BuildabilityFor CDBG cities · Section 104
City of Austin is a CDBG grantee.
Section 104 asks every grantee to publish the undeveloped land it owns. See where you stand and what publishing costs; the counter page is below.
What it helps decide
Three decisions, made earlier and with the record in hand.
Every answer is preliminary evidence from public records. The City still makes every determination.
Which sites deserve a closer look.
Where to point a housing study, a consultant’s scope or an infrastructure question, before anyone has spent on it.
Which constraints need resolving first.
Flood, slope, soil, access and zoning findings with their sources, and the questions nobody has answered yet, named as open.
Which resident questions staff can answer faster.
Zoning, flood zone, “can I add an ADU here?” A resident arrives with a sourced starting point; staff confirm, correct or take it from there.
| Who | The better decision | What it can mean |
|---|---|---|
| Homeowner | Is this addition or ADU worth investigating before paying for plans? | Less spent on concepts that cannot work; a clearer path for the ones that can. |
| Builder or developer | Which properties deserve deeper diligence? | Fewer unsuitable sites pursued, and constraints seen earlier. |
| City | Where should housing studies and infrastructure investigation focus? | Public dollars and consultant work aimed at viable opportunities. |
A screening result does not prove feasibility, produce a home or create tax revenue. It improves the first decision, including the decision to stop.
See what an answer actually contains.
Type an address your staff already know. Each finding shows its source and the date it was read, and anything we could not read is named. If flood or terrain could not be read, the property is marked “Needs verification” rather than called ready.
Live public records, no account. Every data source · What we have and have not validated
Free and paid
What stays free, and what a City pays for.
The free parts stay free whether or not the City buys. The paid service is scoped and quoted in writing; nothing below is sold before it exists.
| Free | Municipal service (quoted) | |
|---|---|---|
| Property lookup for residents and staff | Any address, no account, no per-question bill to the City | The same lookup, scoped to your boundary, embedded on your site in your colours |
| Your zoning code | Whatever we have already read, in every answer | Your full code read into cited standards, changes flagged, DRAFT until staff confirm |
| Section 104 inventory of land you own | Build, match, redact, export, memo and summary | Hosted public page, embed, ArcGIS layer, quarterly re-read |
| Screening across many parcels | Staff can score their own list in the app | An agreed boundary and parcel set, staff-reviewed candidates, CSV and GeoJSON exports |
| Support | A named contact, and fixes to findings your staff mark wrong |
Not built yet, so not sold: a monthly log of what residents asked. Citywide screening is quoted only after its boundary, parcel count, sources, refresh frequency and delivery cost are agreed. A resident who wants the full written report on their own lot can buy one from us for $99; the City pays nothing for that.
The 30-day staff evaluation
Twenty properties your staff already know.
The fastest honest test is a lot where the right answer is already on someone’s desk.
- 01
Agree the scope.
Two use cases and 20 properties your staff choose. We confirm sources and coverage for each.
- 02
Staff review a usable preview.
The 30 days start when staff accept it, not while setup is still blocked. Each finding is marked correct, wrong or missing.
- 03
We fix what matters.
Material errors are corrected or named as limits. Staff time is measured against a baseline, net of the review itself.
- 04
You decide.
Buy, extend or stop. Nothing is charged automatically and nothing carries the City’s name without approval.
Three questions the evaluation answers, besides accuracy
- What decision did this information help someone make?
- What research, expense or delay did it change?
- What still required professional or City review?
Plan it with your own numbers
Two worksheets for the budget conversation.
Your inputs stay in your browser. Print a summary for the meeting.
City value estimate
Net staff capacity from your own inquiry counts and hourly costs, with upkeep and setup subtracted. Negative results stay visible; capacity is not cash savings.
Estimate your City’s valueCDBG funding planner
Map quoted costs to the eligibility, cap and budget status your Finance team confirms. It records decisions; it does not make them.
