Ballast | Planning

Service Terms

1. AGREEMENT AND CONTRACT DOCUMENTS

These Service Terms are between Ballast Planning LLC, a Utah limited liability company ("Ballast," "we," "us"), and the association or other client identified in an accepted Order Summary (the "Client").

A paid engagement is governed by: (a) the accepted Order Summary; (b) these Service Terms; (c) the then-applicable Privacy Policy; (d) the Ballast Guarantee version named in the Order Summary; and (e) any product-specific exhibit or reliance letter expressly incorporated by the Order Summary. If there is a conflict, the Order Summary controls project-specific scope, price, cadence, and delivery; these Service Terms control the general service relationship. The Ballast Guarantee is a remedy within these Service Terms. These Service Terms govern, and if the Guarantee and these Service Terms differ, these Service Terms control.

An engagement becomes binding when an authorized Client representative accepts the exact Order Summary and incorporated document versions and Ballast confirms acceptance. The Client's authorized representative may be a board member, an officer, or a community management firm or manager that the Client has authorized to accept on its behalf; an acceptance made with that authority binds the Client. A quote that expires before acceptance is not binding. A payment-page return, browser redirect, or other client-side status does not by itself prove payment, issuance, or entitlement. Contact Ballast at info@ballastplanning.com if there are questions or need clarification.

2. SERVICES

Ballast provides professional reserve-planning services within the scope stated in the Order Summary.

Full Reserve Study: establishes a new professional reserve baseline from the information, observations, assumptions, and review stated in the engagement.

Reserve Study Update: a separate engagement that updates a qualifying prior baseline. Ballast may require additional work or a Full Reserve Study if the prior baseline is not suitable for an Update.

Live Reserve Service: an ongoing 12-month professional service that includes ongoing client portal access, annual formal reserve-study work, and review of approved changes to Current Position as described below. Lender Standing Letters are not part of Live Reserve Service; Section 12 describes how a lender obtains one.

3. PROFESSIONAL STANDARD AND USE OF TECHNOLOGY

Ballast will perform the services with reasonable professional care consistent with the accepted scope, the information available to Ballast, and the applicable methodology and rules in effect for the engagement.

Ballast may use software, automated systems, and artificial intelligence to ingest, extract, classify, calculate, compare, and propose. These tools assist the work; they do not replace the required professional review before a paid deliverable is formally issued.

Drafts, work in progress, unreviewed extraction, raw uploads, internal confidence measures, and preliminary calculations are not issued professional work and may not be relied upon as such.

4. CLIENT RESPONSIBILITIES

The Client will provide accurate, complete, and timely information reasonably needed for the engagement, identify known omissions or changes, provide access when an attended walkthrough is included, and ensure that the accepting person is authorized to act for the Client.

The Client is responsible for the truth of facts, records, and assumptions it supplies. Ballast remains responsible for correctly applying information that Ballast has professionally accepted into its work.

The board or authorized designee remains responsible for governance decisions, budgets, funding decisions, project approvals, and directions. Ballast analyzes and recommends; it does not exercise the Client’s governing authority.

5. WALKTHROUGHS, CONDITION INFORMATION, AND EXCLUDED SERVICES

An attended walkthrough is included only if stated in the Order Summary. The quoted walkthrough fee is fixed for the scoped work. Necessary direct travel expense, if applicable, is reimbursable at actual supported cost as stated in the Order Summary.

A Ballast walkthrough is not an engineering inspection, destructive test, code inspection, safety inspection, appraisal, audit, or environmental assessment. When an observed condition requires specialized evaluation, Ballast may recommend referral to an appropriate qualified professional. A referral is not itself a Ballast finding about the underlying technical condition.

Ballast does not provide legal, tax, accounting, architecture, engineering, appraisal, or other licensed services unless expressly added through an approved written scope and performed by a properly qualified professional.

6. INFORMATION REVIEW, ADMISSION, AND ISSUANCE

Customer-submitted information and documents remain customer information until reviewed. Ballast may accept, reject, qualify, or request clarification before using an item as professional information.

A Full Reserve Study or Reserve Study Update becomes an issued deliverable only after the required professional review is complete and the applicable commercial conditions in the Order Summary are satisfied. Acceptance of the engagement, professional readiness, payment, and issuance are separate events.

Each issued study is a dated, versioned record. If Ballast later corrects or reissues a study, the new version will preserve lineage to the prior issued version rather than silently rewriting it.

