1,734 for them to assess whether there would be major challenges that would deem our proposed development as risky and unlikely. We were advised that there was nothing risky about the proposal pending additional reports from external Consultants. Like many that have provided positive reviews on Council Approval Group, we were happy with the preliminary assessment. Our decision to proceed with engaging Council Approval Group to help us with the Development Application was based on this preliminary assessment. We were EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED with the service we received from this point on.Firstly, Council Approval Group seemed to lack a basic understanding of the regulations and requirements for our project. This led to a number of costly mistakes and delays that could have been avoided if they had taken the time to research the relevant APZ requirements – which we had thought was part of the initial assessment we paid them to do.Furthermore, when we tried to negotiate with them on the payment of the services they performed after the initial assessment, they refused to recognise that charging us $6,820 for coordinating the request of four (4) quotes from external Consultants far exceeds what is fair and reasonable. We did not get any of this refunded. They did however refund us for the second invoice of $3,410 for which no services were delivered.The advice provided in the preliminary assessment was not only detrimental to our decision to proceed with the DA preparation to council, but it also caused us a significant amount of stress and frustration. We felt that Council Approval Group was not invested in our project and did not have our best interests at heart.Moving forward, we would strongly recommend that the Council Approval Group undergo additional training and education to improve their understanding of the regulations and guidelines relevant to specific councils. I would also suggest that they work on their preliminary assessment to ensure that what is provided is not a cookie-cutter template that lacks the detail for the individual projects.Overall, we would NOT RECOMMEND Council Approval Group to anyone looking for guidance and support with a Development application to council. Their lack of expertise, and inability to invoice fairly for services rendered made the entire process stressful and costly.

The team at Council Approval Group have been sensational from start to finish. Every single person I've dealt with has left an impression on me immediately through their professionalism, customer service and willingness to help. Special mentions to Tara, Harlem, Ken and Tanya!The actual service provided was fully comprehensive, and then some. They left no grey area for me, they didn't try to upsell anything for company gain, they just gave me their straight forward, honest professional opinion and saved me so much time by doing so. Unfortunately my initial site was not suitable, however any and all future sites of interest I will 100% be bringing back to CAG.Thanks guys, looking forward to dealing with you all again in the near future.

I've had a horrible experience dealing with Council Approval Group. Having been provided with misleading information, my matter remains unresolved & I am yet to be compensated. Secretly recorded conversations, books mailed completely unsolicited & rude, arrogant responses from the Ops Manager. Extremely dissapointing to say the least.

I have nothing but praise for Grace Butcher. She was phenomenally diligent in her communication with myself and all other parties during this protracted and challenging project. If fact, all of her recommended parties were equally professional too. Grace guided this difficult project with confidence which resulted in a positive outcome. I was very pleased with the service and the result. I highly recommend working with Grace and her team.

Thanks for Council Approval helps us to achieve the DA, it's a long journey to get this done, but our town planner and design team are really professional and patient to guide us through! We highly recommend council approval group in the future projects.

Sandy helped me through the whole process from day one, this is the first time I've had to go through an approval process and being a very busy person with work she handled everything, was quick to answer any of my questions and I was approved no questions asked.Highly recommended.

Council Approval Group has provided a seamless collaboration service between my builder and city council. Despite multiple meeting with city council, they don't always provide me with correct answer. Council Approval Group knows how to deal with this issue and ease the pain of dealing with the city council bureaucratic procedures.

The level of detail and familiarity with council requirements was impressive. The consultation was worthwhile in saving a lot of time and effort. The Council Approval Group navigated through the regulations with ease and objectively assessed various options for my property.

I can't recommend Council Approval Group highly enough, right from my first contact with Anthony through to the PPA meeting with Ken & Betsy. I had already applied for a DA for a granny flat which was rejected by council. Both Ken & Betsy fully reviewed my application and gave me all the necessary information I needed to lodge an updated DA. Wayne

We highly recommend the CouncilApproval Group. They have helped us immensely in getting the DA approval for our church. Tania is a highly experienced town planner and very knowledgeable.Christina has also kindly help us and answers all of the questions we have for our new needs. Thank you both!