Prepare a Finance reviewOptional: resident report revenue (proposed, not offered yet)
Residents can already buy a written report on their own lot from us for $99. Below is a proposal for review: what a second tier would add, how a City-channel share could work, and a scenario that starts at zero. None of it is an offer, a forecast or a contract.
| Basic · $99 | Enhanced · $199 (proposed) | |
|---|---|---|
| Can a resident buy it today? | Yes — the current report | No. Preview only; not in checkout |
| Every free finding, with sources and open questions | ||
| Owner, APN and assessor record; value band and nearby sales | ||
| A proposed use checked against cited dimensional standards (for example an ADU) | Only where we have read the city’s code | |
| A next-action checklist for that use | Proposed; not built | |
| Human review, engineering, confirmed utility capacity, guaranteed feasibility |
- Proposed share: 50% of eligible receipts to the City.
- Eligible: sold through the City’s approved channel (its partner key on the embedded lookup), fulfilled and collected, net of tax and of refunds and chargebacks.
- Costs: Buildability pays its own processing, data and delivery out of its half; nothing is deducted before the split.
- Not decided: payout schedule and statements, clawbacks on later refunds, cancellation, and how sales through a partner platform are treated. No partner commission is assumed on top.
- Accounting: how any income is recorded is the City’s decision; we do not assume it is unrestricted.
Scenario, not a forecast: City share $0.00 a month on $0 of eligible receipts.
Per eligible sale under the proposed terms: Basic $49.50 of $99; Enhanced $99.50 of $199.
Plainly
What it does not do.
Three limits, before you ask. The third is the one your attorney will want.
- It does not replace your planners. It gives them a sourced starting point.
- It does not guess. Where a record is missing, it says so instead of inventing a number. Utility proximity is never presented as service or capacity.
- It does not decide anything. Every answer is labelled preliminary information from public records and points back to your counter. It issues no permits and makes no determinations.
CDBG grantee?
Publish the land you own.
Public Law 119-101 asks every CDBG grantee to keep a searchable public database of the undeveloped land it owns. We build it with you. Building and checking your inventory is free. Publishing it is an annual licence, priced by your FY26 CDBG allocation. If your grant comes through the county, this is their job, not yours.
Security
What your IT person will ask.
Three answers. Everything else is written down in public, before anyone has to request it.
Public data only.
The lookup reads public records and your published code. It holds no resident accounts and no personal data.
Every answer cited.
Each line shows the dataset or code section it came from, with the date it was read.
Nothing on your servers.
It is a link or one line of code on your site. Nothing installs, nothing connects to your systems.
Questions cities ask.
Does this replace our planners?
No. It gives residents and staff a sourced starting point, so planners spend their time on the cases that need judgment.
Has another city launched this yet?
No. No city is live on it today, and we would rather tell you that than point you at a reference you cannot check. The 20-property evaluation exists so your own staff can judge it on lots they know.
Who is responsible if an answer is wrong?
Your jurisdiction stays the only authority. Every answer is labelled preliminary information from public records, shows its source and read date, and points back to your counter. Your attorney gets the disclaimer text and the contract before you sign anything.
What happens when evidence is missing?
The answer names every reading it could not make, and a missing reading is never shown as a zero or a clear result. If flood or terrain is missing, the property is marked “Needs verification” instead of being called ready.
What happens when our code changes?
For code we have read into our records, we re-read it and flag cited values that moved, with the old and new sentence. Nothing says “per the City” until your staff confirm it.
Do we have to give you data or connect our systems?
Only the 20 property addresses your staff choose for the evaluation. Everything else is public records and the code you already publish; nothing installs on your servers.
What happens at day 31 if we say no?
Nothing is charged, because nothing was set up to charge. Anything carrying the City’s name comes down, and your staff keep their review notes.
How do we buy it?
We provide a written scope and quote. Your Purchasing team confirms the required process. The evaluation comes first, so nobody is asked to buy before staff have checked the answers.
What does the three-year price lock mean?
The first cities keep their first-year annual price for two renewals: if you renew in years two and three, the price does not go up. It is not a three-year contract; each renewal is your decision.
Start with 20 properties.
Your staff choose them, check every finding, and decide. We provide a written scope and quote. Your Purchasing team confirms the required process.
Or email team@buildability.us with your city and the one question your counter hears most.