7. SCHEDULE AND DELIVERY

Any delivery date or turnaround shown in an Order Summary is a good-faith expectation based on the agreed scope and timely Client cooperation unless the Order expressly states otherwise. Ballast may adjust the schedule for incomplete information, delayed access, material scope changes, third-party dependencies, or events outside reasonable control.

If Ballast identifies information needed to complete professional review, the engagement may remain pending until that information is resolved.

8. FEES, PAYMENT, AND TAXES

The exact accepted quote and Order Summary control the Client’s price. Ballast’s internal pricing model, market factors, tiers, cost databases, and methodology are not part of the Client’s bargain unless expressly stated in the Order.

Unless the Order Summary states a different schedule, no payment is due merely to accept a Full Reserve Study or Reserve Study Update. Payment becomes due when Ballast has completed the professional work required to place the engagement in a Ready-for-Issuance state. Ballast will not issue a paid deliverable until required payment is verified.

Payments are processed through Stripe or another approved payment processor. Ballast does not store raw card or bank credentials. Applicable taxes, if any, will be charged or collected as required by law.

An approved promotion changes only the frozen price shown in the Order. It does not change professional scope, standard of care, or deliverable eligibility.

9. SCOPE CHANGES, SUSPENSION, AND ONE-TIME ENGAGEMENT CANCELLATION

If the Client requests additional work or newly discovered facts materially change the agreed scope, Ballast may propose a written change to the Order Summary, schedule, or price before performing the added work.

The Client may request cancellation of a one-time engagement before issuance. Ballast may charge for documented professional work already completed and for noncancelable third-party or travel costs, but not more than the accepted Order price unless the Client separately approved additional scope.

Ballast may suspend work if required information, access, authority, or payment is missing, or if continuing the engagement would require Ballast to issue work it cannot professionally support.

10. LIVE RESERVE SERVICE

10.1 Term and renewal

The initial Live Reserve Service term is 12 months. It automatically renews for successive 12-month terms unless the Client gives notice of cancellation at least 30 days before the next renewal date. Cancellation is effective at the end of the applicable contractual term.

Annual billing is the preferred/default cadence. Monthly billing is available as a payment option within the same 12-month commitment; it is not month-to-month service and does not create a monthly cancellation right. Annual economics equal 12 monthly payments; there is no annual discount or monthly premium unless an Order expressly states otherwise.

10.2 Included formal work

Live includes one formal reserve-study output per annual budget cycle. A Reserve Study Update is the normal annual output. If a Full Reserve Study is required for that cycle by applicable law, professional scope, or the accepted baseline condition, the Full replaces that year’s Update and is included while Live remains active.

If a Full Reserve Study is required when the Client enters Live, the Order may include a one-time Full Study Upgrade equal to the difference between the scoped Full and Update entry work. The recurring Live rate does not change because of that entry upgrade.

10.3 Portal access and letters

While Live entitlement is active, the Client receives ongoing portal access and the standard Live operating features stated in the Order. Lender Standing Letters are not included in Live. They are requested and paid for separately, as described in Section 12.

10.4 Failed payment and continuity

After a failed Live payment, a 10-day payment grace period applies. During that grace period, existing portal records remain visible, but new paid-service actions and formal issuance may pause until cure. Cure restores paid-service eligibility without deleting service history.

A separate 30-day administrative continuity period may preserve the ability to reactivate without treating the relationship as a completely new onboarding. This continuity period does not provide paid service without charge, extend a paid contractual term, or override the 10-day payment grace.

10.5 Cancellation, post-term access, and reactivation

There is no standard midterm refund or early service cutoff. A timely cancellation takes effect at the end of the applicable 12-month term.

After Live ends, the Client receives 12 months of document-only access to its issued record. During that period, new Live analysis, paid-service actions, trusted Current Position changes, and new formal issuance are unavailable without valid entitlement. After the stated sunset date, the customer-facing environment may close while Ballast retains records as required by law, professional obligations, and the Privacy Policy. Issued reports remain available to download for the period stated in Section 13.

Reactivation after the administrative continuity period uses then-current pricing, requires re-onboarding, and requires Ballast to review and accept a qualifying baseline before trusted Current Position resumes.

11. REPLACEMENT-COST ESTIMATES, ASSUMPTIONS, AND BCI

Reserve-study replacement costs are planning estimates, not contractor bids or guarantees of future price. Actual cost may differ because of scope, quantities, market conditions, procurement method, site access, labor, materials, code requirements, contractor availability, and other project-specific facts.

