How we research our guides

Who writes them

Landen Chu, one of OakTend's two co-founders, researches and writes them. He is not a licensed contractor, inspector, lawyer or tax professional, so the guides point you to the offices and rules that decide.

Where the facts come from

• Official pages first. City building and fire departments, the County of Orange, the Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Assessor, the Orange County Fire Authority, state law, the Contractors State License Board, the U.S. Census Bureau and each water provider's own report.
• Opened and checked. We open each page ourselves and check the number or rule against what it says. Where a guide lists its sources, each one is a page we read.
• No guessing. When an official page does not say, or we cannot read it, we write "check with the city" and link the city's page.
• Other sources are named. When we use a trade group or a news story because no official page covers it, the guide says who it is.
• Costs are ranges. Cost guides give rough planning figures, not quotes, and say how each range was built.

Dates

Every guide shows the date its words last changed. We change that date only when the content changes, not for a design tweak. Yearly dates, such as property tax deadlines, are checked again when the new year's dates come out.

Corrections

If something is wrong or out of date, email hello@oaktend.com with the page and, if you have one, the official source. We will check it, fix the guide and update its date.

Not professional advice

Our guides are general information, not professional advice. For your home, check with your city, a licensed contractor, or a tax or legal professional before you act. More about us is on our About page.