Editorial Standards

General education vs. professional advice

Our guides explain how waterfront walls work, what commonly goes wrong, and how projects are typically planned. They are general education. They are not a structural assessment, an engineering design, a legal opinion, or a determination of what permits your property needs. Those require a licensed professional who has examined your specific site — typically a marine contractor, a licensed professional engineer, a surveyor, or the permitting agency itself.

Our tools follow the same rule. The Bulkhead Health Check organizes what you report; it never says a wall is safe or diagnoses a cause. The Budget Planner shows published ranges and disclosed assumptions, never a quote. The Permit Navigator lists agencies to research, never a permit decision.

Sourcing

• We prefer primary and authoritative sources: federal and state agencies, university and Sea Grant programs, peer-reviewed research, and recognized engineering bodies.
• Manufacturer literature is identified as such. Contractor marketing is not used as a source of fact.
• Every source is listed at the bottom of the page with the date we accessed it. We open every source before citing it.
• Cost figures are reported with their source and year. We do not invent prices, statistics, inspection findings or field experience.

Review status

Each guide shows its last substantive review date and one of these statuses:

• Editorially reviewed — researched and checked against sources by our editorial team.
• Professional review pending — awaiting technical review by a licensed engineer or experienced marine contractor.

We will add named reviewer credits only for real, verifiable reviewers with their permission.

Local and regional content

We publish regional guides only where we have genuinely local information — waterbodies, exposure, local permitting authorities, and regional considerations. We do not create near-identical city pages, and we never imply contractor availability that our routing configuration has not confirmed.

Use of AI tools

We may use software, including AI tools, to help research and draft content. Every published page is checked against its cited sources and held to the same standards, and we are accountable for what we publish.

Commercial independence

Commercial relationships never determine what a guide says about materials, methods or costs. Where we have a relationship with a contractor, we disclose it. See the referral disclosure.

Corrections

If you find an error or an outdated source, please tell us. We review every report and update the page and its review date when we make a substantive change.