Ballast may use its proprietary replacement-cost intelligence (BCI), public data, qualified third-party cost information, project-specific quotes, invoices, and professional judgment as appropriate to the engagement. Ballast’s internal BCI methods, confidence measures, models, and source weighting remain proprietary and are not customer-selected scope.

When a current project-specific quote or other higher-authority project evidence is professionally accepted, Ballast may use that evidence in place of a generic planning estimate for the applicable component and version.

12. RELIANCE, FINANCING, AND THIRD PARTIES

An issued report is prepared for the Client identified in the report and for the purpose and date stated in it. The Client may share its issued report for legitimate association, owner, management, financing, insurance, budgeting, and contractor-planning purposes, but sharing alone does not create a duty or reliance right in favor of a third party.

A third party may rely on Ballast work only if Ballast expressly authorizes that reliance in a written letter or agreement identifying the recipient, the specific dated issued report, and the permitted use.

Ballast is not a lender and does not guarantee financing, agency eligibility, warrantability, insurance, approval, funding, or any lender or insurer decision. Agency rules and third-party requirements may change after an issued date.

Lender Standing Letters. Every issued report carries a reference code. A lender or other requester may enter that code on the Ballast portal and pay a separate fee. Ballast will then issue a Lender Standing Letter on its approved form, but only if the request is made within twelve months of the report's issue date. Each standing item in the letter is labeled with its date. The letter restates the issued determination as of its date. It is not a new inspection or analysis. By sharing the reference code, the Client authorizes Ballast to issue a letter to the person who presents it and to disclose the report's standing information to that person. Only the recipient named in the letter may rely on it, and only for the transaction it states. Ballast's liability for a letter is capped at $150 per letter. A letter does not change the Client's own liability cap under Section 17.

13. PORTAL ACCESS AND CURRENT POSITION

For a one-time Full Reserve Study or Reserve Study Update, portal access remains available for 30 days after issuance unless the Order states otherwise. After that window, the engagement may collapse to the issued-document record unless Live is activated. Each issued report remains available to download from the Client's Ballast Vault for three years from its issue date, and each study issued through Live Reserve Service has its own three-year period. If Ballast closes or stops providing the service, Ballast will give the Client at least 90 days' notice so the Client can download its issued reports.

Current Position means the latest issued baseline plus changes that Ballast has reviewed and applied. Raw uploads, unreviewed customer statements, draft calculations, and automated extraction do not change Current Position by themselves.

Current Position is an operating view, not a new issued reserve study unless Ballast expressly issues a new professional deliverable.

14. BALLAST GUARANTEE

Every paid Full Reserve Study and Reserve Study Update, including one delivered through Live Reserve Service, carries the Ballast Guarantee. Every accepted Order Summary for a paid study, and every issued paid study, names the exact approved Guarantee version that applies. No Ballast Guarantee applies to an engagement unless the accepted Order Summary and the applicable issued deliverable identify the exact approved Guarantee version.

Standing Check, Study Check, drafts, work in progress, raw uploads, Current Position, and generic portal views are not covered unless an approved Guarantee expressly says otherwise.

The Guarantee sets the claim process, remedy, and exclusions for an error it covers. It is a remedy within these Service Terms, as Section 1 states, and Section 17 sets how it fits within Ballast's liability cap.

15. DATA, PRIVACY, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The Privacy Policy governs personal information, uploaded documents, service-provider processing, security, retention, and privacy rights.

The Client retains ownership of information and documents it submits. The Client grants Ballast a license to use them as reasonably necessary to perform, secure, document, and improve the services and to maintain the professional and legal record of the engagement.

Ballast may use de-identified and aggregated information derived from engagements to improve internal methods, quality controls, statistics, and models, including replacement-cost intelligence, provided Ballast does not identify the Client or property in published output or redistribute Client documents without permission. Ballast may also publish de-identified, aggregated cost information derived from engagements in an openly licensed replacement-cost index. Published cost information will never identify the Client, the property, or a contractor's individual bid.

Ballast owns its software, models, templates, methodologies, BCI, workflows, branding, and other proprietary materials. The Client receives a perpetual license to use and reproduce issued deliverables for its legitimate internal, governance, financing, insurance, owner-communication, and project-planning purposes, subject to the reliance limits in these Terms.

