SA · Adelaide Inner North
Home builders in Collinswood
Construction leads every industry in Australia for insolvencies. Before you hand anyone a deposit in Collinswood, we check their licence with Consumer and Business Services, sight their insurance, confirm they are still trading — and match you to the one who actually builds on blocks like yours.
- Costs you nothing, ever
- No obligation to use them
- Details never sold
Why this is harder than it looks in Collinswood
- A current licence tells you nothing about solvency
External administrators lodged 2,361 initial reports for construction companies in 2024–25 — more than any other industry in the country (ASIC Insolvency Statistics, Series 3.1). Every one of those companies held a valid licence the day before. The certificate on the wall says they are permitted to build. It does not say they can pay their framer on Friday.
- Collinswood is not a generic block
Mapped here: 2 residential zones, 5 overlay families, 7 heritage records. A builder who prices the house and discovers the site is a builder whose quote moves — and the variations land on you, not on them. The ones who work Collinswood regularly already know which of these reach which streets.
- "Get three quotes" sells you, not the builder
The standard model charges builders per enquiry and sends the same one to several of them. You are the product, the fastest caller wins, and nobody in that chain has checked whether any of them is solvent. We do not sell enquiry data — not to a panel, not to a lead broker, not ever.
The mechanism
Four checks, before anyone reaches you
Every one of them is something you could do yourself. What we sell is that it has been done, dated and published — and repeated on a schedule, because a check that happened once is worth nothing.
- 01 · Licence
Looked up on Consumer and Business Services's own public register — number, class and status, with the date we looked recorded.
- 02 · Insurance
Public liability plus whatever warranty or indemnity cover SA requires. Sighted by us, not self-declared on a form.
- 03 · Still trading
Solvency re-checked on a schedule. A licence stays current right up until the day a company fails.
- 04 · Works in Collinswood
Confirmed with the builder against the suburbs they genuinely service — not a radius drawn on a map.
What you are dealing with in Collinswood
Six things a builder prices differently. This is the suburb-level picture — which of them reaches your block is an address check.
- Bushfire Not mapped BAL assessment; glazing, decking and screening spec.
- Flood Mapped Sets a minimum floor level. Flood report first.
- Heritage 7 records Impact statement; limits demolition, form and materials.
- Slope Not mapped Geotech report before footings can be priced.
- Soil None mapped Below trigger depth: management plan, treatment, disposal.
- Density controls 2 zones What may be built, and how much. Set parcel by parcel.
What is mapped in Collinswood
Read from Planning and Design Code via SAPPA (PlanSA), not a summary of it.
- Council
- City of Prospect
- Planning scheme
- Planning and Design Code
- Overlays mapped here
- Hazards (Flooding — General) · Character Area Overlay · Historic Area Overlay · Local Heritage Place · Regulated and Significant Tree
- Residential zones mapped
- Established Neighbourhood
Housing Diversity Neighbourhood - Bushfire-prone land
- None mapped
- Local Heritage Places
- 7
- Acid sulfate soils
- None mapped
- Minimum Frontage
- Minimum frontage for a detached dwelling is 10m; semi-detached dwelling is 7.5m; row dwelling is 7.5m; group dwelling is 15m; residential flat building is 15m
+5 other rules mapped in this suburb - Minimum Site Area
- Minimum site area for a detached dwelling is 350 sqm; semi-detached dwelling is 300 sqm; row dwelling is 300 sqm; group dwelling is 300 sqm; residential flat building is 300 sqm
+5 other rules mapped in this suburb - Maximum Building Height (Metres)
- 9m · 12m
- Maximum Building Height (Levels)
- 2 levels to 4 levels
3 different values mapped across the suburb - Minimum Side Boundary Setback
- 1m for the first building level; 2m for any second building level or higher to 1.5m for the first building level; 3m for any second building level or higher
3 different values mapped across the suburb - Site Coverage
- Maximum site coverage is 50 per cent
Planning data from Planning and Design Code via SAPPA (PlanSA) (CC BY 4.0), read 2026-09-14. Suburb-level, not a report on your block — check your address on the SA Property and Planning Atlas.
How Collinswood compares in Adelaide Inner North
Overlay families mapped in each suburb we have read in this region. More mapped controls generally means more assessment before you can price a build.
Builders serving Collinswood
What building in Collinswood actually involves
Collinswood is 0.52 km² — the smallest suburb we have published anywhere in Australia — and the Code maps eight minimum site area rules and seven minimum frontage rules across it. Half a square kilometre, fifteen different dimensional rules. Nothing about a Collinswood block can be assumed from the block next door.
Fifteen dimensional rules in half a square kilometre
The site area rules start at 350 m² for a detached dwelling (300 m² for semi-detached, row and group dwellings) and step up from there; the frontage rules start at 10 m detached and 7.5 m for a semi-detached or row dwelling. Seven and eight respectively is an extraordinary amount of variation for the area, and it means the useful question is never "what is the rule in Collinswood" but "what is the rule at this address". A plan that fits one parcel will frequently not fit its neighbour.
