Terms of Service

1. Acceptance and eligibility

1.1 You accept these Terms by creating an account, uploading a model, purchasing a subscription or otherwise using the Service. If you accept on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to bind it, and "you" means that organisation.

1.2 The Service is intended for businesses, public bodies and professionals acting for purposes related to their trade, business or profession. Paid plans are sold to business customers only. Students and academic researchers may use the Free plan for non-commercial study and research. If you use the Service as a consumer, nothing in these Terms limits the rights you have under mandatory consumer protection law.

1.3 You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service.

1.4 You may not use the Service if you are located in, or act on behalf of a person in, a country or region subject to comprehensive sanctions, or if you are a sanctioned person (see section 16).

2. Documents that form the agreement

2.1 The following documents form part of your agreement with ForensicBIM:

• these Terms;
• our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal data for which we are responsible;
• our Data Processing Agreement ("DPA"), which applies to personal data contained in Your Content that we process on your behalf; and
• the plan description on our Pricing page at the time of purchase.

2.2 If you have signed a separate agreement with us, such as an Enterprise agreement, that agreement prevails over these Terms where they conflict. For the processing of personal data, the DPA prevails over these Terms.

3. Your account

3.1 You sign in with a link sent to your email address or with your Google account. You are responsible for keeping access to that email or Google account secure, and for all activity under your account.

3.2 You must provide accurate information and use an email address you control. We may refuse disposable or temporary email addresses.

3.3 If you start an analysis without signing in, these Terms apply in the same way, and the results are linked to the email address you provide.

3.4 Tell us immediately at support@forensicbim.business if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

4. The Service and plans

4.1 What the Service does. You upload IFC files. The Service analyses their geometry, data and structure, produces quality scores, findings, valuations, 3D previews and reports, and, if you choose, has the file validated by buildingSMART. Files are stored and analysed in the region you select, as described in our Privacy Policy.

4.2 Free plan. The Free plan includes the valuation and audit features shown on the Pricing page and is subject to fair use. If an account's use goes beyond what is normal for an individual professional (for example around 100 uploads), we may contact you, ask you to upgrade or limit further use. If you use the Free plan for non-commercial study or research, contact us and we will review your account.

4.3 Pro plan. The Pro plan adds the features described on the Pricing page, such as adjustable valuation parameters, report downloads and exports, secret share links and priority support. Pro accounts have no fixed upload quota, but remain subject to section 8.

4.4 Enterprise plan. Custom checks, hosting locations, customer-managed encryption keys, single sign-on and dedicated support are offered only under a separate written agreement.

4.5 Technical limits. The Service accepts IFC files of up to 5 GB each and up to 20 files per upload. Very large or unusual files may fail to process because of memory limits. Files with a non-official IFC schema are processed on a best-effort basis.

4.6 Preview features. Features marked as "beta", "preview", "coming soon" or "under development", such as comparing and combining files or connections to other platforms, are provided as they are. They may change or be withdrawn at any time.

4.7 Availability. We aim to keep the Service available at all times, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted availability unless agreed in an Enterprise agreement. We may carry out maintenance, and an analysis may fail, for example when the processing worker in your region cannot be started. You can then retry the upload.

5. Fees, billing and refunds

5.1 Prices. Prices are shown on the Pricing page in the currency offered for your region. All prices exclude VAT and other taxes, which you must pay where applicable. For business customers in the EU outside the Netherlands, VAT may be reverse-charged.

5.2 Billing and renewal. Subscriptions are billed in advance, monthly or annually, through our payment provider Stripe. A subscription renews automatically for the same period until you cancel it.

5.3 Cancellation. You can cancel at any time in the billing portal, available from your account and the Pricing page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and you keep Pro access until then.

5.4 14-day money-back guarantee. For your first Pro purchase, monthly or annual, you can request a full refund within 14 calendar days of the first payment. Email support@forensicbim.business from the email address of your account. We refund through Stripe to the original payment method, usually within 5 to 10 business days, and your account returns to the Free plan straight away.

5.5 No other refunds. Renewals and partial periods are not refundable, except as stated in sections 17.3 and 18.3.

5.6 Price changes. We will give you at least 30 days' notice of a price change. The new price applies from your next renewal. If you do not accept it, cancel before that renewal.

5.7 Promotion codes and complimentary access. Promotion codes apply only under their stated conditions and cannot be exchanged for cash. We may withdraw Pro access that we have granted free of charge at any time.

5.8 Failed payments. If a payment fails and is not resolved, we may move your account to the Free plan or suspend paid features.

