BaseCheck Terms

BaseCheck helps property owners understand visible cracks, foundation concerns, and related property defects from photos and information they provide.

Our reports are designed to give a practical first-pass opinion in plain English. They can help you understand what may be happening, what repair paths might be relevant, what questions to ask, and when to get a contractor, builder, or engineer involved.

But there are limits.

A BaseCheck report is not:

• an engineering report
• a building inspection
• a code compliance assessment
• a guarantee that a property is safe
• a substitute for an in-person inspection
• a quote or fixed repair price
• permission to carry out building, drainage, excavation, or structural work

If the issue looks serious, unsafe, active, unclear, or outside what photos can confirm, you should arrange an in-person inspection by a suitably qualified professional.

These terms apply when you use BaseCheck (basecheck.co.nz) — New Zealand-focused property defect and foundation triage — and any related website, report, upload form, sample report, paid report, or future expert-review service.

By using the website, uploading photos, creating a report, or paying for a report, you agree to these terms.

If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

BaseCheck provides preliminary property defect triage based on information you provide, which may include:

• photos
• written descriptions
• property address or approximate location
• scan mode or issue type
• answers to questions in the upload form
• available public property/GIS/context data, where supported

The service may use AI-assisted analysis, internal rules, regional terminology, case references, and practical construction/foundation repair knowledge to generate a plain-English report.

The goal is to help you better understand the issue before deciding what to do next.

A report can only assess what is visible or reasonably inferable from the material provided.

Photos and descriptions may not show:

• hidden foundation movement
• soil conditions
• drainage conditions below ground
• moisture sources inside walls or subfloors
• footing depth or construction quality
• reinforcement, fixings, or framing hidden behind linings
• active movement over time
• earthquake, flood, landslip, or tree-root effects
• plumbing leaks
• exact crack width or displacement unless clearly measured
• whether work complies with building code, consent, or permit requirements

Because of this, the report may be incomplete or wrong if the uploaded information is incomplete, unclear, misleading, or does not show the real cause of the problem.

Unless we clearly state otherwise in writing, reports are preliminary triage only.

They are not provided by a licensed engineer, building inspector, surveyor, architect, certifier, council officer, or code official.

You should not rely on the report as the sole basis for:

• buying or selling a property
• deciding a building is safe or unsafe
• starting structural repair work
• excavating near foundations or services
• making insurance claims
• deciding whether consent, permit, or engineering design is required
• disputing a contractor, engineer, council, insurer, or building professional

The report can help you ask better questions. It should not be treated as the final answer.

Do not wait for or rely on a BaseCheck report if there are signs of immediate danger.

Get urgent professional help if you see or suspect:

• sudden or rapidly widening cracks
• walls, decks, retaining walls, chimneys, floors, posts, piles, or foundations moving noticeably
• collapse risk
• severe water ingress, flooding, or undermining
• gas, electrical, sewage, or drainage hazards
• doors/windows suddenly jamming alongside visible movement
• large gaps opening around structural supports
• cracking after an earthquake, storm, landslip, flood, excavation, or impact

If people may be unsafe, leave the area and contact emergency services or a qualified professional.

You are responsible for:

• uploading clear and relevant photos
• describing the issue honestly and accurately
• telling us about known events, leaks, repairs, movement, or past inspections
• only uploading photos and property information you have the right to use
• checking the report carefully before relying on it
• getting professional advice where needed
• complying with local laws, building rules, permits, consents, and safety requirements

You agree not to upload unlawful, misleading, offensive, private, or third-party material you do not have permission to use.

We use uploaded information to generate and improve your report.

This may include storing:

• uploaded photos
• report text
• property address or region, if supplied
• issue type and scan details
• technical metadata required to operate the service
• feedback or bug reports you submit

We may use anonymised or de-identified examples to improve the service, test report quality, and improve future recommendations.

We will not intentionally publish your private address, contact details, or identifiable property information in public sample reports without permission.

Where reports are shared publicly, we aim to remove or hide private data that should not be visible to other users.

If you create a share link or send a report to someone else, they may be able to view the report content included in that link.

You are responsible for deciding who to share your report with.

Your report is not shown to other users, and we do not expose other users' private information to you.

A property address you personally entered may appear in your own report where useful. Public/shared versions may hide or reduce address details depending on privacy settings.

