Editorial Policy

1

Sourcing standard

Every figure on the site traces to a primary source. For commodity prices that means USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries; for cost escalation, the BLS Producer Price Index series published via the FRED API; for engineering values, ASTM standards and manufacturer specifications (Quikrete, USG, and similar). Wherever a figure could plausibly be sourced from a paid aggregator, we go upstream to the government series or standard instead.

We do not use, paraphrase, or otherwise re-publish data from RSMeans, Homewyse, HomeGuide, or Angi. Those sources are either licensed and non-redistributable or themselves derived; resurfacing their numbers under a new label is both a policy violation and an integrity problem. The full reasoning lives on the methodology page.

2

Pinned identifiers (real ≠ right)

When we cite an index series, a publication, or a standard, the identifier on the page is pinned by code + base period + units + coverage, linked to the source, and stored in the page's data file. This discipline prevents the easiest and most damaging sourcing error: citing a real series that is not the one we actually mean. The Ready-Mix Concrete PPI we use is PCU327320327320 (base June 1981 = 100), not the real-but-different PCU3273232732 (base December 2003 = 100). Both publish under the same human label; only one fits our baseline.

3

Verification

Every number on a tool page traces either to a named source or to a calculation shown step-by-step on the same page. There are no “according to government data” attributions; the actual code, publication, or standard is named inline. We use ranges rather than false precision on every cost surface, because the underlying public data supports a range, not a single decimal-point figure.

Cost figures that depend on a third-party API resolve at render time. When the API is reachable, the live figure is labelled with its “as of” month; when it is not, the page falls back to a frozen anchor and labels it accordingly. We never show a stale figure as fresh, and we never let an API error blank or break the page.

4

AI-use disclosure

Content on ConstructionCalc is produced with AI assistance under human editorial direction. We use large language models to draft, restructure, and copy-edit prose; to surface candidate citations; and to generate boilerplate (the kind of paragraphs you are reading now). Every source identifier shown on a page, every dollar anchor, every density value, and every formula is verified by a human against the named primary source before publication. AI output that cannot be traced to a primary source is discarded.

We do not present AI-generated content as the work of named human experts. There are no fabricated bylines, no fictional “editorial team” profiles, and no invented credentials. The publisher is Moving Data Systems, digitalni marketing, d.o.o.; the editorial direction comes from the company.

5

Corrections

Mistakes get fixed. If you spot a wrong number, a stale source, or a contradiction, email info@constructioncalc.org with the page URL and what you saw. We aim to respond within a few business days, and to publish a fix as soon as the underlying source can be confirmed.

Material corrections are noted in the affected page's “Last updated” line and, where relevant, mentioned in a short note on the page itself.

6

Update cadence

Wholesale cost figures resolve automatically at every page render against the latest BLS index observation; there is no manual refresh step. The frozen dollar anchors (USGS MCS actuals) are refreshed annually when the next Mineral Commodity Summaries publish. Retail price ranges are reviewed alongside any tool-page edit and labelled with the year. Engineering constants (densities, sheet sizes, ASTM weights) change only when the underlying standard does.

This editorial policy was last updated June 8, 2026.