Frequently Asked Questions

SWMLabs is a cloud-based platform that automates the stormwater Nutrient Loading calculations required for Environmental Resource Permits (ERPs) in Florida. The platform covers the requirements and methodologies of Sections 8 and 9 of Volume I of the ERP Applicant's Handbook - the statewide stormwater quality rules that apply uniformly across all five Water Management Districts.

The platform is built for licensed Professional Engineers and Engineers-in-Training at civil and environmental engineering firms of all sizes preparing ERP submittals. It does not replace engineering judgment - it automates both the data gathering and calculation portions of the Section 8.3 compliance workflow.

All five: NWFWMD, SRWMD, SJRWMD, SWFWMD, and SFWMD.

The platform implements the methodologies specified in the Applicant's Handbook:

• Controlling reduction standard evaluation - the platform computes both the percentage-reduction requirement (e.g., 80% TP / 55% TN) and the pre/post-development loading comparison, and applies whichever is more stringent as the required performance standard for the BMP system.
• Mean Annual ROC Method (Appendix N) - annual runoff volume calculations for both the pre- and post-developed condition using zone-specific Runoff Coefficient tables, cross-referenced by meteorological zone, DCIA percentage, and non-DCIA Curve Number.
• Annual Nutrient Loading Calculations (Section 9.2) - TP and TN loading calculations for both the pre- and post-developed condition using land use-specific coefficients and event mean concentrations.
• BMP performance calculations - treatment efficiency analysis for the BMP system, applied against the controlling reduction standard.

Yes. OFW and Impaired Water status are determined automatically at the time of project boundary submission. The platform applies the appropriate treatment requirements under Sections 8.3.3 and 8.3.4:

• Section 8.3.3 (OFW): 90% TP / 80% TN reduction, or no net increase over pre-development - whichever is more stringent.
• Section 8.3.4 (Impaired Waters): 80% TP/TN reduction (95% if also OFW), no net increase, and post-development loading strictly less than pre-development for impaired pollutants.

Yes. Engineers identify their project as a redevelopment on entry, and the platform adjusts the applicable reduction requirements accordingly under Sections 8.3.5 and 8.3.6. Both the standard and alternative redevelopment thresholds are presented, allowing the Engineer to select and document the applicable pathway.

After purchase the project enters a 9-month editable window, sized to cover a full permit application cycle including any revisions required by agency comments. You can modify inputs and regenerate the Technical Report as many times as needed during that window.

If your firm holds a subscription seat that covers the project size, the 9-month countdown pauses for as long as that coverage is active. Covered time never costs you window time.

Yes, as many times as needed during the active window. Each generation is timestamped and logged for audit trail purposes. The Technical Report is produced as a PDF formatted for direct attachment to an ERP submittal.

Reach out to us directly. If your project is running long due to an extended agency review or other extenuating circumstances, we can work with you on extending the window. We'd rather help you get across the finish line than have a timeline get in the way.

Not at all. Once the project's editable window closes it moves to Read-Only status, and you can Re-Open it at any time. All your inputs, calculations, and reports are still there, so you pick right up where you left off. Re-opened projects are priced at 50% of current rates.

If your firm starts a subscription, projects you already purchased at or below your plan size become editable again at no charge, including projects whose window had already expired before you subscribed.

The PIN is a firm-level code required to confirm any purchase: project activation, a Re-Open, a subscription checkout, or the confirmation that ends your free trial. It is a simple safeguard against accidental transactions and gives you a clean audit trail for every charge.

If a change in inputs moves the project into a higher acreage tier, the platform flags it in the platform and prompts you to pay the upgrade difference before generating the final Technical Report. It's a quick step and you'll be back on your way.

The Technical Report is the calculation record generated by the platform, produced as a PDF formatted for direct attachment to an ERP submittal. It documents all inputs, regulatory classifications, methodology references, and results in a format agency reviewers expect. It cites the specific version of each regulatory document used and flags any instances where the Engineer overrode auto-populated regulatory values, along with the platform's original determination.

Yes. Every input, classification, and calculation result is logged with a timestamp throughout the life of the project. The log is immutable after activation, so there's always a clean, complete history to reference if a question comes up during agency review.

Yes, it's built for that purpose. You review the inputs and results, apply your judgment, and stamp accordingly - the platform handles the documentation.

Nothing is charged when you start. At checkout you provide a payment method, set your firm PIN, and accept the Terms.

Your firm is charged at whichever of these comes first:

1. Day 14, counted from your firm's first seat, or
2. The first Technical Report you generate on a subscription-covered project.

Before that first report generates, you will see a confirmation showing the exact amount charged that day. You enter your firm PIN to confirm. If you would rather not convert yet, you can generate reports on individually purchased projects without ending the trial.

We send a reminder three days before the day-14 charge with your itemized total.

During the trial you can freely add or remove seats, change plans, and switch between monthly and annual. Every change re-confirms your new pending total, so the last amount you approved is always the amount charged.

One trial per firm.

Remove your seats before the charge. Nothing is owed and nothing is charged.

Projects you created during the trial return to their unpurchased state and can be purchased individually at the published rate. Any individually purchased projects the trial was covering return to their prior state, with any paused countdown picking up where it left off.

