Disclaimer

1. No certification, approval or professional advice

DrivewayIQ supports design checking. It does not certify a design, and the approving authority remains the authority.

Nothing produced by the software is, or should be presented as:

• a certificate of compliance with any standard, code, planning scheme or council requirement;
• a building approval, development approval, plumbing approval or vehicle crossing permit;
• engineering, surveying, town planning, legal or other professional advice;
• a warranty that a design will be approved, will be constructible, or will perform as modelled on site; or
• an endorsement by, or evidence of assessment by, any standards body, council, government or manufacturer.

No standards body, council or government agency has reviewed, endorsed or approved this software. Where a drawing records that a design was “checked against” a rule pack, that is a record of which criteria were applied — not a verdict on compliance.

2. Rule packs are interpretations, not the source documents

The software assesses a profile against a rule pack you select. Each pack is a versioned interpretation prepared by us from a published source document. It encodes the gradient provisions we have read out of that document. It is not the document, does not reproduce it, and cannot substitute for reading it.

Specific limits you should understand:

• Packs cover gradient provisions only. Source documents typically also address width, cross fall, corner setbacks, sight lines, pavement construction, drainage and stormwater. The software does not check those.
• Packs may not be current. Standards are revised and councils amend their requirements. We update packs as we become aware of changes. We do not warrant that a pack matches the current edition of its source, and we do not notify you when a design produced earlier would assess differently under an updated pack.
• Passing one pack does not mean passing another.Different instruments give different answers on the same site. A profile that satisfies AS 2890.1 domestic limits can fall outside a council pack, and a profile satisfying QDC NMP 1.1 can fall outside Brisbane City Council's requirements.
• Non-mandatory guidance is not the local requirement.The Queensland Development Code's Non-Mandatory Part 1.1 is guidance. A local government's own standards sit on top of it and are frequently tighter.
• Coverage is limited.Council-specific packs exist for a small number of councils. If a pack does not exist for the authority assessing your project, the software has not checked against that authority's requirements at all.
• A “conservative” pack is not a published standard. It is a tightened application of the baseline for designers who prefer not to sit on a limit.

You are responsible for confirming which instruments apply to your site, in their current form, and for confirming that the pack you selected is the right one.

3. Vehicle data: what is measured, what is estimated

The clearance simulation is only as good as the vehicle it models. We publish the provenance of every input because the difference matters.

Published specifications. Overall length, width, height, wheelbase and front and rear overhangs are taken from manufacturer-published specifications.

Measured to a published method. Approach and departure angles follow the measurement definitions published in SAE J689. This is consistency with a published measurement standard. It is not a certification, and no body has certified this software or its results.

Engineering estimates. Underbody clearance heights — the height of the lowest points beneath the vehicle, such as the exhaust, centre floor and differential — are engineering estimates, not published figures. No manufacturer publishes them. Each is derived as a fixed proportion of that vehicle's published ground clearance, because the published figure is a running clearance measured at the axle rather than a true minimum. These estimates should be treated as indicative only, and are not a substitute for measuring the actual vehicle.

Representativeness. Most entries are model-representative rather than variant-specific. A real vehicle differs from its catalogue figures with load, tyre choice, tyre pressure, suspension condition, aftermarket modification, towing, and wear. A design that clears in the simulation may still scrape on site, and the reverse is also possible.

Vehicle makes, models and specifications are referred to descriptively to identify what is being modelled. No manufacturer has endorsed, supplied, reviewed or approved this software or its data.

4. Outputs depend on your inputs

The software works from the levels, lengths and selections you enter. It has no independent knowledge of your site and cannot detect:

• an incorrect, out-of-date or mis-transcribed survey level, or a level on the wrong datum;
• a kerb, verge, footpath, service pit, stormwater line or street tree that is not where the model assumes;
• existing infrastructure, easements, retaining structures or underground services;
• site conditions such as soil, drainage, overland flow or flooding; or
• construction tolerances, or the difference between a designed level and an as-built one.

Levels should be taken from a current survey by a suitably qualified surveyor. Garbage in, garbage out applies with full force here: a profile built on a wrong level will be internally consistent and completely wrong.

5. Exported drawings

Exported drawings are a documentation aid. They are unsigned, unstamped and uncertified. They are not construction documentation, they are not a survey plan, and they are not an approval submission in themselves.

If you issue a drawing produced with the software — to a client, builder, certifier or authority — you issue it as your own work product, you are responsible for checking it, and you should apply your own title block, authorship and, where required, your registration details. Do not represent a drawing as certified or approved by DrivewayIQ.

6. Independent verification is required

Every output must be independently checked, by a person appropriately qualified and — where the law requires it — registered or licensed, before the design is submitted, relied on, priced or built. The software is a starting point and a cross-check. It is not the last word, and it is not a reason to skip a review that would otherwise have happened.

7. The website assistant

The assistant on this website is an AI system that answers questions about the product. It can be wrong, it can be incomplete, and it is not a source of engineering, compliance or legal advice. Nothing it says varies these documents or forms part of any agreement between us. Do not enter personal information, client details or confidential project data into it; messages are sent to a third-party AI provider as described in our Privacy Policy.

8. Website content, blog and documentation

Articles, guides, documentation and figures published on this website are general information about driveway design in Australia. They are not advice, they are not tailored to your site, and requirements differ by state, council and even by street. Figures attributed to a standard or a council are our reading of a publicly available source at the time of writing, and may have changed since. Always confirm a figure against the current source document and the assessing authority before you rely on it.

9. Your rights are not affected

Nothing in this Disclaimer excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot lawfully be excluded. See clause 10 of our Terms of Service.

10. Questions

If anything here is unclear, or you think something the software told you is wrong, tell us at Contact@drivewayiq.com.au. We would rather hear about it.