6. Your Content and Output

6.1 Ownership. "Your Content" means the IFC files and other material you upload. You keep all rights in Your Content; ForensicBIM claims no ownership of your models or designs. "Output" means the analysis results, scores, valuations, 3D previews and reports the Service generates for you. You may use Output for any lawful purpose, including sharing it with your clients, contractors, auditors and accountants. ForensicBIM keeps all rights in the Service, its methods and the design of its reports.

6.2 Licence to provide the Service. You grant ForensicBIM a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, copy, process, analyse, transmit and display Your Content as needed to provide the Service to you, for as long as you keep it in the Service.

6.3 Improving the Service. In Settings you choose how Your Content may be used to improve our algorithms, scoring, benchmarks and quality thresholds:

• "Use analysis and IFC" (the default): you grant ForensicBIM a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use your IFC files and their analysis results to test and calibrate the Service. Only our staff have access, and we never publish, sell or share your model files.
• "Use analysis without IFC": we use only anonymised, aggregated analysis results.
• "Do not use": we do not use Your Content to improve the Service.

A change applies to later uploads. Unless you choose "do not use", we may reuse the analysis results of a file when someone else uploads an identical file, without passing on your identity. We may use anonymised, aggregated data that no longer identifies you, your organisation or a specific asset without restriction, also after your account ends.

6.4 Your responsibilities. You confirm that:

• you have all rights and permissions needed to upload Your Content and to let us process it under these Terms;
• Your Content does not infringe anyone's rights and that processing it does not breach any law or contract, including confidentiality obligations to your clients; and
• Your Content contains no classified information, no export-controlled technical data and no special categories of personal data.

6.5 Sharing. You decide whether to share Output through secret share links or your showcase page. Anyone who has such a link can view what it shows until the link expires or you revoke it.

6.6 Keep your own copies. The Service is not a backup or archive service. Keep your own copies of Your Content. Deleting an analysis or your account is permanent.

6.7 Feedback. If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them freely and without any obligation to you.

7. Privacy and data protection

7.1 Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data for which ForensicBIM is responsible, such as account and billing information.

7.2 IFC files often contain personal data, such as the names of model authors. When you upload Your Content on behalf of an organisation, you are the controller of that personal data and we process it on your behalf under our Data Processing Agreement, which forms part of these Terms. A signed copy is available on request.

8. Acceptable use

You must not, and must not allow anyone else to:

• upload malware, or files designed to disrupt or overload the Service;
• try to access other users' accounts or data, or bypass security measures, usage limits or fair-use rules, for example by creating multiple Free accounts;
• reverse engineer, decompile or try to derive the source code, scoring or valuation methods of the Service, except where the law expressly allows it;
• use the Service or its Output to build, train or benchmark a competing product or service;
• use bots, scrapers or other automated means to access the Service, other than through features we provide for that purpose;
• resell, sublicense or provide the Service to third parties as a service bureau without our written permission;
• present Output as an official appraisal, audit opinion or certification, or as endorsed by ForensicBIM, or present altered reports as authentic ForensicBIM Output; or
• use the Service in breach of any law, including data protection, intellectual property, export control and sanctions laws.

9. Third-party services

9.1 buildingSMART validation. If you choose to validate a file with buildingSMART, the file is sent to buildingSMART International Limited through validate.buildingsmart.org. buildingSMART processes it under its own Terms of Service, which you should read before using this option. ForensicBIM is not responsible for that service or its results.

9.2 Other services. Payments are handled by Stripe, sign-in with Google by Google, and map views use map services such as Esri and OpenStreetMap. Their own terms apply to your use of their services.

9.3 Consultants. If you ask for consultant support, we may introduce you to independent consultants. Any agreement you make is directly between you and the consultant. ForensicBIM is not responsible for their work.

10. Valuations, scores and other Output

10.1 Output is produced automatically from the content of your files and from assumptions, such as a default hourly rate, that you can review and, on the Pro plan, adjust. Output is an estimate.

10.2 Output is not:

• a formal appraisal or valuation report by a certified valuer;
• an audit opinion, or accounting, tax, legal, engineering or investment advice; or
• a certification of compliance with buildingSMART or any other standard.

10.3 You remain responsible for checking Output and for any decision you base on it, including whether and at what amount to recognise or capitalise model data in financial statements. Consult your accountant or auditor where needed.

10.4 Our calculation methods are proprietary and are not disclosed in full. As we improve the Service, results for the same file may change.

11. Confidentiality

11.1 We treat Your Content as confidential and disclose it only as described in these Terms, the Privacy Policy and the DPA.

11.2 You treat non-public information about the Service that we share with you, such as security documentation and the terms of an Enterprise agreement, as confidential.

