Partner Principles · Version 1.0
Lake Pulse measures lakes. We do not treat them.
Rules of engagement for lake management companies, treatment technology vendors, applicators, engineering firms, and laboratories.
Why this document exists
That distinction is the entire basis of our business, and it only holds if it is written down and enforced.
This document states the commitments we make to every partner, and the small number of things we ask in return. It is not a contract. It is the standing policy that any contract with us will be consistent with.
If you manage lakes for a living, the short version is this: we are not competing for your work, and we will not be positioned as a check on your competence. We are the measurement layer that sits underneath whatever the association decides to do.
What Lake Pulse is
- A data platform for lake communities: residents, homeowner associations, and lake associations.
- A source of standardized baseline records, lab testing, real-time monitoring, and reporting.
- An expert support function (the Boathouse) that helps boards understand what their data means.
What Lake Pulse is not
- We do not hold pesticide applicator licenses and do not intend to.
- We do not sell, apply, or recommend specific chemistry, equipment, or treatment programs.
- We do not perform lake management work, and will not bid against partners for it.
- We do not certify, rate, rank, or accredit vendors.
The principles
Ten commitments, in force on every project.
- 01
We do not sell treatment
No chemistry, no applicators, no installs, no management contracts. We have no revenue that depends on a lake needing intervention, and no revenue that depends on it not needing one.
- 02
No referral fees, in either direction
We do not pay for introductions and we do not accept them. If we connect an association to a partner, it is because the association asked us to, and no money moves as a result.
- 03
No vendor pays for a verdict
For any before-and-after measurement work, the lake association is the contracting party and the paying party. A vendor may introduce us and may encourage the association to commission the work. A vendor may not purchase the result.
- 04
Methods are fixed before data is collected
Parameters, sample locations, depths, timing, laboratory, and detection limits are documented and agreed before the first sample. Neither Lake Pulse nor the partner may revise the method after seeing results.
- 05
We report what we measured
Including results that are null, inconclusive, ambiguous, or unfavorable to the intervention. We do not narrate around a number in either direction. Where a result is inconclusive, we say it is inconclusive rather than framing it as a success or a failure.
- 06
The association owns its data
Not Lake Pulse, not the vendor. Custody survives the end of any service agreement and survives a change in board or management company. Partners receive access to data from projects they are party to; they do not receive it as an asset.
- 07
Disclosure is the association's decision
The association decides what is published, to whom, and when. That includes whether a vendor is named or anonymized in any report or case material. The only exception is a result that carries a mandatory reporting obligation under applicable state or federal law, which is disclosed to the association at the outset.
- 08
No exclusivity, no preferred lists
We will not maintain a recommended vendor list, a partner tier, or a certification badge. Where an association asks for options, we provide the field, not a favorite.
- 09
We do not publish comparative vendor performance
We will publish aggregate, de-identified findings about what works on lakes. We will not publish or supply rankings of named companies, and we will not use one partner's project data to sell against another.
- 10
Sourcing is disclosed
Where a laboratory, sensor manufacturer, or analytical service used in a Lake Pulse product has a commercial interest in the treatment being evaluated, that relationship is disclosed on the product page and in the report.
What we ask of partners
Let the measurement be independent.
Do not ask us to preview, soften, or delay a result.
Do not represent Lake Pulse as endorsing your product or program.
You may state accurately that a project was independently measured by Lake Pulse, using the association's approved language.
Share method-relevant context.
Application dates, rates, products used, and equipment deployment timing, so the measurement is interpretable. We treat commercially sensitive program details as confidential.
Tell the association first.
If you disagree with a finding, raise it with us and with the board before raising it publicly. We will document a partner's stated objection alongside the finding.
What partners get
A defined scope before the bid.
Associations that come to you with a Lake Pulse baseline arrive knowing their lake, which shortens the proposal cycle and reduces disputes about what the problem actually was.
Documented outcomes.
A third-party record of what changed, which is durable evidence at renewal time and across board turnover.
A standing measurement layer.
Multi-year, method-consistent monitoring that does not have to be rebuilt for each project.
No competition for your revenue.
We do not want the treatment work, now or later.
How we handle a bad result
If measurement shows an intervention did not achieve what was expected, the finding goes to the association with the same methodology notes and the same tone as a favorable one. The partner is notified at the same time and may submit a written response that travels with the report. We do not publicize the result independently, and we do not use it in marketing.
Changes to these principles
This document is versioned. Material changes are dated, and partners with active projects are notified before a revision takes effect.
Contact: the Boathouse, Lake Pulse Analytics, Inc. · Version 1.0
Partner Principles