Each party will use reasonable care to protect nonpublic information received from the other and may disclose it to service providers, professional advisers, insurers, regulators, or others as reasonably necessary to perform the engagement or comply with law. When the Client authorizes it, Ballast may deliver issued deliverables to, and share the Client's nonpublic information with, the Client's community management firm.

16. WARRANTIES AND DISCLAIMERS

Ballast warrants that it will perform the paid professional services with the reasonable care described in Section 3. If Ballast materially fails to do so, the Client’s first remedy is to give Ballast a reasonable opportunity to correct or reperform the affected work.

Except for that express professional-service commitment and any separately incorporated Guarantee, the services and technology are provided without additional warranties to the fullest extent permitted by law. Ballast does not warrant future replacement cost, useful life, inflation, interest rates, latent conditions, law or rule continuity, board action, or third-party decisions.

17. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable to the other for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, lost financing, lost business opportunity, or diminution in property value, arising from an engagement, even if the possibility was known.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Ballast’s aggregate liability arising out of or relating to a paid engagement will not exceed the fees paid or payable to Ballast under the affected Order during the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim; for a one-time engagement, the cap is the total accepted Order price. This cap does not apply to liability that cannot legally be limited, including fraud or willful misconduct.

The Ballast Guarantee is a remedy within this limit, not in addition to it. For an error the Guarantee covers, the Client's remedy is a corrected and reissued study plus the Guarantee refund. That refund is the Client's damages for the engagement and uses up Ballast's full liability cap for that engagement. Nothing is paid beyond it. [OWNER CHECK: The Guarantee refund is paid in the amount the Guarantee sets, even if it is more than the cap in this Section would otherwise allow.]

18. CLIENT INDEMNITY

The Client will defend and indemnify Ballast against third-party claims arising from (a) information or documents the Client submitted without authority or in violation of another person’s rights; (b) the Client’s material breach of these Terms; or (c) the Client’s alteration or use of a Ballast deliverable in a materially misleading way outside its stated scope. This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim results from Ballast’s own negligence, willful misconduct, or breach.

19. DISPUTE RESOLUTION; ARBITRATION; CLASS WAIVER

19.1 Informal resolution

Before starting arbitration or litigation, the complaining party will send a written description of the dispute and requested relief to the other party. The parties will allow 30 days to attempt resolution. Notices to Ballast may be sent to info@ballastplanning.com.

19.2 Arbitration

Except for the matters listed below, disputes arising out of or relating to these Service Terms or an Order will be resolved by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under the Commercial Arbitration Rules, or other applicable AAA rules. One arbitrator will hear the matter. The seat is Salt Lake City, Utah, but proceedings may be conducted remotely or on documents where permitted.

19.3 Court exceptions

Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court where eligible and may seek injunctive relief in court to protect intellectual property, confidential information, or system access.

19.4 Individual proceedings

Claims must be brought individually. To the fullest extent permitted by law, each party waives participation in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative action.

19.5 Arbitration opt-out

The Client may opt out of Sections 19.2 and 19.4 by emailing info@ballastplanning.com within 30 days after first accepting these Service Terms, stating the Client name and that it opts out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect the rest of the agreement.

19.6 Governing law and venue

Utah law governs these Service Terms without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the arbitration provisions. If a claim is not subject to arbitration, exclusive venue will be the state or federal courts located in Utah, and the parties consent to jurisdiction there.

20. NOTICES, CHANGES, AND MISCELLANEOUS

Operational notices may be delivered through the Ballast portal or to the email address associated with the Client account. Formal notices to Ballast may be sent to info@ballastplanning.com. The Client is responsible for keeping its contact information current.

Ballast may update these Service Terms prospectively. An accepted version remains part of the existing Order unless the parties agree otherwise. Updated terms may apply to a new Order or a Live renewal only through the applicable acceptance or notice process; Ballast will not retroactively rewrite an issued study or prior accepted Order.

Neither party is liable for delay caused by events beyond reasonable control, except payment obligations already due. The Client may not assign an engagement without Ballast’s consent, except in connection with a lawful succession of the association or property; Ballast may assign the agreement in connection with a merger, financing, reorganization, or sale of substantially all relevant assets.

If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. Headings are for convenience. These Service Terms, the accepted Order Summary, the Privacy Policy, and incorporated exhibits are the entire agreement for the paid engagement and replace prior discussions about that engagement.