Terms of service

YardSet Plans - Terms of Service (Site-Adapted Permit Sets)

Version 0.1 (draft), [date]. YardSet Plans LLC ("YardSet", "we", "us"), a [Florida/Massachusetts] limited liability company, [address], [email protected].

Plain-English summary (the full terms below control): We prepare an unstamped permit drawing set for one detached backyard building on one lot, from the information you give us, using the building code your town has adopted. We are not a licensed architect or engineer and we do not promise your permit will be approved; your building official decides. If your site turns out to need a licensed engineer's or architect's seal and you do not want to buy that upgrade, we refund the set price in full. You may build the design once, at the address on the order.

1. Who we are and what we are not

1.1 YardSet is a drafting and plan-preparation company. No one at YardSet is a licensed architect or professional engineer, and YardSet does not practise architecture or engineering. Our drawing sets are prepared under the exemptions in state law that allow plans for one- and two-family dwellings and their accessory buildings to be prepared by persons who are not licensed [Connecticut: Conn. Gen. Stat. s.20-298; New York: N.Y. Educ. Law ss.7307(5) and 7209(7)(b) for residence buildings of 1,500 sq ft gross area or less]. Every sheet says so, and no sheet carries a professional seal.

1.2 Where your project needs a licensed professional's review and seal (section 5), that work is done by an independent licensed engineer or architect under a separate agreement between you and that licensee. YardSet is not a party to that agreement and does not offer or provide engineering or architectural services.

2. The service

2.1 Site-adapted permit set. For the building type, size and options on your order, and the address on your order, we deliver: a drawing set (cover sheet, general notes and design criteria, site plan, foundation plan, floor plan(s) with framing, roof plan and framing, exterior elevations, building and wall sections, schedules, details, and an electrical/life-safety plan for habitable buildings) as PDF (24 x 36 sheets) and DXF, and a code compliance report listing each structural member and the code section and table it was selected from. Structural members are selected from the prescriptive tables of the residential building code adopted by your jurisdiction, using the design criteria that jurisdiction publishes; nothing outside those prescriptive provisions is included.

2.2 Feasibility report ($49). A written check of your address against our gate criteria (wind, snow, seismic, flood, frost, soil where known), the state's licensing rule, the town's zoning rules for the building type as we read them, and the town's submittal requirements, with a prediction of which lane (section 5) your project will use. It is a research summary, not a zoning determination, survey or title search. The fee is credited to a set ordered within 90 days.

2.3 Included plan-review response. One round of written responses to the building department's plan-review comments on the set as delivered, with a revised set where our drawings need to change (section 8).

2.4 Extra revision round ($250) and builder plan ($299 a month plus $750 per lot) as described at checkout.

2.5 Jurisdictions. We offer the service only in the states and towns listed on our website on the order date (at launch: Connecticut, excluding lots in FEMA special flood hazard areas and Coastal Area Management review; New York State outside New York City, for residence buildings of 1,500 sq ft gross area or less, garages not counted). If your address is outside the listed area, we will tell you and refund you.

3. You - the customer

3.1 You confirm that you are the owner of record of the property at the order address, or that you are the owner's contractor or representative with the owner's authority to order these drawings, and that you will tell us which it is.

3.2 You are the permit applicant. You (or your contractor) submit the permit application and the drawings to the building department, pay its fees, answer its administrative questions, and arrange inspections. We do not file applications, appear before the building department, or act as your agent or representative, unless we agree in writing for a specific task and the law of your state allows it.

3.3 You will use the drawings only for the building and the address on the order (section 13).

4. Information you must provide and warrant

4.1 We rely on what you tell us. You will provide, and you warrant the accuracy of, the information requested in our intake questionnaire, including: the property address, parcel ID and owner; a survey, certified plot plan or other site information showing lot lines, existing buildings, easements and the proposed location; the FEMA flood zone for the parcel (we will help you look it up); any soil report or known soil condition (fill, wet, rock, ledge, expansive clay); slope; the building type, size, layout and options; any known deed restriction, homeowners' association rule, wetlands, shoreline, historic district or septic constraint; and, in New York, the gross floor area of the dwelling and any answer the building department has given about accepting unstamped plans.

