These terms apply to every report ordered from Heartland Site Screening LLC ("we," "us"), including reports sold under the name The Dirt Report and its Commercial and Industrial editions. You ("you," the client) accept these terms when you check the box on the order form or pay for a report. If you are ordering for a company, you confirm you have authority to bind it.
A report is a desktop screening of one parcel for the intended use stated in your order. We review publicly available information such as county parcel records, FEMA flood maps, NRCS soil data, wetland inventories, elevation data, zoning rules and aerial imagery. We give our opinion on whether the parcel appears suitable for that use, list the issues we found, and, if your report includes one, provide a planning-level estimate of site-work costs. Cost estimates are based on typical regional prices and are not contractor quotes or bids.
The report is not:
We report the location of public water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer lines based on public mapping. We do not confirm whether a utility has capacity to serve the parcel or whether a connection will be allowed; only the utility can confirm that.
In Indiana, we only screen parcels for single-family residential use. In Ohio, we also screen parcels for commercial use (sites up to 25 acres) and industrial use (sites up to 50 acres). Larger sites are quoted individually. We may decline any order.
Public data is often old, coarse or wrong at the scale of a single lot. Conditions on the ground may be different from what the records show. Cost ranges are estimates for comparing lots, not quotes, and actual costs depend on contractors, site conditions and what the permitting agencies require.
You agree to give us the correct parcel number or listing, the county and state, and anything you already know about the property that could affect our findings, such as a prior perc test, a known easement or a survey. We are not responsible for errors caused by wrong or incomplete information you give us.
Payment is due when you place the order. Prices are listed on our website at the time of the order. Partner packs must be used within six months of purchase. Rush delivery on a partner pack report is an additional $50, paid when you request that report. Unused reports in a pack expire after that and are not refunded.
Turnaround starts once we receive payment and complete parcel information. Residential reports are delivered within 3 to 5 business days, or within 2 business days with rush. Commercial reports are delivered within 5 to 10 business days. Industrial reports take at least 5 business days; after our first review, we email you the expected delivery date. A cost estimate requested by quote for a commercial or industrial report is a separate order with its own price and timing. If we can't meet a turnaround time, we'll tell you as soon as we know and give you a new delivery date. If we miss a rush delivery deadline, we refund the $50 rush fee.
Reports are delivered by email as a PDF.
All sales are final. Once you've paid, the fee is not refundable, including if you change your mind, the deal falls through, or you disagree with our conclusions. The only exception: if we decline your order or can't complete the report, we'll refund what you paid.
Each report includes up to three revisions to correct clerical errors. A clerical error is a mistake in how information was recorded or presented, such as a typo, a wrong parcel number, address or acreage, a value copied incorrectly from a public source, or a math error in the cost table. Send revision requests to info@heartlandsitescreening.com within 30 days of delivery, and we'll send a corrected report within two business days.
Revisions don't cover a different parcel, a change in intended use, new information you didn't give us when you ordered, or a request to change our professional opinion. Those require a new order. Correcting clerical errors is your only remedy for them.
The report is prepared for you alone, for the parcel and purpose stated in your order. You may share it with others, such as your lender, builder or real estate agent, but only you may rely on it. No one else is a beneficiary of these terms or has any claim against us based on the report.
The report reflects the information available on the date it was prepared. Don't use it for a different parcel, a different use, or a purchase decision made more than six months after that date without asking us to update it.
We prepare each report with care, using the judgment of an experienced civil engineer. Beyond that, the report is provided as is. We don't guarantee that the property can be built on, that any permit will be issued, that costs will fall within our range, or that public records are accurate or complete.
Before you buy, you should confirm our findings with the local health department, zoning office, utility providers and a licensed surveyor, and complete the checks listed in the report's "Before you buy" section.
You agree that our total liability to you for any claim related to a report, whether in contract, negligence or any other theory, is limited to the fee you paid for that report.
We are not liable for lost profits, lost opportunities, the cost of a property you bought or didn't buy, delay, or any other indirect or consequential loss, even if we were told it was possible.
This limit reflects the low price of the report compared with the value of the decisions it supports. If you want a higher limit of liability, contact us before ordering. We may be able to offer one for an additional fee.
Any claim related to a report must be brought within one year after the report was delivered. After that, the claim is waived.
If you share a report and someone else makes a claim against us based on it, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of defending that claim, including attorney fees, and any amount we have to pay.
We keep the copyright in our reports, templates and methods. You may copy and share your report for your own purchase decision about the parcel. You may not resell it, publish it as your own work, or use it to market a property without our written permission. A seller or agent who orders a report may attach it to that property's listing. A buyer who wants to rely on a report must order their own.
We use the information you give us to prepare your report, process payment and contact you about your order. We don't sell it. Our privacy policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect it. We may keep copies of reports and order records for our files and may use anonymized findings, with no names or parcel numbers, to improve our methods.
These terms are governed by Ohio law. Any lawsuit related to a report or these terms must be filed in the state courts of Van Wert County, Ohio, and both of us agree to that court's jurisdiction. Before filing, either side will first contact the other in writing and give 30 days to try to work it out.
These terms and your order are the entire agreement between us about the report. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. We may update these terms from time to time; the version posted on our website when you place your order is the one that applies to that order. Failing to enforce a term once doesn't waive it.