Client and Contractor Portal Terms of Use

These Terms are between Appalachian Integrity LLC, a Virginia limited liability company (Company), and the person or organization accepting them (you). You must be at least 18 and authorized to accept for any organization you identify. An individual using an organization's account remains responsible for that individual's conduct; this does not make that individual a personal guarantor of the organization's obligations. Acceptance requires the affirmative action presented with the adopted Terms; access alone is not acceptance.

Article 1. Definitions

Portal means the Company's client and contractor portal and its connected features. Portal Content means software-generated statuses, dates, calculations, extracted values, draft asset records, summaries and suggestions, distinct from a Report. Report means a completed professional deliverable prepared by the Company and issued to you under a separate Services Agreement. Services Agreement means the separate written agreement or accepted scope under which the Company performs professional services. User Data means records, documents, photographs, measurements and other material you supply or prepare through the Portal. Applicable Standards means the codes, editions, specifications, owner requirements and law governing the particular work. An Authority Having Jurisdiction is the authority empowered to require or approve that work.

Article 2. Relationship to professional services

These Terms govern the Portal as software. They neither enlarge nor reduce the Company's responsibility for its own professional services or Reports. The Services Agreement controls those services and Reports, including their scope, basis, limitations and reliance rights. Automated Portal Content is not a Company-issued Report merely because it is displayed alongside one. The software limitations below do not disclaim a Report. Separate paid applications are governed by the software agreement affirmatively accepted for those applications; Portal access does not include all subscriptions or exports.

Article 3. Nature and limits of the Portal

3.1 The Portal organizes records and assists with documentation. It does not inspect equipment, verify qualifications, certify compliance or make professional decisions by displaying a status.

3.2 The Company does not supply professional engineering services through the Portal. Inspection credentials are not an engineering licence. A software result is not a sealed or approved engineering determination. Obtain a licensed engineer where the governing law or standard requires one.

3.3 AI extraction, text assistance, acronym expansion and imported history may omit, misread or misidentify information. Review proposed text, source documents, citations, equipment identity, dates, locations, units and conflicts before accepting an entry. Imports may be partial; historical evidence does not establish current condition. A numerical difference is not by itself a corrosion rate or acceptance decision. An absent current finding does not prove an earlier finding was repaired. Deterministic calculations can also be wrong because of formulas, assumptions or inputs. Missing information is unknown, and no warning does not mean safe or compliant.

3.4 Code references and checklist prompts are aids, not licensed code books or exhaustive inspections. Confirm the applicable edition, scope and jurisdiction. Where a calculation asks for allowable stress S, verify the value for the exact material, applicable temperature and code table; check units, geometry, joint factors, allowances and formula applicability independently.

3.5 Before relying on or distributing Portal Content, a qualified and authorized person must check its measurements, calculations, sources, dates, intervals, continuity, qualification ranges and conclusions. Record review where required by law, standard or your program. A due date, QR link, status indicator, company logo or downloaded file is not certification. These duties do not waive a claim for the Company's own legally actionable conduct. Company Reports remain governed by Article 2.

Article 4. User responsibilities

Use authorized individual accounts and provide information you are entitled to disclose. Review and correct errors, meet your personnel qualification and inspection obligations, and retain independent records required by your program, contracts and law. Before issuing your own report or a Custom Report, inspect every page, expanded acronym, attachment, value and signature; remove or identify old answers, photos and marks. A saved layout governs presentation and does not verify later inspection evidence or guarantee removal of old material. Administrative roles, payment and job numbers are not technical review or authority to sign someone else's findings.

Article 5. Acceptable use

Do not falsify records, impersonate an inspector, fabricate a signature, misrepresent Company review, infringe confidentiality or intellectual-property rights, share credentials, bypass access restrictions, access another customer's data, or maliciously interfere with the service. Identify training records as examples. These restrictions do not prohibit lawful reporting to authorities, protected disclosures or good-faith reviews.

Article 6. Accounts and security

Protect your credentials and authentication devices and promptly report suspected compromise. You are responsible for your own conduct and reasonable account precautions; unauthorized activity is assessed on its actual causes rather than automatically charged to you. The Company must honor applicable security and privacy obligations. No system is immune from compromise. The Company may restrict access reasonably necessary to address a security, legal or safety risk and will provide notice when lawful and practicable.

Article 7. User Data and retention

You retain your rights in User Data; Company Reports and their use remain under the Services Agreement. You permit processing, hosting, transmitting and displaying data as needed for requested features, support, security and law. Confidential material may be processed by service providers for those purposes as described in the Privacy Policy; permission is not a licence to publish it or use it for unrelated work or undisclosed model training.