4.2 If you do not know a fact, say so. We never guess a missing fact. Where a required fact is unknown (for example, soil bearing), our software applies the conservative default the code allows and flags it, or routes the project to the licensed-review lane, or we stop and ask you.

4.3 If information you gave us is wrong or incomplete and the set has to change as a result, that is a chargeable revision (section 8), and we are not responsible for the consequences of the wrong information.

4.4 We do not verify lot lines, setbacks or zoning compliance against a survey we did not receive. A site plan drawn from an uncertified sketch is marked as such and may not be accepted by the town for setback verification.

5. The two lanes: what happens when your site is outside the prescriptive limits

5.1 Prescriptive lane. If your building and site are inside the prescriptive limits of the adopted code (as checked by our gates: wind speed, seismic design category, ground snow load, flood zone, soil, slope, building geometry, spans and the scope of the code) and your state allows us to prepare the plans, we deliver the unstamped set described in section 2.

5.2 Licensed-review lane. If any gate fails, or your jurisdiction requires a registered design professional's seal, or you ask for one, the set must be reviewed and sealed by a licensed engineer or architect. We will tell you in writing which gate failed and why, and offer to arrange a review and seal by an independent licensee in your state ("sealed upgrade"). The licensee contracts with you directly, sets and invoices their own fee (typically about $1,000, quoted by them), and is the design professional of record for the sealed set. YardSet charges a separate flat licensed-review-lane preparation and coordination fee of $500, stated at checkout, for adapting its files to the licensee's requirements and coordinating the hand-off. The licensee may require changes to the design, additional information, or site-specific engineering beyond our scope, at their own fee.

5.3 Refund. If the gate check shows your project cannot use the prescriptive lane and you decline the sealed upgrade, we refund the set price in full (section 10).

5.4 Building official's discretion. In every state, the building official may require sealed drawings, additional information, or changes, even for a project inside the prescriptive limits. We cannot prevent or overrule that. If the official requires a seal, section 5.2 applies; the refund in 5.3 applies only when our gate check, not the official, is the reason.

6. What we do not do

• No site visits, measurements, surveys, soil tests, percolation tests, or inspections.
• No zoning determinations, variances, special permits, historic-district, wetlands, shoreline, septic (Title 5 / DPH / local health) or HOA approvals; we summarise the published rules as we read them, and you confirm them with the town.
• No construction supervision, construction administration, contractor selection, cost estimates, schedules, or review of the contractor's work. The contractor is responsible for means, methods, safety and building to the approved plans.
• No mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire-sprinkler, energy-rating (HERS) or truss design beyond what the plans show for permit purposes; trade contractors and manufacturers design, size and permit their own systems and products (for example, engineered roof trusses come with the manufacturer's sealed drawings).
• No engineering or architecture (section 1).
• No legal, tax or financial advice, and no statement about whether you are allowed to build, rent, or what the building will add in value.

7. Turnaround

Our target is [10] business days from a complete intake (every required question answered and every document received) to delivery of the set. This is an estimate, not a promise. It excludes the time you take to answer, the town's review time, and the partner licensee's time on the licensed-review lane. We are not responsible for delays caused by you, the building department, utilities, the licensee, or events outside our control.

8. Plan-review comments and revisions

8.1 Forward the building department's comment letter to us when it arrives. Within [5] business days we deliver a written response to each comment and, where our drawings need to change, a revised set. This included round covers one consolidated comment letter.

8.2 Free: a revision needed because of our error or omission, in any round.

8.3 Extra revision round ($250): a second or later comment letter caused by a change you request, information you did not give at intake or gave wrongly, a change in your project, a change of law after delivery, or a request by the building official for something outside the scope in section 2. Work beyond one extra round is quoted in advance at $[95] an hour.