Some reports may include property context such as maps, aerial imagery, contours, parcels, utility context, council data, public GIS layers, or other third-party data.

This data may come from councils, government agencies, mapping providers, open-data portals, or other third-party sources.

Third-party data is provided for context only and may be:

• incomplete
• outdated
• inaccurate
• misaligned
• unavailable
• subject to separate licences or usage restrictions

Do not use BaseCheck maps or context data for:

• legal boundary decisions
• excavation
• service locating
• drainage design
• engineering design
• building consent/permit documentation
• deciding whether it is safe to dig or build

Before excavation or construction, use official records, service location, survey, engineering advice, and local authority requirements.

Where cost guidance is shown, it is indicative only.

Actual cost depends on many factors, including:

• site access
• ground conditions
• drainage and moisture sources
• foundation type
• hidden damage
• engineering or consent requirements
• contractor availability
• regional pricing
• scope discovered during inspection

A BaseCheck report is not a quote. Contractors may price work differently after inspecting the property.

For US/BasementCheck reports, cost estimates may not be shown.

If paid reports are offered, payment covers generation of a preliminary report based on the information provided.

Unless required by law, payment does not guarantee:

• a particular outcome
• that the issue can be diagnosed from photos
• that a contractor or engineer will agree with the report
• that the repair cost will match any indicative range

Because the value is delivered when the report is generated, payments are non-refundable once your report has been generated — except where no report was generated due to a fault on our side, there is a genuine fault in the report or service, or a refund is required by law (Consumer Guarantees Act / Fair Trading Act).

We may decline a refund where the report was generated and supplied with reasonable care and you simply disagree with the assessment.

We aim to keep the service available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access.

The service may be unavailable because of:

• maintenance
• technical faults
• AI/provider outages
• mapping/GIS provider outages
• payment provider issues
• internet or hosting failures
• changes to third-party services

We may update, change, suspend, or discontinue parts of the service at any time.

You agree not to:

• attempt to hack, overload, scrape, reverse engineer, or disrupt the service
• use the service for unlawful purposes
• upload harmful code or malicious files
• impersonate another person
• use reports in a misleading way
• remove disclaimers from reports when sharing them
• present a preliminary report as an engineering report or formal inspection
• use the service to make false claims against contractors, owners, buyers, sellers, councils, insurers, or professionals

The website, report format, branding, software, design, prompts, templates, and generated report structure belong to us or our licensors.

You may use your own report for personal property decision-making, getting contractor advice, discussing the issue with professionals, or keeping a record of the concern.

You may not copy, resell, repackage, or use the service output to build a competing product without written permission.

You retain any rights you already have in photos and information you upload, but you give us permission to process them to provide and improve the service.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for loss caused by:

• inaccurate or incomplete information you provide
• defects not visible in photos
• hidden site conditions
• third-party data errors
• contractor, engineer, council, insurer, buyer, seller, or professional decisions
• your decision to rely on the report instead of getting an in-person inspection
• changes or movement that occur after the report is generated
• misuse or misinterpretation of the report

Where liability cannot legally be excluded, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

For paid reports, where legally permitted, our maximum liability is limited to the amount you paid for the report.

Nothing in these terms excludes rights that cannot legally be excluded under applicable consumer law.

New Zealand / BaseCheck

BaseCheck is intended for New Zealand property contexts and terminology where the NZ region is selected or where the basecheck.co.nz domain is used.

New Zealand users may have rights under laws such as the Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act. Nothing in these terms is intended to remove rights that cannot legally be removed.

NZ reports may refer to NZ-style foundation systems, repair approaches, regional cost context, and NZ public data sources where available.

United States / BasementCheck

BasementCheck is intended for United States foundation, basement, crawl space, slab, and related property concerns where the US region is selected or where the basementcheck.com domain is used.

BasementCheck reports are not engineering reports, home inspections, code compliance reports, permit advice, or licensed professional opinions.

US construction, licensing, engineering, disclosure, and consumer protection rules vary by state and locality. Users should obtain local professional advice before making repair, purchase, sale, insurance, or safety decisions.

We may update these terms as the service develops.

If changes are significant, we will try to make them reasonably visible on the website.

Continued use of the service after changes means you accept the updated terms.

Questions, concerns, correction requests, or refund requests can be sent to info@basecheck.co.nz.