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Scope
These terms govern your use of buildsums.com, published by Fabio Festa. Using the site means accepting them. If you do not accept them, please do not use the site.
The site is free, requires no account and is offered as it is. Nothing here creates a contract to supply materials, to carry out work or to provide professional services.
The results are estimates, not professional advice
Every calculator on BuildSums applies published formulas to the figures you enter. The arithmetic is tested and we stand behind it. What we cannot stand behind is the relationship between the arithmetic and your actual room.
A real surface differs from a rectangle. Absorbency varies with plaster, filler and previous coatings. Colour changes hiding power: a strong pigment over a dark base may need a third coat that no formula predicted. Tile waste depends on the laying pattern, on how square the room is and on the person cutting. Wallpaper waste depends on pattern repeat and on where the first drop falls. Manufacturers state coverage under laboratory conditions, on a smooth sealed substrate, which is not what you are painting.
- Treat every result as a shopping estimate, to be checked against the product's own datasheet.
- For an important or expensive job, confirm quantities with your supplier or installer before ordering.
- Buy tiles and wallpaper from the same batch in one go: a second order rarely matches the first.
- Keep a margin. Running out mid-wall costs more than a spare tin.
No warranty
The site is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the results will be suitable for any particular project. Anything you do with the numbers, you do on your own judgement.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for loss arising from use of the site — including material bought in the wrong quantity, wasted product, delay, or the cost of extra work — except where such loss results from our own wilful misconduct or gross negligence.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and nothing affects the mandatory rights of consumers under Italian and European consumer law.
Acceptable use
Use the site for planning your own projects, personal or professional. Do not attempt to disrupt it, to circumvent its security, to scrape it at a volume that degrades service for others, or to reproduce the calculators as your own product.
You are welcome to link to any page, to quote a result in a quotation or a forum answer, and to use the estimates commercially in your own work. A credit and a link back are appreciated but not required.
Intellectual property
The name BuildSums, the design of the site, the written guides and the implementation of the calculators belong to their author. The underlying mathematics does not: geometry and coverage arithmetic are common knowledge, and we make no claim over them.
Advertising and third-party links
The site carries advertising, which is what keeps it free. Advertisements are selected and served by Google, not chosen by us, and their presence is not an endorsement. Pages we link to are not under our control and we are not responsible for their content or their practices.
Changes and availability
Calculators, guides and these terms may change or be withdrawn at any time. The date at the top of this page shows the current version. Continuing to use the site after a change means accepting the revised terms.
Governing law
These terms are governed by Italian law. For consumers, the competent court is that of the consumer's place of residence or domicile as provided by the Italian Consumer Code; for any other user, the courts of Italy have jurisdiction.