Editorial policy

Last updated: 2026-07-31

This page states the rules the site is written under: name the source, show the date, label the guesswork, and fix mistakes in the open.

Who writes this

Andrew Flores is responsible for the site's research, calculations, source verification, and corrections. He is a cost researcher, not a septic contractor, engineer, or health official, and the author box on each guide says exactly that. Where a question genuinely needs a licensed professional — system design, permitting decisions, a failing drainfield — the page says so instead of pretending a website can settle it.

How the numbers are sourced

Every dollar figure on this site carries one of three labels. Sourced means the number was taken from a published cost study or a government page, and the methodology page lists the exact source and the date we checked it. Derived means we computed it from sourced numbers, with the arithmetic shown. Assumed means it is our own adjustment factor with no direct source, and the page that uses it says so in plain sight. A figure that cannot earn one of those labels does not get published. The same discipline is enforced in the build itself: a dollar amount cannot appear in page text unless it is registered with a source and a retrieval date, so an unlabeled number fails our checks before it can reach you.

How pages are updated

Each figure carries the date it was last checked and a review date. When a figure passes its review date, we re-check it against the source before the next site update, and the “data last reviewed” line on the page moves only when that re-check actually happened. Cost studies revise their numbers; our job is to track the revision, not to defend the number we published first.

Corrections

If a figure here disagrees with its cited source, tell us through the contact page. A confirmed error is corrected on the page itself and noted on the methodology page, so the record of the change is public. We do not quietly rewrite history: the note says what was wrong and when it was fixed.

Review responsibility

Every published figure must trace to a cited source, documented arithmetic, or a visibly labeled assumption. Andrew reviews the source, surrounding wording, and calculator result before publication and is accountable for corrections. The deterministic formulas are printed on the methodology page, so the same inputs produce the same estimate.

Independence

No contractor, manufacturer, or lead-generation service pays for placement on this site, supplies its figures, or reviews its pages before publication. Advertising, if and when it appears, is served by an ad network, labeled as advertising, and has no say in what the editorial content reports. The site has no “request a quote” funnel and earns nothing from steering your project anywhere.