Editorial policy
These rules bind every page. They are maintained by the Buildlor Cost Desk and change only by dated revision on this page.
01Sourcing
Every published figure traces to a named source listed on the page. Unit-rate bands come from published Canadian construction cost guides. Escalation comes from the Statistics Canada building construction price index. Development charges come from the municipal by-law cited on the page. Nothing is sourced from an unnamed aggregator.
02Provenance labelling
Figures are labelled Observed, Modelled, or Baseline seed. Observed means recorded from the cited series unadjusted. Modelled means derived arithmetically from observed inputs using the published method. Baseline seed means a documented starting estimate awaiting first observation — an order-of-magnitude figure, not a market reading. Any page mixing these shows the key.
03No page without data
A product-by-market page is only indexable when the tier rule allows it and real metrics rows back it. Pages that fail either test render with a provisional banner, carry a noindex directive, and are excluded from the sitemap. We would rather publish fewer pages than publish placeholders at scale.
04Review cadence
Unit-rate bands are reviewed quarterly. Escalation refreshes with each published quarterly index. Development-charge citations are re-checked on the by-law amendment cycle. Every figure-bearing page shows its last update and next scheduled review, so a stale page is visibly stale.
05Revisions, not deletions
Observations are appended. A corrected value never overwrites the record it replaces; the prior observation stays in the series so any number published in the past can still be reconstructed.
06Sponsorship separation
Sponsors can buy placement. They cannot buy a unit rate, a ranking, a charge figure, or a conclusion. Sponsored placements are labelled in situ, sit outside the editorial column, and are never blended into a table of published figures.
07Independence from transactions
Buildlor takes no design fee, no construction-management fee, and no commission on any project. We have no economic interest in which contractor or consultant you engage, or whether you build at all.
08Use of automation
Ingestion, arithmetic, and page composition are automated; the method, the inputs, and the review sign-off are human decisions made by the Data Desk. Automation is disclosed rather than hidden, and it never invents a figure that no source supports.
Common questions
Can a contractor pay to appear on a cost page?
No. The census counts firms observed writing commercial paper in a market. Sponsorship is a separate, labelled placement and has no effect on the count, the density score, or any published rate.
Why does a page say a figure is modelled?
Because no primary source publishes it directly. The figure is derived from observed inputs using the method on the methodology page — the arithmetic is disclosed so you can reproduce or reject it.
Who reviews a page before it changes?
The Data Desk. Method changes are versioned on the methodology page with a dated revision entry; data refreshes follow the published cadence and are stamped on each page.
What happens when Buildlor gets something wrong?
It gets corrected, dated, and logged publicly under the corrections policy. We append the correction rather than quietly editing the original value.
Not advice — Buildlor is a data publisher. We do not bid, price, estimate, or build work, and nothing here is a quote, a tender price, or construction advice. Figures are indicative order-of-magnitude benchmarks for early budgeting and must be confirmed by a qualified cost consultant, quantity surveyor, or general contractor before you rely on them. About Buildlor