The Standard We Hold Every Page To
This page is the rulebook, not the introduction. Our About Us page tells you who builds AllConcreteCalculator.com. This page tells you exactly how a number is sourced, who has to sign off on it, and what happens when one turns out to be wrong. Every calculator and guide here is researched, written, and checked by our own engineers and field contractors — not scraped, not templated, not outsourced. If a page on this site doesn't follow what's written here, that's a defect — tell us and we'll fix it.
What this document governs — and what it doesn't
This Editorial Policy applies to every calculator, guide, comparison table, cited price range, and supporting diagram published on AllConcreteCalculator.com. It's the process document: the checkpoints a piece of content has to pass through between "someone thinks this is true" and "this is live on the site."
It is deliberately separate from three other pages that sometimes get lumped together with it. Our About Us page covers who the reviewers are and their individual credentials. Our Privacy Policy covers what happens to data you submit through a form. Our Terms of Service covers the legal terms of using the site and its outputs. This page covers none of that — it covers process, sourcing, and correction.
We publish it because "we're accurate" is a claim anyone can make. A written policy is a claim you can hold us to.
Calculators & formulas
Every calculation engine — inputs, formula, rounding logic, and output labeling — falls under the sourcing and sign-off rules below.
Guides & explainers
Long-form articles in our Guides section follow the same sourcing hierarchy as calculators, with the added requirement that claims be attributable to a specific source, not general knowledge.
Pricing & market data
Cost ranges, regional pricing, and delivery-fee figures are treated as perishable — they're timestamped and flagged for review on a shorter cycle than code-based formulas.
Diagrams & supporting media
Charts, tables, and illustrative diagrams are held to the same accuracy bar as the text around them — a diagram that overstates precision is treated as an error, not a style choice.
How a number earns a place on this site
We rank sources before we ever open a spreadsheet. A figure's rank determines how it's labeled — and whether it can be published at all without a caveat attached.
Named standard, named section
If ACI, ASTM, or ASCE has published a governing provision, we cite the document and, where practical, the specific section or table it comes from — not just "ACI 318" as a blanket reference.
Market and cost figures need corroboration
Nothing governs the price of concrete the way ACI 318 governs rebar spacing. Cost figures are only published once we've cross-checked at least two independent regional data points, and they're shown as ranges, not single numbers pretending to be exact.
Field convention is labeled as convention
Some numbers — a typical waste factor, a common rule-of-thumb thickness — aren't code-mandated, they're just what experienced crews do. We still use them, but the copy says "common practice" or "field convention," never implies it's a code requirement.
Superseded editions get flagged, not deleted
Standards get revised. When a formula is tied to a specific code edition, the edition year is stated, and if a newer edition changes the governing provision, the calculator is queued for re-review rather than left to quietly drift out of date.
Nothing merges to the live site unreviewed
A drafted formula or figure sits in review until it passes the sign-off chain described below. There is no "publish now, verify later" path for calculators or technical claims.
No page publishes on one person's say-so
Every calculator and guide passes through four distinct gates before it's live. Each gate is a different question, checked by a different discipline — not the same reviewer signing off twice.
The calculation logic and supporting copy are built against a specific cited source from the tier system above. Nothing proceeds without a source attached at this stage.
Structural, reinforcement, and load-related tools get a licensed P.E. review. Unit conversions, rounding, and edge cases are tested against known-answer inputs for every calculator, regardless of category.
Flatwork, foundations, and cost tools are checked against actual project quantities and regional variation. A number that's correct on paper but doesn't survive contact with a real pour gets sent back.
Final check for clarity and scope disclosure — does the page say what the tool is for, what it isn't for, and where the numbers came from, in language a working contractor would actually understand?
What happens after you tell us we got something wrong
Estimation tools are used to spend real money on real trucks. When one of ours is wrong, we want to know before you order — here's exactly what we do once you tell us.
How to Flag an Error
Use our contact page and tell us the calculator name, the inputs you used, and what you expected versus what you got. Screenshots help. We read every submission ourselves — there's no ticket queue that dead-ends.
Investigation Window
We aim to acknowledge a credible report within three business days. Errors affecting structural or safety-related calculators are prioritized and, if confirmed, the tool is pulled from public view or flagged with an in-page warning while we fix it — it doesn't stay live silently wrong.
What Gets Logged
Confirmed corrections are recorded with what changed, why, and the date of the fix. We don't silently swap a number and move on — the change record for any tool is available if you contact us and ask for it.
Standards-Change Trigger
When ACI, ASTM, or ASCE publish a new edition that touches one of our formulas, the affected calculators are queued for re-review automatically — we don't wait for a user to notice before checking our own work.
Who influences what you see — and who's actually writing it
Two questions we think every reference site should answer plainly: who's paying for what you're reading, and whose name is actually behind it.
Editorial Independence
No supplier, manufacturer, or advertiser has ever paid to influence a formula, a recommendation, or which calculator we build next. Tool requests are prioritized by user demand, not vendor interest.
Named, Human Authorship
Every calculator and guide on this site is researched and written by our own engineers and field contractors — the people named on our About Us page. Nothing is scraped from other sites, spun from templates, or handed off to an outside content mill.
Link & Referral Policy
Links between our own calculators exist to help you finish a project — none of them are paid placements, and we don't accept compensation to recommend a specific supplier, product brand, or contractor.
Where this policy ends and other pages begin
We'd rather point you to the right page than let one document try to cover everything and end up vague about all of it. This Editorial Policy is narrowly about how content gets made, checked, and fixed.
For who's actually doing the reviewing — names, licenses, and years of experience — see About Us. For how we handle information you submit through a form, see our Privacy Policy. For the legal terms of using our calculators and their outputs, see our Terms of Service.
Found a gap between what's written here and what you actually see on the site? That's exactly the kind of thing we want reported through Contact Us.
Found a number that doesn't check out?
Tell us which calculator, what you entered, and what looked wrong. We investigate every credible report.
Report a Calculator Error
Found something that doesn't add up? We take accuracy reports seriously and respond to every one.
Ask About Our Sourcing
Want the specific standard, section, or table behind a calculator? Ask and we'll share our methodology notes.
Request a Calculator
Missing a tool for your specific use case? Tell us what you need — new tools follow this same policy from day one.