8.4 Structural comments on a sealed set go to the licensee under your agreement with them.

8.5 We respond through you. We do not negotiate with the building official on your behalf (section 3.2).

9. Price and payment

9.1 Prices are those shown at checkout on the order date, in US dollars, exclusive of sales tax where it applies (we collect it where we are registered). Payment in full at order by card through Stripe. Builder-plan customers are invoiced monthly, due in 14 days.

9.2 The feasibility fee is credited against a set ordered within 90 days of the report.

9.3 Town fees, printing, surveys, soil reports, HERS ratings, trusses and the licensee's fee are yours.

10. Cancellation and refunds

See also the Refund Policy (07), which repeats this table.

11. No warranty of permit approval; limited warranty

11.1 We do not promise that any permit will be issued, that the building department will accept unstamped drawings, that review will take any particular time, or that the design will be approved without changes. The building official has the final say on code interpretation and on what the application must contain.

11.2 We warrant that the set is prepared with reasonable care from the information you gave us, using the version of the adopted code and the design criteria stated on the notes sheet as of the delivery date. If we made an error, our obligation is to correct the drawings at no charge (section 8.2) or, if we cannot, to refund the set price.

11.3 Except as stated in 11.2, the set and the reports are provided "as is", without any other warranty, express or implied, including merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Some states do not allow some of these exclusions; the attorney will add the required consumer wording.

12. Limitation of liability

12.1 To the fullest extent the law allows, YardSet's total liability to you for all claims arising out of or related to an order, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), statute or otherwise, is limited to the amount you paid YardSet for that order.

12.2 YardSet is not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages, including loss of use, delay, loss of rent, financing costs, or increased construction costs, even if advised of the possibility.

12.3 Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

12.4 You will not bring any claim more than [one year] after delivery of the set, where the law allows this period to be shortened.

13. Intellectual property and your licence to build

13.1 YardSet owns the drawings, models, data files, reports and the software that produced them, including all copyright. You receive no ownership.

13.2 On payment, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the set to obtain a permit for, and to build, one building of the design shown, at the address on the order, and to give copies to your contractor, lender, the building department and trades for that purpose. The licence does not allow building a second structure (on this or any other lot), reusing the design on another lot, modifying and reusing it, or selling, publishing or distributing the files. A builder-plan customer's per-lot licence works the same way, one lot per fee.

13.3 The DXF file is provided so that a qualified local professional can edit the drawings for your project; edited drawings remain subject to this licence and carry no YardSet responsibility for the edits.

13.4 We may use the design, drawings and photographs of the finished building (with the address and your name removed) to show our work, unless you opt out in writing before delivery.

13.5 Code text and tables referred to in the set belong to their publishers (International Code Council and the adopting state); the set cites them.

14. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy (06) explains what we collect and why. Property and project information is shared with the licensee on the licensed-review lane and, if you ask us to, with your contractor.

15. Governing law and disputes

15.1 These terms are governed by the law of [home state], without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. [Attorney: confirm against Connecticut and New York consumer-protection rules for out-of-state sellers.]

15.2 Before starting any proceeding, you and we will try to resolve the dispute by direct discussion for 30 days and then by mediation (each paying half the mediator's fee). Either party may then bring a claim in the state or federal courts located in [county, home state], and you agree to that venue, except that you may bring a claim in the small-claims court of the county where you live for amounts within its limit. [Attorney: decide whether to use binding arbitration with a small-claims carve-out instead; if so, add the class-waiver and opt-out wording.]

15.3 Each party pays its own legal costs unless the court orders otherwise.

16. General

16.1 These terms, the order confirmation and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement for the order; anything we said in marketing or email that is not in them is not part of it.

16.2 If a term is unenforceable, the rest stand.

16.3 You may not assign the order or the licence without our written consent (a builder may name the lot owner as the licensee of the set for that lot).

16.4 Notices to us: [email protected] or the address above. Notices to you: the email on the order.

16.5 We may change these terms for future orders by posting a new version; the version you accepted governs your order.

Acceptance: ticking "I agree" at checkout, or paying the invoice, accepts these terms on behalf of the customer named on the order.