Terms & Conditions

By accessing or using BuildFactor (the “Service”) you agree to these Terms & Conditions and to the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

BuildFactor is a collection of construction calculators and reference material. Each calculator applies a documented formula to the inputs you provide and returns an exact quantity and a recommended (waste-adjusted) quantity, along with the formula, assumptions and sources. The Service is informational and is provided for estimating and planning.

Nothing on BuildFactor is engineering, architectural, legal, financial or other professional advice, and using the Service does not create a professional relationship. A result is not a design, a certification, a permit document, or approval of any kind.

The structural calculators — including snow load, wood beam span, floor joist, door header and roof truss — apply a single published equation to the numbers you enter. They do not evaluate your load path, connections, lateral bracing, uplift, bearing, notching, fire rating, serviceability, soil conditions, or local code amendments, and every design value is your input. A licensed engineer or your local building official must review and stamp the final design before you build or order structural members.

You are solely responsible for:

• the accuracy and appropriateness of the measurements, prices, factors and options you enter;
• choosing the right calculator and method for your situation;
• the waste allowance you apply or accept;
• independently verifying any result before you rely on it, order material, or begin work;
• complying with the building codes, standards, permits and manufacturer instructions that apply to your project.

BuildFactor takes care to trace each formula to an authoritative source and to test it against a worked example. Even so, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including as to accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted availability. Formulas rely on assumptions that may not match your project; constants and industry figures vary by product and region; and rounding and real-world conditions affect actual quantities. Always confirm critical numbers with a supplier, a current specification, or a qualified professional.

You agree not to:

• use the Service in a way that breaks the law or infringes anyone's rights;
• attempt to disrupt, overload, probe or gain unauthorized access to the Service or its infrastructure;
• scrape, copy or redistribute the Service's content at scale, or present it as your own;
• remove or obscure any notice, attribution or source citation.

The BuildFactor name, design, interface, written content, worked examples and the organisation of the calculator library are owned by BuildFactor and protected by intellectual-property law. You may use the calculators and view the content for your own construction projects and estimating work. The underlying mathematical formulas and the public standards they come from are not owned by BuildFactor and are cited on each calculator page.

Calculator pages link to external references as source citations. BuildFactor does not control those sites and is not responsible for their content, accuracy or practices. The Service is delivered through third-party hosting infrastructure; its availability depends in part on those providers.

BuildFactor is offered free of charge. We may add, change, suspend or remove calculators, features or pages at any time, and a calculator may be corrected or its version bumped when a better source or a fix is found. We do not guarantee that the Service, or any particular calculator, will always be available or unchanged.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, BuildFactor and anyone involved in producing it will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, materials, time or business, arising from your use of or inability to use the Service or your reliance on any result — even if a possibility of such damage was known. Your use of the Service is at your own risk.

You agree to hold BuildFactor harmless from claims and costs arising out of your misuse of the Service, your breach of these terms, or your reliance on a result without independent verification.

We may update these terms. When we do, the effective date above will change and the current version will always be on this page. Continuing to use the Service after an update means you accept the revised terms.

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. These terms are the entire agreement between you and BuildFactor regarding the Service. Any dispute will be handled in good faith and, where a formal process is required, under the law of the jurisdiction in which BuildFactor is operated.

Questions about these terms, or a correction to a formula or source, can be sent through the contact page.