• Unlimited projects at or below your plan size
• Unlimited edits, whenever a covering seat is free
• Technical Report generation included, with unlimited regenerations
• No window expiration on covered projects for as long as you hold a covering seat
• Free read-only access firm-wide, on every project, regardless of who started it
• 15% off per-project purchases above your plan size

Seats belong to your firm, not to a person. There is no assignment step and no admin reassignment to manage.

One seat supports one person editing at a time. A firm holding three seats supports three people working at once.

Opening a covered project automatically claims the smallest free seat that covers it, which keeps your larger seats available for the work that needs them.

Viewing is always free and always available. Any member of your firm can open any project to view it at any time, whether or not a seat is free.

The seat panel on your Projects page shows every seat your firm holds and who is holding it. You can request a held seat, which notifies the holder so they can release it.

If the holder does not respond, you can trigger a takeover. They get a notification and a short window to cancel it. If they take no action, the seat passes to you. Work autosaves frequently, so nothing in progress is ever lost to a takeover.

Seat actions and Technical Report generation are logged by user name regardless of which seat was held.

Any individually purchased project at or below your plan size is picked up by your coverage, and two things happen:

• An active window pauses. The 9-month countdown freezes while the project is covered.
• An expired window revives. A project whose window already ran out becomes fully editable again at no charge, including projects that expired before you ever subscribed.

Coverage is what makes the project editable, so it does not grant a new 9-month window. If your subscription ends, the project returns to Read-Only and the 50% Re-Open earned by its original purchase is the route back.

You have two options:

• If the project is under 200 acres, but above your current plan's ceiling, you are able to upgrade your subscription for the remainder of your term.
• You can purchase it individually through the Per-Project lane. Active subscribers get 15% off the published price.

The discount applies to new per-project purchases only. It does not apply to a Re-Open or to a seat price, and it starts once your trial converts. Purchases made during the trial are charged at the full published price.

You choose at the same true-up point that already exists for per-project work:

1. Upgrade a seat to a plan that covers the project, paying the prorated difference for the rest of your term, or
2. Convert the project to a per-project purchase at the published rate for its new band, less the 15% subscriber discount, with a standard 9-month editable window.

True-up is based on acreage only. Reducing acreage later does not produce a refund.

Upgrades, yes, any time. You will see a preview of the exact amount before confirming.

If you prepaid annually, a prorated lump sum is due at the upgrade, calculated on the prepaid rates so your 5% discount carries through. If you pay monthly, no lump sum is owed. Your monthly rate rises by the difference between the two plans, with the current installment prorated.

Downgrades and seat removals take effect at renewal rather than mid-term, and you can schedule them yourself from the billing page any time.

Your firm has a single renewal date, 12 months from your first subscription conversion. Seats added later are prorated so everything renews together.

Subscriptions auto-renew at the then-current published rate. We send a renewal notice about 10 days before the charge listing the renewal date, the seats renewing, and the price. Non-renewal is self-serve from the billing page.

Cancelling mid-term stops the auto-renewal. Your access continues through the term you have already committed to.

Nothing is deleted and everything stays viewable.

• Projects created under the subscription go Read-Only
• A purchased project that was revived by coverage returns to Read-Only, with its 50% Re-Open available
• A paused countdown resumes with exactly the days it had left
• Technical Reports you already generated and downloaded are yours to keep

Nothing changes immediately. Your firm keeps full access while the payment is retried automatically over the following days, and we email you to let you know retries are running.

If the retries do not succeed, covered projects drop to Read-Only. Nothing is deleted. The moment any retry succeeds, everything unlocks on its own with no support ticket and no manual step.

The dashboard gives you a running view of all your projects - status, acreage, tier, activation date, days remaining in the editable window, engineer of record, and internal project number. Projects are grouped by status: Pending Activation, Active, and Read-Only. A summary at the top shows your active project count, account credit balance, and next upcoming expiry.

Yes. Firm-level accounts support multiple users under one account. Every project can be attributed to a specific engineer of record and internal project number for your records, and all users can view all projects.

On a subscription, editing works through firm seats. Seats belong to the firm rather than to named individuals, and one seat supports one person editing at a time. Viewing is always free and never occupies a seat.

Your current balance, how each credit was earned, and its expiration date are visible in the billing section of your account. Your balance is also shown on the purchase screen each time you activate a project, so there are no surprises.

The fastest way in is the Free Project Audit - no account required. Run the audit on your first project, review the regulatory classification and pricing, and purchase when you're ready. Your account is created automatically at checkout. You can also sign up directly with email and password.

For the Free Project Audit you just need the project acreage and a general idea of the project boundary - you'll sketch it directly on the GIS map or upload a shapefile.

For the full analysis after purchase, you will also need your proposed land use breakdown, DCIA percentages by use, and BMPs. The platform walks you through each input in sequence and flags anything that looks out of range before you finalize.

For a typical project with inputs already in hand, most Engineers complete the full analysis and generate the Technical Report in under an hour - including the pre-development classification, post-development loading, BMP performance evaluation, and report output. Projects with multiple land use zones or complex BMP configurations may take a bit longer, but the platform guides you through each step so there's no backtracking.

Yes. The Resources page and Help Center includes walkthrough documentation for each section of the platform and reference materials for the underlying methodology. If you run into anything that isn't covered, please reach out through the Contact page.