About DevStack

DevStack is a directory of the tools, datasets and council resources I use to find, analyse and consent property development sites in New Zealand. It started because every time someone new sat down to look at a deal, I'd watch them open the wrong tab first, then the wrong tab second, and burn an hour before they got near a real answer. There's no central list anywhere. So I built one.

Every spoke page on this site has two parts. The first is the boring facts: what the tool is, who runs it, what it costs, where to click. The second is the Developer's Take: when I'd actually use it, what to look out for, and where it's genuinely useful versus where it'll waste your day. The Take is the part that doesn't exist anywhere else and it's the part that makes the site worth bookmarking.

Who runs this

DevStack is built and maintained by James Guilford, an Auckland-based property developer and entrepreneur. I co-own and operate businesses across insulation contracting and residential development, and I've been on the buyer, seller, consultant and council-applicant side of more deals than I can comfortably remember. The Takes on this site come from that.

How DevStack stays free

The site is free because it carries ads, mostly served by Google AdSense. If a tool ever earns its way onto the site through a paid placement or affiliate deal, that page will say so at the top. Right now nothing on this site is paid for, every listing is here because I think it earns its spot.

Get in touch

Spotted a tool that should be on here? A council link that's broken? A Take that's out of date? Drop me a line at hello@devstack.co.nz or use the contact page.