11.3 These obligations do not apply to information that is public through no fault of the receiving party, or that must be disclosed by law, including public access to information laws, provided the other party is told where the law allows it.

12. ForensicBIM's intellectual property

12.1 The Service, its software, methods, scoring models, report designs, badges, website content and the ForensicBIM name and logo belong to ForensicBIM or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws.

12.2 Subject to these Terms, we give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service for your own business purposes during your plan. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. Use of our trademarks is described on our Intellectual Property page, where you can also report infringements.

13. Warranties and disclaimers

13.1 For paid plans, we will provide the Service with reasonable skill and care and substantially as described on the Pricing page. If we do not, contact us. We will try to fix the problem, and if we cannot do so within a reasonable time, you may cancel and receive a pro-rata refund of prepaid fees for the remaining period.

13.2 Apart from section 13.1, and to the extent permitted by law, the Service and all Output are provided "as is" and "as available". We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free, that Output will be accurate or complete, or that the Service will meet your specific requirements.

14. Limitation of liability

14.1 ForensicBIM is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, savings, data, goodwill or reputation, or for costs of project delay, whether in contract, tort or otherwise.

14.2 ForensicBIM's total liability arising out of or in connection with the Service and these Terms is limited to the fees you paid for the Service in the 12 months before the event that caused the liability, or EUR 100 if you paid no fees in that period.

14.3 These limits do not apply to liability for death or personal injury, for fraud, for damage caused by the intent or deliberate recklessness of ForensicBIM's management, or to any other liability that cannot be limited by law. They also apply to the DPA, as stated there.

14.4 You must notify us in writing of any claim within 12 months after you became aware, or should reasonably have become aware, of the event giving rise to it.

15. Indemnity

You will indemnify ForensicBIM against third-party claims, and related reasonable costs, arising from Your Content or from your breach of sections 6.4 or 8, including claims that Your Content infringes intellectual property rights or was uploaded in breach of data protection law. We will tell you promptly about such a claim and let you take part in its defence.

16. Export controls and sanctions

16.1 You must comply with all export control and sanctions laws that apply to your use of the Service, including those of the European Union, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

16.2 You may not use the Service from, or for the benefit of a person in, a country or region subject to comprehensive sanctions, and you may not use it if you or your organisation are a sanctioned person. We may block access from such countries and regions.

16.3 You may not upload export-controlled technical data or classified information.

17. Term, suspension and termination

17.1 These Terms apply for as long as you use the Service. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time in Settings; cancel any active subscription first.

17.2 We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you seriously or repeatedly breach these Terms, if you do not pay, if your use creates a security risk or harms other users, or if the law requires it.

17.3 We may also end your account for any other reason with at least 30 days' notice. If you have prepaid for a period after the end date, we will refund that part pro rata.

17.4 When your account ends, your access stops. Download any Content and Output you want to keep before then. We delete your data as described in the Privacy Policy and the DPA. Sections 5.5, 6.3 (as to anonymised data), 6.6, 6.7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 20 continue to apply.

18. Changes to the Service and these Terms

18.1 We may change, add or remove features of the Service. During a paid period, we will not materially reduce the core features of your plan.

18.2 We may update these Terms. We will tell you about material changes by email or in the Service at least 30 days before they take effect. The date at the top shows the latest version. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, the new Terms apply.

18.3 If a material change is to your disadvantage and you do not accept it, you may cancel your subscription before the change takes effect and receive a pro-rata refund of prepaid fees for the remaining period.

19. Public sector customers

If you are a government body or other public sector organisation and the law that applies to you requires different terms, for example on governing law, liability, payment or public access to information, we will agree in writing to those modifications to the extent they are legally required. Contact us before you start using the Service.

20. General provisions

20.1 Governing law and courts. These Terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply. Disputes are submitted exclusively to the competent court in Amsterdam, unless section 19 or mandatory law requires otherwise.

20.2 Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control, such as outages of cloud providers, internet failures, natural disasters or government action.

20.3 Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our written consent. We may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of all or part of our business.

20.4 Notices. We send notices to the email address of your account or in the Service. You send notices to support@forensicbim.business.

20.5 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the documents in section 2, are the entire agreement between you and ForensicBIM about the Service. Your own purchase terms do not apply unless we agree to them in writing.

20.6 Severability and waiver. If a provision is invalid, the rest remains in force, and the invalid provision is replaced by a valid one that comes as close as possible to its purpose. Not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.

20.7 Language. These Terms are written in English. If we provide a translation, the English version prevails.

20.8 Relationship. The parties are independent contractors. These Terms do not create any rights for third parties.

21. Contact

For questions about these Terms, refunds or legal notices, contact us at:

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