Local Lookout
The Monday email for NSW trades and small businesses · Last week: 27 Oct to 1 Nov 2026


The timber and steel frame of a two-storey house going up behind a site fence
A house frame going up. In NSW, work like this is on the public record the week it's approved.

Camden: 25 jobs approved, worth $9.5m

The five biggest, approved between 27 Oct and 1 Nov. Pick another council area to see its week.

Alterations and additions to a house$956,395Mount AnnanApproved 27 Oct
Warehouse or distribution centre, alterations or additions$786,741LeppingtonApproved 29 Oct
New house$764,890LeppingtonApproved 30 Oct
New house$650,000CamdenApproved 28 Oct
New house$601,024Oran ParkApproved 27 Oct

674 approvals across NSW that week. Source: NSW Planning Portal, complying development certificates, © State Government of NSW, CC BY. Street addresses are left out here; members get them.

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  1. Sign upTwo minutes: your business, your area and what you're after.
  2. Every MondayYour emails arrive with last week's approvals and the grants that fit.
  3. Day 25We email you a payment link for $49 a month.
  4. Your callPay and carry on, or do nothing and the emails stop.

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Western Sydney from the air: Blacktown and the neighbouring suburbs, roofs and roads to the horizon

Building Approval Leads

For builders and trades: new approvals in the council areas you work in, filtered to your trade, with the address, value and date.

Get the leads
NSW Parliament House on Macquarie Street, Sydney, a long sandstone building

Grants Tracker

For any small business: NSW and federal grants matched to your industry, size and plans, with plain-English summaries and closing dates.

Get the grants
The towers of Parramatta rising above trees and suburban rooftops

AI Visibility Check

For local service businesses: who AI search recommends when customers ask for a business like yours, and a plain list of fixes.

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Membership

All three servicesLeads, Grants and AI Visibility$49 a month
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Hi, I'm Joseph. I run Local Lookout from Sydney.

The information that wins small businesses work is mostly public: new building approvals, open grants, which businesses AI recommends. Nobody has time to dig for it every week, so I do the digging and send you the short version on Monday morning.

It all comes from official, public sources: the NSW Planning Portal, nsw.gov.au and business.gov.au, and AI search asked directly. Nothing is bought, and nothing is taken from behind a login. Every email says where its information came from.

If an email isn't useful, reply and tell me. A real person reads every reply.

Joseph Maalouf

Founder, Local Lookout · Sydney, NSW · ABN 49 664 890 306

Questions people ask

Do I need a credit card for the free month? No. You only give us your email and a few details about your business. At the end of the month we send a payment link, and nothing happens unless you use it.

Is the free month a cut-down version? No. You get every service in full, so you can judge it on real results.

Is it $49 for each service? No. $49 a month covers all three. Sign up for the one that suits you, and add the others anytime by replying to any email.

How do I cancel? Reply "stop" to any email, or email us. Paid months are month to month, with no lock-in contract.

Where does the information come from? Building approvals from the NSW Planning Portal, the state's open record of approvals, updated daily. Grants from nsw.gov.au and business.gov.au, each linked to its official page. AI visibility from asking AI search directly; every report says which tools were checked and when.

Which areas do you cover? Building leads cover every council area in NSW, because all NSW councils use the Planning Portal. Grants cover NSW and federal programs. The AI check works for any local service business in Australia.

Does anyone else get the same leads? The records are public, so others may see them too. The advantage is hearing about them in the same week, every week, without searching.

Can you guarantee AI will recommend me? No, and nobody honestly can. AI answers change from day to day. We show where you stand, what the recommended businesses do differently, and whether your changes are working.

What do you do with my details? We use them only to run your service and reply to you. We don't sell or share them. Read the privacy policy.