Every letterbox in the circle, in ten seconds: a Sydney team retires the highlighter pen
Announcement posted by Sites By Design 19 Oct 2026
SYDNEY, NSW. For thousands of approvals a year, telling the neighbours is a condition of getting the job done, and most of it is still done by walking the street with a highlighter and hoping the line falls in the right place. Sites By Design, a Sydney web and digital marketing agency, has launched NoticeRadius to replace that with a web tool that turns an address and a distance into the list of every letterbox that has to be notified, in about ten seconds.
That covers fireworks displays, film shoots, crane lifts, road closures, tree removal, concrete pours, demolition and renovations. The user enters an address, or drops a pin on a paddock or showground, and sets a radius. NoticeRadius returns every address point inside the circle, houses and units alike, from the same national address file the emergency services use (more than 16 million addresses, refreshed quarterly), grouped by street in walking order for hand delivery. The list downloads as a spreadsheet or prints straight onto labels. Paid plans add a signed notification report with a map and delivery declaration, and printable notices carrying the customer's own logo in A4 or A5.
NoticeRadius started with a request from a friend in the fireworks industry. He had been using another business's online tool to work out which properties to notify before a display, and when that business closed he was left with a map and a compass. "He asked if I could build him something to replace it," said Scott Nailon, director of Faith Computing, which owns Sites By Design and operates NoticeRadius. "Once I looked at it, the same problem was there for anyone who has to tell the neighbours before they start."
How much notice a neighbour is owed depends heavily on the state. In New South Wales, complying development needs written notice within 20 metres of the lot boundary, at least 7 days before work in Sydney. South Australia uses 60 metres for some applications, and Western Australia uses 200 metres for complex ones. Victoria and Tasmania set no distance at all.
"Most neighbour complaints are about surprise, not noise," Mr Nailon said. "A concrete truck blocks a driveway at 7 am, or fireworks go off on a Saturday night, and someone rings the council. A note in the letterbox a week earlier fixes most of that."
The site includes free resources:
- A plain English guide to the notification rules in all eight states and territories, with the official source for each.
- 22 notice templates, including fireworks, film shoots, road closures, crane lifts, concrete pours, tree removal and demolition.
- A notice period calculator that counts business days and public holidays by state.
- Daily registers of new development applications in NSW, the ACT, the Northern Territory and South Australia, and fireworks display registers for NSW and Queensland.
The guides also cover a recent NSW change. From 1 September 2026, councils follow a single statewide community participation plan, and several have said they no longer write to neighbours about some smaller homes, pools and demolition that stay inside the planning limits.
The tool took 1 week to build. Sites By Design has spent more than 20 years building sites for clients, and NoticeRadius is the agency's own product.
There is a free plan for occasional jobs. Paid plans start with a $15 job pass, with yearly plans from $99. Business and Agency customers also get an API, so lists can be pulled straight from a job management system.
NoticeRadius is at https://noticeradius.com.au
Media contact Scott Nailon, Director, Faith Computing Pty Ltd (Sites By Design) scott@sitesbydesign.com.au
About Sites By Design Sites By Design is a Sydney web design and digital marketing agency run by Faith Computing Pty Ltd. It has built and managed websites for more than 350 clients over 20 years. https://sitesbydesign.com.au
Data attribution: Incorporates or developed using G-NAF © Geoscape Australia, licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia under the Open Geo-coded National Address File (G-NAF) End User Licence Agreement.