How we evaluate tools

Home Adapt Guide covers the tools people use to assess, measure and document homes: standardized assessment instruments, measuring apps and documentation software. This page explains how those pages are written.

What we describe, and where it comes from

Each tool is described from its developer's or publisher's own materials: what it measures, who it is for, how it is used, what it costs and how to get it. Clinical instruments are also described from their published validation studies, with the figures the study reports. Vendor facts carry the month they were checked, because prices and features change.

We do not say we have tested a tool unless we have, and a page that is based on hands-on testing says so and describes how the testing was done.

How we make recommendations

Tool pages give "best for" picks tied to a specific job, such as screening for fall hazards at discharge or measuring a room for a ramp, rather than a single ranked list. Each pick lists what the tool does well and where it falls short, and the page says plainly when another tool is the better choice for a reader's situation.

A comparison page states the points every tool is judged on, where its facts come from and the month they were checked, and gives each pick's limits alongside its strengths.

We do not publish star ratings, scores out of ten, user reviews or testimonials.

Our own product

Home Adapt Guide is published by the team behind OmaScan, a home assessment app. Every page that includes OmaScan opens with a line that says so. OmaScan is held to the same standard as every other tool on the page, and is described only by features that have shipped.

Links to vendors

Links to vendor and publisher sites, including omascan.com, carry a nofollow attribute. No vendor pays for a listing or a link, and we do not use affiliate links.

Corrections

If a tool description is out of date or wrong, see the corrections policy.