Editorial & Source Standards

This page describes how facts get onto this site, how they are dated, and what this site refuses to publish. It exists so you can judge the information here on its method, not on its confidence.

Official sources first

Consequential claims — permit triggers, building-code requirements, utility-notice rules, licensing thresholds, fees, deadlines — are checked against the issuing authority or the original code source: the City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, the International Code Council, and the State of Tennessee. Blog posts, competitor pages, and aggregator summaries are not acceptable sources for those claims, and this site does not cite them.

Where two official sources state different figures, both are published as-is with their origins identified, rather than silently averaging or picking one.

Dated verification

Every checked claim carries the date it was verified. The current stamp is:

CHECKED · JUL 27 2026

Rules change. A dated stamp tells you exactly how fresh the check is, and the responsible authorities remain the source of truth for the current requirement. Facts on this site are never auto-updated by software; a change requires a deliberate re-verification and a new date.

What this site refuses to publish

• Prices, averages, or “typical costs” presented as local fact when the underlying figures come from incompatible units, periods, or inclusions.
• Response-time promises, availability promises, or acceptance guarantees this website cannot control.
• Fabricated reviews, stock photos presented as local work, or credentials that belong to someone else.
• Determinations that belong to an authority or professional — whether a specific site needs a permit, satisfies a code requirement, or qualifies for a Tennessee 811 exemption.
• Legal, engineering, or safety advice.

Writing assistance disclosure

Drafting and editing on this site may involve AI writing tools. Verification does not: every consequential claim is checked by a person against the issuing authority or original code source before it is published, and the verification date reflects that human check.

Corrections

Report an error by calling (423) 799-3271 or through the request form, identifying the page and the claim. Reports are reviewed against the current official source; when a correction is warranted, the page is updated and re-dated. More about the site itself is on the about page.