Editorial policy

Numbers are computed, never typed

Every price, quantity and range shown on a page comes from the pricing engine and the data tables described on the methodology page. Nobody types prices into copy. If the data changes, the page changes with it, and the "Prices updated" date on the page reflects the newest data it uses.

Who makes the pages

The founder builds each page and checks it before publishing. Pages have no bylines, and nobody is paid to check them. Where a material price is our estimate, the page says "estimated".

One page, one purpose

Each page answers one search intent. Size pages, project pages and location pages exist only where they add computed, location-specific or size-specific information. We do not publish "coming soon" pages, and a location page is generated only when it has enough real local data to differ meaningfully from the national page.

Freshness

Labor data is refreshed with each annual BLS release, and the ready-mix index every month. Every cost page shows the date of the newest data it uses.

Corrections

If you find an error, email hello@americanbuildrate.com or use the contact page. We fix factual errors once we've checked them, and the page's updated date changes. If you work in the trade and your correction changes a price, we credit you on the page, with your permission.

Advertising and commercial relationships

Ads and affiliate links appear only on do-it-yourself and material pages, never on pages with a quote-request form or a signup prompt. Where we may earn a fee from an action, the disclosure sits next to the button. Commercial relationships don't influence the engine's numbers.

Use of AI tools

Software, including AI-assisted tools, generates page templates and turns computed values into readable sentences. Nothing is published without the founder reading it first.

Structured data

We mark up only what is visible on the page. We do not add review or rating markup until real, collected reviews exist.