Terms of Use

1. Engineering disclaimer — read this one

Kouzouki provides calculation tools and reference material. It does not provide engineering services, and using this site does not create an engineer–client relationship.

• No output of this site is a sealed, stamped, certified or otherwise professionally endorsed design.
• Every result must be independently reviewed by a qualified engineer before being used for construction, permitting, or any other real-world purpose.
• The engineer of record remains solely responsible for the design: for the inputs entered, for whether the method applies to the structure in question, for the governing code edition and local amendments, and for the final result.
• A calculator cannot exercise engineering judgement. Selecting the right check, recognising when a model does not represent reality, and knowing when a result is implausible remain human work.

2. Codes, editions and jurisdiction

Design standards are revised, and jurisdictions adopt them on their own schedule and frequently amend them. Each calculator states the standard and edition it implements. You are responsible for confirming that this matches the edition adopted where your project is being built, and for applying any local amendments the tool does not know about.

Kouzouki is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of AWC, ASCE, ACI, AISC, AISI, TMS, ICC, AACE International or any other standards organisation. Standard names and clause numbers are cited for identification and reference only.

3. No warranty

The site and its calculators are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of accuracy, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

Considerable effort goes into verification and validation, and that work is documented publicly. That effort is not a guarantee. Software contains defects, and no amount of testing proves their absence.

4. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Kouzouki and its author shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages arising out of or relating to your use of, or inability to use, this site — including without limitation design errors, construction cost, project delay, rework, structural failure, loss of profit, or loss of data.

Nothing in these terms excludes liability which cannot lawfully be excluded.

5. Acceptable use

You may use the calculators for professional and educational purposes, including on commercial projects, subject to the disclaimer above. You may not:

• Scrape, mirror, resell or redistribute the calculators, engines or content as your own product.
• Attempt to circumvent the members password, or share members credentials publicly.
• Attack, overload or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site or its infrastructure.
• Present output from this site as a certified or stamped engineering document.

6. Intellectual property

The site design, written guides, calculation engines and presentation are the intellectual property of Kouzouki and its author. The underlying engineering methods are, of course, public knowledge published in the referenced standards; the implementation and the written explanation are not.

You are welcome to quote short extracts from the guides with attribution and a link.

7. Advertising

This site displays third-party advertising. Advertisements are served by Google and are not endorsements by Kouzouki of any advertised product, service or vendor. Data handling relating to advertising is described in the privacy policy.

8. Availability and changes

The site may be modified, interrupted or withdrawn at any time without notice. Calculators may be updated to reflect new code editions or to correct defects; a result obtained previously may therefore differ from one obtained today. Retain your own records of calculations used on a project.

These terms may be revised; the current version is always the one on this page.

9. Contact

See also the privacy policy and about page.