Three different side setback rules
Most suburbs map one side boundary setback rule. Collinswood maps three: 1 m for the first level and 2 m above, 1 m and 3 m above, and 1.5 m for the first level and 3 m above. The difference between a 2 m and a 3 m upper-level setback on a narrow allotment is a metre of room across the whole first floor, which is the difference between a bedroom that works and one that does not. Site coverage is capped at 50 per cent.
Two zones, and no Urban Corridor
Established Neighbourhood and Housing Diversity Neighbourhood are mapped — and, unlike Prospect and Nailsworth, no Urban Corridor zone at all. That is why the height controls here stop at 12 m and four levels, against 29 m in Prospect and 36 m in Nailsworth. For a homeowner it is the most valuable single fact about the suburb: the scale of what can appear beside you is genuinely contained.
Character and historic area overlays on seven listed places
Seven heritage places are recorded, and both a Character Area Overlay and a Historic Area Overlay are mapped alongside Local Heritage Place listings. As elsewhere in this council, the area overlays are the operative constraint: they assess new work against the character or the historic significance of the area, on land that carries no listing of its own. On a suburb this small, the chance that one reaches a given block is not low.
General flood risk only
Hazards (Flooding — General) is mapped, without the High category that applies in Prospect and Nailsworth. The General category identifies land subject to flooding without the more restrictive controls attached to High mapping. It still warrants an address check, and where it applies it can influence floor level and site drainage — but it is the lighter of the two findings, and it is one fewer thing to resolve against a character assessment.
No bushfire, no acid sulfate soils
Our mapping records no Hazards (Bushfire) overlay and no acid sulfate soils in Collinswood. The Regulated and Significant Tree overlay applies, and on established allotments with mature garden planting a protected tree can set the building envelope and the driveway alignment before a designer starts.
What to establish first in Collinswood
The site area, frontage and side setback rules at the exact address — fifteen dimensional rules across half a square kilometre means this is not a formality, it is the first hour of work. Then the character and historic area position. Then the flood check and any regulated tree. The zone matters less here than usual, because there are only two and neither contemplates tall development.
What to ask a builder about a block in Collinswood
Each one is here because of something mapped in Collinswood. Take them to whoever quotes.
- 01
Which of the 2 residential zones mapped in Collinswood covers this address, and what does that one permit that the others do not?
- 02
Have you had an application through City of Prospect where a heritage control applied, and how long did the assessment take?
Local landmarks in Collinswood
- A J Shard Park
- ECH Burnard Court Retirement Village
- ECH Leonard Court Retirement Village
- Gilberton Scout Hall
- Hamstead Hotel
- R L Pash Reserve
Questions about building in Collinswood
Why are there so many different rules in such a small suburb?
Collinswood is 0.52 km² and the Code maps eight minimum site area rules and seven minimum frontage rules across it. The useful question is never what the rule is in Collinswood but what it is at your address — a plan that fits one parcel often will not fit its neighbour.
What side setback applies to a second storey?
Three different rules are mapped: 1 m for the first level and 2 m above, 1 m and 3 m above, or 1.5 m and 3 m above. On a narrow allotment the difference between a 2 m and 3 m upper-level setback is a metre across the whole first floor.
Could an apartment building go up next door?
Less likely than in neighbouring suburbs. Collinswood carries no Urban Corridor zone at all, so its height controls stop at 12 m and four levels — against 29 m in Prospect and 36 m in Nailsworth.
Does Collinswood flood?
Hazards (Flooding — General) is mapped, without the High category that applies in Prospect and Nailsworth. It identifies land subject to flooding without the more restrictive controls attached to High mapping, and it can influence floor level and site drainage.
Is my Collinswood block heritage-affected?
Worth checking. Seven heritage places are recorded, and both a Character Area Overlay and a Historic Area Overlay are mapped — and those reach land carrying no listing of its own. On a suburb this small the odds are not negligible.
How this works
- 01Tell us about the build
Six questions, about three minutes.
- 02We match it against Collinswood
Against the 2 residential zones mapped here, 5 overlay families — and against which builders hold the right licence class for it, have done it before, and actually work under City of Prospect.
- 03One recommendation, with the reasoning
Not six quotes to sift. We negotiate on your behalf; you deal with the builder directly. Builders pay us, only once you sign.
No catch
What you are agreeing to
- Nothing. There is no contract with us, no account to create, no card, and nothing to cancel.
- No obligation to use whoever we recommend. Take the name and the reasoning and do what you like with it, including nothing.
- No phone number needed to start. Give us one if you want to be called; otherwise we write.
- One builder contacts you, not six. And only after you have seen the brief and said yes.
- Your details go to that builder and nobody else. Never sold, never auctioned, never shared with a panel.
- If we have nobody in Collinswood, we say so. That is a real answer we give, and the empty builder list above is the proof we mean it.
Building in Collinswood?
Licence checked with Consumer and Business Services, insurance sighted, still trading, genuinely working in Collinswood. If we cannot find one worth recommending, we will say so.
Start my brief →Free · about 3 minutes · no obligation · your details are never sold