Nothing on the site is legal, insurance, engineering or tax advice. Cost figures are national ranges, each labeled with its source and year, because no Wisconsin or Milwaukee cost source turned up. A real price arrives in writing from a contractor who has looked at the basement.

Permit, licensing, sewer and plumbing rules change over time. Where a page summarizes something published by the City of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), DATCP, DSPS or your own city or village, confirm it with that office before relying on it. Pipe Check and the Deep Tunnel belong to MMSD, and the Downspout Disconnection Program and the private property inflow program belong to the City. None of these bodies endorses, funds or works with this site.

Rainfall and river figures cite the National Weather Service, the Wisconsin State Climatology Office or the outlet that reported them, and they serve only as background. Remarks about glacial till, lake clay and groundwater are general and describe no particular lot.

Treat results from the cost calculator and the wet-basement checker as rough guidance; no tool can look at your walls or diagnose them.

Whichever contractor gets a request runs its own independent business and stands behind its own estimates, work and conduct. Advertising on the site does not amount to an endorsement, and the site offers none. Homeowners pay the site nothing and receive nothing from it.

On insurance: many homeowner policies don't cover sewer backups unless a sewer-backup endorsement has been added. Read your policy and ask your insurer or agent, and take general insurance questions to the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance at (608) 266-3585. Wisconsin law governs this disclaimer.