Acceptable Use Policy.

§1 Why this policy exists

HBR is a platform for homeowners to document and discuss the actual condition of their homes during the warranty window. For the platform to be useful — and for it to remain legally durable for everyone involved — content must be: firsthand, factual, and focused on the home and the build. This policy lays out the rules in plain English.

This policy is part of the Terms of Service. Violation may result in removal of content, suspension or termination of your account, and the loss of any rating contribution your content was making.

§2 The firsthand-experience rule

The single most important rule on HBR is this: you may only post about a home you have personally lived in or, in the case of an owner, personally inspected.

• Homeowners: post only about your own home. You must be able to verify ownership or tenancy (closing record, lease, utility bill).
• Family members of homeowners: post under the homeowner's account, not your own, unless you also live in the home.
• Inspectors, real estate agents, contractors: post only about specific homes you were physically present in, and only if a homeowner has authorized you to post on their behalf. Mark these posts as "third-party documented."
• You may not post about a builder generally, only about specific homes that builder built. "Builder X is bad" is not a valid post; "On May 3 at 123 Main St, I documented a structural-settlement crack…" is.

§3 Prohibited content

The following content is not allowed and will be removed:

• Hearsay or secondhand accounts — content not based on your own firsthand experience.
• Allegations of crime without basis — alleging fraud, theft, or other criminal conduct requires either a filed report, a public record, or clear evidentiary support. Frustration with a builder is not a fraud allegation.
• Personal attacks — content directed at the morality, intelligence, or character of any individual rather than the work performed.
• Off-topic disputes — HOA disputes, neighbor disputes, weather damage, owner-modifications. Use the appropriate venue.
• Spam and self-promotion — promotion of services, products, or other businesses outside of legitimate response to a claim.
• Illegal content — anything that violates applicable law.
• Hate, harassment, threats — content targeting protected classes or directly threatening any person.
• Confidential information — content disclosing information you are bound by NDA or other agreement to keep confidential.
• Plagiarized content — content copied from another source without right.

§4 Identification of people

HBR is about builders (the entity) and the homes they build. Not the individual employees.

• Do not name individual employees. Use job title or "the foreman," "the project manager," "the warranty coordinator."
• Do not include identifying photos of employees, even if they are working on your home.
• Do not identify the homeowners or occupants of any home other than your own.
• Do not include minors' faces, even in photographs of your own family, in any photo that will be saved to your record.
• Do not include license plates, addresses of other homes, or other identifying details visible in your photographs.

§5 Photographs

Photographs are central to HBR. The rules:

• The photo must be yours, or you have permission from the rights holder.
• The photo must depict the defect or condition you are documenting, not an unrelated scene.
• The photo must be of your own home, per the firsthand-experience rule.
• Do not edit photographs to exaggerate or fabricate defects. You may crop, rotate, and adjust brightness; you may not composite or distort.
• Strip identifying details per §4. If your photo includes a face, a plate, or a piece of mail, obscure it before upload.

HBR may automatically remove faces, plates, and obvious PII from photographs during upload; this is a courtesy, not a guarantee.

§6 Builder ratings

Builder ratings on HBR are derived from objective metrics tied to documented homeowner records, not from free-form star ratings.

The metrics that appear on a builder's reputation card:

• Response rate — percentage of homeowner claims acknowledged by the builder within their stated SLA.
• Resolution rate — percentage of homeowner claims that reached an agreed resolution status within the warranty window.
• Time-to-acknowledge — median time from claim submission to first builder response.
• Documented defect rate — defects per closed home in the platform-documented cohort.

HBR does not display a synthesized 1–5 star score. We don't think a single number is honest about a complex question.

§7 Builder responses

Builders have the right to respond publicly on every claim or rating tied to their license. Builder responses are subject to the same rules:

• Truthful and based on the builder's own record.
• No identification of the homeowner beyond what the homeowner has already disclosed.
• No allegations of crime without basis (e.g., do not accuse the homeowner of fabrication without evidence).
• No personal attacks.

Responses that violate this policy are removed under the same enforcement framework. Builders that repeatedly violate may lose response privileges and have a notice posted on their reputation card.

§8 How enforcement works

Automated filtering

Content passes through automated filters at upload (face/plate/PII detection, profanity classification, off-topic classification, image authenticity checks). Filters operate uniformly on all content; the same rule applied the same way regardless of which homeowner or builder is involved.

Human review queue

Flagged content (by automated systems or by users) is reviewed by HBR's Trust & Safety team. Reviewers follow a published rubric mapped to the rules in this policy. We aim for a 5-business-day SLA on factual-error flags from verified builders.

Outcomes

• No action — content is on-policy.
• Edit requested — content can be made on-policy with edits the user makes.
• Removed — content is removed from public view.
• Account warning — recorded warning to the user; no impact on public records.
• Account suspension — temporary loss of posting privileges.
• Account termination — permanent loss; existing on-policy records remain unless the user requests deletion.

What we do not do

• We do not remove content because a builder pays us to.
• We do not remove content because a builder is unhappy with it (we remove content that violates this policy).
• We do not editorialize content during moderation. We accept, edit-request, or remove.
• We do not feature reviews based on relationships, advertising, or any commercial consideration.

§9 How to flag content

For verified builders

Use the Flag button on any record tied to your license. Provide a reason (factual error, duplicate, out-of-scope, etc.) and any supporting documentation. We respond within 5 business days for factual-error flags.

For homeowners

Use the Flag button on any content that violates this policy. Homeowners can also flag their own content for removal at any time — no reason required.

For counsel / non-parties

Send a notice to [email protected] (TBC) with the URL, the alleged violation, and your basis. We will review within 10 business days, longer for complex matters.

For court orders

Send validly-issued court orders to [email protected] (TBC). We process valid orders within 48 hours of receipt.

§10 Appeals

If your content is removed or your account is suspended and you disagree with the decision:

• Reply to the email notice you received. A second reviewer (not the original) will review.
• For account termination, you may also request an independent review by HBR's Trust & Safety lead.
• Appeal decisions are typically issued within 10 business days. Outcomes are: uphold, reverse, or partial reversal.