Methodology

How pages earn the right to be public.

SepticPath is built around records, permit paths, buyer diligence, and conservative planning estimates. A page should change the next action, expose the file path, or narrow uncertainty with a visible source trail.

Trust surface Open source policy Open coverage Open editorial standards

State guides 50

Published only after a state source set, local override note, and homeowner action path exist.

State workflow pages 345

Records, permit, buyer, inspection, replacement, and cost pages tied back to state context.

County records pages 327

Local file paths for county-level records, request methods, and quote gates.

Detailed county search guides 8

A subset of county pages with reviewed search windows, identifiers, document coverage, fallback steps, and source links.

Official sources 1170

Distinct source records currently backing the public research layer.

Operating rules

The bar is task completion, not page count.

Gate 1

A page needs a job beyond ranking.

The target reader must be obvious: buyer, seller, owner, agent, or contractor. If the page cannot tell that user what to pull, ask, or verify next, it should not be a money page.

Browse coverage

Gate 2

Official-source context comes before estimate confidence.

State rules, county records offices, delegated authority pages, forms, and file request paths are preferred over generic cost claims. Weak source coverage widens the answer instead of pretending certainty.

Read source policy

Gate 3

County pages must add local workflow detail.

A county page needs an office path, records path, request method, low-end breaker, and a next action that a real user can take from the page.

Open county routes

Gate 4

The estimate is downstream of the file.

The cost calculator and state guides are used after the record, permit, buyer, or site-risk question is clearer. This keeps the site from over-selling fake precision.

Open estimator

Coverage board

County-backed workflow leaders

Ranked by published county route count, then state workflow page count. Source count, confidence, and state-guide review date are shown as context, not ranking inputs.

State	Workflow pages	County pages	Source depth	Confidence	State guide reviewed
North Carolina NC	10	29	104 sources	Directional confidence	2026-07-10
Tennessee TN	6	23	40 sources	High confidence	2026-03-10
New York NY	6	21	67 sources	High confidence	2026-03-10
Maryland MD	6	20	79 sources	High confidence	2026-03-10
Indiana IN	7	19	45 sources	High confidence	2026-03-10
Texas TX	6	18	45 sources	High confidence	2026-03-10
Alabama AL	7	17	32 sources	High confidence	2026-07-30
Ohio OH	6	17	54 sources	High confidence	2026-03-10

Next publishing decision

Methodology only matters if it changes publishing behavior.

Use these standards to decide what gets built next: add pages only when they create a better file path, stronger local routing, or a more honest planning range.

Open source policy Open coverage Open editorial standards

What this prevents

Publishing a page that only swaps the state or county name.
Letting an estimate outrank the permit file, county record, or local authority path.
Scaling pages faster than the source layer can support them.