Upscale.build vs Archistar: after site yield, who owns the feaso?

Archistar is site and design intelligence software — yield, envelopes, generative design and site finding. UpScale.build is property development software for Australian developers and client-side PMs: free Feasibility that freezes into an Original Budget for delivery — residual land value, GST, claims, variations, funder reporting and site diary — priced from free Feasibility, then $149 AUD/month when a project goes live, with up to 50 consultants, builders and clients invited at no extra cost.

If you are searching “Upscale.build vs Archistar” or “Archistar alternative for property developers,” the useful split is whether you need residual land value, GST and margin through claims — not only site yield. Archistar is very good at finding and shaping sites. UpScale wins when the buyer needs feaso plus delivery baseline after you buy — on the client-side, not the head contractor, and never equity-side tooling.

Feasibility stays the baseline. Approve a feasibility and it freezes into an Original Budget that cannot be quietly edited to match whatever happened. Delivery is read against it section by section — so drift arrives as a line item, not a feeling.

Margin through variations and claims. Certify claims against work done; price variations for time as well as money. Twenty variations at $5,000 is $100,000 — catching them one at a time is how you still have room to say no.

Funder reporting without another PDF scramble. Feasibility renders as a report in the order credit teams read it, under your letterhead, with an Excel workbook a valuer can audit. Share as a live link with an expiry — revoke when the deal changes.

Site diary on site. Native iOS app — weather, labour, plant, visitors, delays and photos recorded on the day. That is the record you argue from when an EOT arrives eighteen months later.

Documents stay yours. Connect Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive; files stay in your cloud. Stop paying and you have not lost a drawing.

Use Archistar if you mainly need site and design intelligence — yield, envelopes, generative design and site finding — and you already have a separate cost / funding / delivery stack that works. UpScale is not claiming Archistar is bad — different jobs can both be valid.

Use UpScale if you are the developer or client-side PM who needs residual land value, GST and margin through claims — the feasibility that justified the site staying connected to budget, tenders, claims, variations, diary and funder packs — without per-seat licences for every consultant you invite. Pay when the project goes live; Feasibility stays free forever.