Keep independent, readable copies. The Portal is working storage, not your archival system of record. Account records, uploaded content, acceptance evidence, transaction records and backups may have different retention needs. No universal retention period or recovery guarantee is promised. This does not excuse an express delivery, retention, privacy or security obligation. Request access, export or deletion through available controls or john@appalachianintegrity.com. Account closure does not itself delete every lawful record or distributed copy. Nonwaivable privacy rights are not conditioned on purchasing an export. The Privacy Policy explains applicable categories and request handling.

Article 8. Software warranties

THE PORTAL AND AUTOMATED PORTAL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED AS AVAILABLE. TO THE EXTENT LAWFUL, THE COMPANY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. Errors, interruptions and data loss can occur; software dates and statuses are not guaranteed to be accurate, complete or compliant. This does not negate express commitments, statements on which law permits reliance, or nonwaivable warranties and remedies. It does not apply to Reports or separately contracted professional services.

Article 9. Liability

9.1 Subject to 9.3, the Company is not liable for indirect or consequential lost profits, business opportunity or anticipated savings arising from Portal software where lawful. Direct losses are not reclassified as excluded merely because they involve data or replacement services.

9.2 Subject to 9.3, aggregate liability of the Company and its personnel for Portal software claims is limited to the greater of fees actually paid for Portal access during the preceding 12 months or $100.

9.3 These limits do not apply to death or personal injury, fraud, willful or wanton misconduct, gross negligence, nonwaivable statutory rights, or liability that law prohibits limiting. They do not reduce express refunds or the Company's duties for Reports or professional services. No limitation survives merely because the agreement says so if a court finds it invalid or a remedy legally fails of its essential purpose.

Article 10. Limited business indemnity

For business use, you reimburse damages and reasonable legal costs finally awarded to an unrelated third party, or included in a settlement you approve, to the extent caused by your knowing falsification, unauthorized use of third-party intellectual property or confidential information, or intentional unlawful misuse. This does not cover Company negligence, defective software, privacy or security failures, misconduct, Reports or professional services. No indemnity applies to personal or household consumer use. There is no automatic duty to fund a defense on allegation. The Company must promptly notify you, allow reasonable participation, mitigate avoidable loss and obtain consent to a settlement binding you; consent may not be unreasonably withheld. No double recovery is permitted.

Article 11. Access and termination

You may close your account. The Company may suspend access for a reasonably identified breach or security, legal or safety risk. Planned discontinuation or material reduction will receive reasonable advance notice and a reasonable route to obtain existing records. Urgent restrictions may occur sooner when necessary. Ending Portal access does not end the Services Agreement or extinguish existing delivery and lawful record-access obligations. Company Reports will be made available by another reasonable means where required under that agreement.

Article 12. Changes and acceptance

These terms take effect upon authorized adoption and your required affirmative acceptance. Material amendments apply prospectively after notice and affirmative acceptance, not merely continued use. Changes adversely affecting liability, dispute rights, fees or retention require at least 30 days' notice unless law requires longer or a shorter change is legally required or urgently necessary for security. They do not rewrite accrued claims or completed transactions. If you decline, you may cease use and obtain existing records by a reasonable route; any unused prepaid Portal access ending for that refusal will be refunded. Declining does not alter the Services Agreement. The Company retains accepted versions and records the accepted version, exact document hash, identity and time.

Article 13. Law and disputes

Virginia law governs without displacing mandatory protections applicable elsewhere. Unless mandatory law or an eligible local small-claims procedure permits otherwise, disputes may be brought in state courts serving Craig County, Virginia, or the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia where federal jurisdiction exists. Statutory filing periods apply. These Terms impose no shortened claim deadline, jury waiver, arbitration requirement or class waiver. Informal resolution does not shorten a filing deadline. Either party may seek lawful protective relief in a competent court.

Article 14. General provisions

These Terms govern Portal software; the Services Agreement governs professional services, and the Privacy Policy describes data practices. An unlawful provision is severed only to the extent lawful; others operate independently where the court permits. Delay alone is not waiver. Assignment cannot evade existing obligations or mandatory notices. No partnership, agency or employment is created. No third-party beneficiary is created. Confidentiality, existing rights and provisions necessary to resolve prior claims survive to their lawful extent.

Send notices to john@appalachianintegrity.com; Company notices use your registered address and applicable lawful delivery requirements. Electronic contracting requires the separate disclosures, consent and save/print capability required by law; this paragraph alone does not provide that consent.

Article 15. Acknowledgment

By the affirmative acceptance shown with the adopted agreement, you acknowledge the opportunity to read and retain these Terms, your authority to accept, and your responsibility to obtain qualified review of automated Portal Content. The Company's own Reports remain governed by the separate Services Agreement.

Appalachian Integrity LLC · Craig County, Virginia · john@appalachianintegrity.com · (540) 524-2290