Platform policy
Last updated: September 2026
Clients and studios use PlanGrounds under the same rules. You accept this policy when you create an account or when we ask you to re-accept a new version. It does not replace the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, or Payments & risk policy. If those documents conflict with this summary, the Terms control.
1. Clients and studios agree to the same policy
Whether you post a project or propose as a studio, you are using one marketplace. This policy, the Terms of Service, the Privacy Policy, and the Payments & risk policy apply to both sides. You may not pick the parts that help you and ignore the rest.
2. What PlanGrounds is
PlanGrounds is a marketplace and workflow platform operated by Polygen Lab LLC. We help clients describe a project, help studios respond with comparable proposals, and, where the product supports it, collect payment through licensed partners such as Stripe. We are not an architecture firm, contractor, lender, insurer, permit authority, or licensed escrow agent.
3. The design contract is between you
When a client hires a studio, the professional services agreement is between those two parties. PlanGrounds is not a party to that design contract. We do not supervise the studio, stamp drawings, certify fitness for a site, or decide that work is adequate for permitting or construction. Approving a milestone or confirming delivery is your action, not our professional opinion.
4. Honest briefs, proposals, and credentials
Clients agree to describe site, budget, scope, and constraints in good faith. Studios agree to propose only work they can deliver, to keep license and insurance information accurate where required, and not to conceal limits of their services. Fake listings, bait pricing, and misstated credentials are grounds for removal.
5. Posting, proposing, and hiring
The point of the marketplace is a project designed with a studio that fits the work — with comparable proposals so both sides can choose clearly. Clients should compare proposals on the same brief. Studios should answer that brief, not a private side deal that leaves the other party guessing. If you accept a proposal or checkout amount in the product, that is the commercial deal you are making unless you both record a change through PlanGrounds.
6. Fees, payments, and staying on the platform
Eligible payments for work that starts or is materially negotiated here must go through PlanGrounds when the product offers a payment path. You may not use the marketplace to find each other and then move payment off-platform primarily to avoid fees. Amounts shown at checkout control. Platform fees and card processing are disclosed in the product and in the Terms. We facilitate payment. We are not holding a bank account or licensed escrow in your name.
7. Holds, chargebacks, and disputes
Card payments can be reversed under network rules. We may delay payouts, apply reserves, or recover funds after a chargeback as described in the Payments & risk policy. Clients should not use a chargeback as a substitute for a scope or quality conversation. Studios accept that released funds can still be reversed. PlanGrounds may help with records and tooling. We are not required to judge design quality, code compliance, or professional negligence.
8. Permits, code, and building
A proposal, plan set, or milestone approval on PlanGrounds is not a permit, a code approval, or a guarantee of construction cost or schedule. Local authorities decide what may be built. Adaptation to a specific lot, engineering, and construction remain the responsibility of the people you hire for those roles, under your contract with them.
9. Conduct
Use the product lawfully. Do not harass, scrape, spam, impersonate, or upload content you do not have the right to share. Do not try to bypass security, identity checks, or fee collection. We may suspend or terminate accounts that create undue risk or abuse the marketplace.
10. Records and electronic signature
Your typed name is your electronic signature on this policy. We store the version, time, role, acknowledgments, and the full policy text shown to you. That record is an electronic signature and electronic record under applicable law, including the federal ESIGN Act and Colorado's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, to the extent they apply. You consent to receive these terms electronically. This is separate from any later plan-purchase disclosure or project contract you sign with a studio.
11. No employment, agency, or professional relationship with PlanGrounds
Studios and other professionals on PlanGrounds are independent. They are not employees, partners, joint venturers, or agents of Polygen Lab LLC. Clients do not hire PlanGrounds to practice architecture or engineering. Nothing in the product creates a professional-client relationship with PlanGrounds.
12. Files, licenses, and instruments of service
You keep ownership of content you upload, subject to the licenses in the Terms of Service needed to run the marketplace. Between client and studio, copyright in drawings and other instruments of service stays with the author unless those parties record a different license on the contract. A PlanGrounds purchase or hire does not transfer PlanGrounds platform intellectual property.
13. Risk, indemnity, and limits
You use the marketplace at your own risk as described in the Terms. PlanGrounds does not guarantee outcomes, permits, or construction cost. To the extent allowed by law, limits of liability, disclaimers, and indemnity in the Terms of Service apply. Mandatory consumer rights that cannot be waived still apply.
14. Governing law
Disputes with PlanGrounds about the platform are governed by Colorado law and the venue terms in the Terms of Service, except where a non-waivable consumer protection requires otherwise. Disputes about the design work itself remain primarily between client and professional.