Build DesignSolutions
Build Design Solutions

Data, privacy and disclaimer

What stays on your device, what is sent where, and how far you can rely on the results.

Last updated 31 October 2026

This page explains what Build Design Solutions (the designer at builddesign.solutions/cad/app) does with your data, where its map and terrain data comes from, and the limits of its results. It supplements our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions, which also apply.

1. Results are indicative only

The designer produces concept-stage options for early feasibility. Its floor areas, unit layouts, parking layouts, quantities, costs, compliance checks, solar results and financial figures are estimates based on the criteria you enter and simplified models. They are not a planning assessment, a Building Code (NCC) or Australian Standards assessment, an architectural, structural, traffic or engineering design, a cost plan, a valuation, or financial advice. Default rates, prices and rules are illustrative starting points and may not suit your site, market or jurisdiction.

Before you rely on any result to buy land, lodge an application, commit funds or build, have it reviewed by appropriately qualified professionals, such as an architect, town planner, quantity surveyor, traffic engineer, valuer and financial adviser. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for decisions made using the designer's outputs.

2. Where your designs are stored

Designs, presets and settings are saved in your browser on your device (IndexedDB and local storage). We do not receive them. Your sign-in is a single cookie holding a random session id; it carries no design data. Clearing your browser's site data, using a private window, or changing device removes them, so export important projects as a project file.

3. When data leaves your device

  • Location search: the text you search is sent through our server to the OpenStreetMap Nominatim service. Results are cached on our server.
  • OpenStreetMap context and terrain: the latitude and longitude of your chosen location (and a sampling grid around it) are sent through our server to the Overpass API and to Open-Meteo's elevation service. Results are cached on our server.
  • Lot and planning lookup: for a location in Australia, its latitude and longitude, and the outline of the lot you select, are sent through our server to that state's or territory's cadastre and planning map services (NSW Spatial Services and the NSW Planning Portal; Queensland's QSpatial and, for Brisbane, Brisbane City Council's open data; Victoria's Vicplan and Vicmap; theLIST in Tasmania; ACTmapi; Location SA; WA's Department of Fire and Emergency Services; NT NR Maps), to the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the council and to Geoscience Australia for ground levels. Results are cached on our server.
  • AI assistant: when you choose Set criteria with AI or Review this option with AI, the brief you typed, or a summary of the option's figures, is sent through our server to Anthropic's Claude API to generate the answer. Do not include personal or confidential information in a brief. AI answers can be wrong: review every value it sets.
  • Share links: when you create a share link, a snapshot of the design (including its site boundary, location and any imported context) is stored on our server in Sydney for 90 days. Anyone with the link can open it. We do not list or index shared designs.

For abuse prevention our server records request counts per IP address for short periods. We do not sell this data or use it for advertising. See our Privacy Policy for how to contact us about your data.

4. Data sources and attribution

  • Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL). Location search by Nominatim; context data via the Overpass API.
  • Elevation data from Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), based on the Copernicus DEM © DLR e.V. and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA.
  • NSW lot boundaries and road names: NSW Land Parcel and Property Theme © State of New South Wales (Spatial Services, a business unit of the Department of Customer Service NSW). For current information go to spatial.nsw.gov.au. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  • NSW zoning, floor space ratio and height of buildings: Environmental Planning Instrument layers © State of New South Wales and Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, from the NSW Planning Portal. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. The designer shows the mapped values; it does not change them.
  • Queensland lot boundaries, roads and council boundaries: © State of Queensland (Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development), from QSpatial. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Queensland ground levels: Queensland digital elevation model, includes material © State of Queensland and © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia), licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU.
  • Brisbane zones and overlays: Brisbane City Plan 2014 datasets © Brisbane City Council, from Brisbane City Council open data. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  • Victorian zones, overlays, parcels and bushfire prone areas (Vicplan), and roads and contours (Vicmap Transport and Vicmap Elevation): © State of Victoria (Department of Transport and Planning). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  • Tasmanian cadastral parcels, transport segments, Tasmanian Planning Scheme zones, codes and Specific Area Plans, and the Tasmanian Heritage Register, from theLIST © State of Tasmania (Land Tasmania and the Tasmanian Planning Commission). Licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU.
  • ACT blocks, road centrelines, Territory Plan land use zones and overlays, ACT Heritage Register, bushfire prone areas and the flood extent, from ACTmapi © Australian Capital Territory. Licensed under CC BY 4.0; the current residential zone names are filled in by the designer.
  • South Australian Planning and Design Code zones, State heritage areas, heritage places, local government areas and roads: The Government of South Australia, Location SA. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  • Western Australian Bush Fire Prone Areas (OBRM-026), Department of Fire and Emergency Services. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  • Northern Territory storm surge areas (NR Maps): supplied by the Department of Lands, Planning and Environment - Northern Territory Government. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  • Local government areas (ASGS 2024) © Australian Bureau of Statistics, and elevation models (5 m LiDAR and 1 second SRTM) © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  • 3D rendering uses three.js (MIT licence).
  • AI features use Claude by Anthropic.

Third-party data can be incomplete, out of date or inaccurate. Building heights in particular are often missing from OpenStreetMap, in which case a default height is assumed.

The NSW planning maps are a guide to the controls in each environmental planning instrument, not a substitute for it. The full instrument can add clauses, bonuses, exceptions and other controls (such as heritage, flooding or State policies) that the lookup does not show, and a lot can fall under more than one control. Confirm the controls for a property with a planning certificate (section 10.7) from the council or the NSW Planning Portal before relying on them.

In Victoria the zone and overlay maps name the controls but not their schedules, so heights, setbacks and other numbers set in a zone or overlay schedule (for example a Design and Development Overlay) are not shown; get a Planning Property Report and read the planning scheme. Queensland publishes no statewide zoning, height or floor space ratio map: the designer reads zones and overlays for Brisbane City only, and elsewhere you need the council's planning scheme mapping. In Tasmania and the ACT heights are set by the zone rules, Specific Area Plans and district policies rather than a map, so the panel shows the zone's typical limit. In South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory the lot boundaries (and in WA and the NT the zones) are not published under an open licence, so the designer does not show them; South Australia's overlays and technical and numeric variations are only on SAPPA. The likely water and electricity providers are inferred from the council area and may be wrong where a council is served by more than one network.

5. Standards and guidelines

Default design rules are informed by the NSW Apartment Design Guide and car-park geometry by AS/NZS 2890.1. Build Design Solutions is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NSW Government, Standards Australia or any other body, and the designer does not reproduce those documents. Always use the current version of each standard or guideline that applies to your project.

6. Fair use

Location search, map import, terrain import, the lot and planning lookup, the AI assistant and share links are free but rate-limited to keep them available for everyone. Automated or bulk use is not permitted.

7. Contact

Questions about this page or a custom version of the designer? Use our contact form.

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