The two rules we cannot break

Independence is a daily practice, not a one-time promise. If we ever violate either of the rules below, the correct response is for readers to stop trusting our scores until we publicly explain the breach and how we repaired it. We hold ourselves to this because the alternative — trust that drifts silently — is how every Indian property portal before us ended up working for builders instead of buyers.

Every page on brickplot.com can be audited against these two rules. If you notice a score that appears to have moved without a visible correction note or a re-score marker, please write to corrections@brickplot.com — we owe you a public reply within 48 hours.

Who our editors are

Brickplot's editorial board is a three-person team, each with veto power over the publication of a specific category: scoring methodology, site-visit evidence, and buyer-interview verification. A score cannot be published if any board member holds a recorded objection on the file. This is the human check on the formula.

Editorial board meetings happen every two weeks. Minutes are archived internally for three years and made available to any reader who files a complaint involving a specific score.

Our conflict-of-interest policy

The single largest risk to our independence is not a bribe. It is a quiet, unacknowledged relationship — a brother-in-law who joined a builder's sales team, a small equity stake in a proptech company, a paid speaking slot at a builder's launch event. We treat disclosed conflicts as a normal part of the job. We treat undisclosed conflicts as grounds for dismissal.

Named conflicts

Every editorial board member and staff researcher files a quarterly conflict register covering: direct property holdings (own and immediate family), advisory or consulting relationships in the real-estate sector, equity stakes >1% in any scored builder or adjacent company, and paid engagements above ₹25,000 in the last 12 months from any entity whose project we might score.

Recusal mechanism

If a conflict is registered against a specific builder or project, the conflicted individual is removed from the scoring pipeline for that builder for a minimum of 12 months after the conflict ends. A second board member takes over verification for any project under that builder during the recusal window. The recusal is noted on the published review page with the text "One board member is recused from this score under our conflict policy."

Disclosure to readers

Every review page carries a footer line: "Brickplot has no financial relationship with this builder. Score cannot be purchased." If a conflict does exist and recusal has been applied, the line is replaced with the recusal note above. Absence of the recusal note is itself a claim — and an auditable one.

What happens when a builder disputes a score

We publish scores knowing that roughly one in six will be disputed. The dispute process is the same regardless of whether the builder is a ₹40,000 crore listed developer or a first-project SPV.

1. Formal objection filed. The builder emails corrections@brickplot.com with a specific, numbered list of factual claims they believe are wrong and the evidence supporting each claim. We acknowledge receipt within 24 hours and assign a case number.
2. Evidence review, 5 business days. The Research Lead reviews the submitted evidence against our site-visit notes, RERA pulls, and buyer interview transcripts. Material factual errors (e.g. we recorded the wrong RERA number) are fixed within 72 hours with a public correction log entry. Interpretive disagreements (e.g. the builder thinks their sentiment score should be higher) do not trigger a change.
3. Re-score option, 30 days. If the builder has materially changed a scorable input — filed a pending RERA, finished a delayed tower, etc. — we can schedule a full re-score 30 days after the change is verified in the field. The re-score is a new site visit and new interview cycle, not a desk revision. The old score and the new score both remain visible on the page with the re-score date.
4. Escalation and legal. If the builder escalates to a legal notice, we retain counsel and publish the notice (redacted for personal details) on brickplot.com/legal/builder-notices/. We do not take scores down under legal pressure; we defend or correct based on the evidence.
5. Public log. Every dispute and its outcome — sustained, corrected, or re-scored — is logged on brickplot.com/legal/correction-log/ with the case number, date, and summary.

Funding sources

Brickplot is revenue-stage and bootstrapped. Where the money comes from is a legitimate question, and the answer has to reconcile with the independence claim. Here is the full breakdown as of 2026-04-22.

Reader subscriptions (primary)

Our intended long-term majority of revenue. Premium (₹499/month) and Pro (₹1,999/quarter) tiers — priced so that a meaningful paid-reader base can sustain the research team without cross-subsidies from builder revenue. Target by day-180: 500 paid subscribers, approximately ₹3 lakh MRR.

Paid builder micro-sites (secondary, future)

Hosted pages at brickplot.com/b/<builder>/ — clearly labelled "Paid Placement" and linked back to this editorial policy. Micro-sites do not influence scores. The ₹15,000–₹75,000/month pricing is published. Target by day-180: 10 paid micro-sites, approximately ₹3.5 lakh MRR. Firewall rules: (a) builder cannot preview or influence their score, (b) micro-site carries a permanent paid-placement banner, (c) scored review pages do not link to the micro-site, only the micro-site links to the scored review.

Future: paid builder site-visit photography service

Builders will be able to purchase professional site-visit photography and video from a third-party vendor coordinated through Brickplot, at a published day rate. The output is the builder's to use as they wish. Brickplot takes no editorial credit on the output and uses none of it in scoring. This is a physical production service, clearly separated from editorial work.

What we will never take

• Broker commissions. We do not list broker inventory. We do not send leads to brokers. We do not earn ₹1 when a reader ends up buying a home.
• Pay-per-lead fees from builders. Our review pages do not carry lead-capture forms. Builders cannot buy your phone number from us because we do not sell it.
• Sponsored content disguised as reviews. Every paid placement is visibly paid. If it looks like a review, it is a review.
• Cryptocurrency-linked tokens or NFT-based builder financing schemes. Out of scope and off the table.

Accountability

A published editorial policy is only useful if readers have a way to hold us to it. There are three named channels and one public log.

How to file a complaint

Email hello@brickplot.com with "Complaint" in the subject line. Include: the URL of the page concerned, the specific claim or score you believe is wrong, and the evidence you have. You will get an acknowledgement within 24 hours and a substantive reply within 48 hours. If you file a complaint and receive no reply within 72 hours, escalate to the editorial board by copying board@brickplot.com.

Response SLA

• Factual error, easily verifiable: fixed within 72 hours with a correction log entry.
• Contested interpretation: full reply within 5 business days explaining our reasoning or updating the review.
• Structural complaint (policy-level): full reply within 10 business days with any policy change documented on this page.

Public correction log

Every correction, dispute outcome, and recusal is logged at brickplot.com/legal/correction-log/ with the date, URL affected, and summary. The log is append-only. Historical entries are never deleted — only superseded with a newer entry if circumstances change.

Ombudsperson

We will appoint an external ombudsperson within 90 days of launch — a domain-independent person who can adjudicate escalated complaints and whose finding we commit in advance to publish. Until that appointment, the editorial board performs this function, and its interim findings are logged in the public correction log.

Frequently asked questions