These terms are set by Guiding Hand Senior Care Consulting, a California RCFE consulting company ("Guiding Hand", "we", "us"). Part A applies to everyone who uses this website or contacts us. Part B applies to our consulting services. Part C applies when you buy the Application Package.

Part A. Using this website and contacting us

A1. Information, not advice

Our website, guides and checklists give general information about licensing a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE) in California. They are not legal, tax, financial, construction or medical advice, and they do not replace the rules published by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). Rules, fees and forms change. Check CDSS for the current ones before you rely on anything here.

A2. No guarantees

CDSS decides every licensing application. Nothing on this website or in our services guarantees that you will be licensed, how long it will take, or that a facility will reach any occupancy or profit.

A3. What we are not

We are not a law firm, a healthcare provider, a construction company, a real estate brokerage or a regulatory agency.

A4. Contacting us

Calling or emailing us does not make you a client or start an engagement. Consulting starts only as Part B says, and the Application Package only as Part C says. Please do not send us Social Security numbers, financial account numbers or similar details by email, text or voicemail.

A5. Our content

The text, guides, checklists, images and design of this website belong to Guiding Hand. You may read them, print them for your own use and share links to them. You may not copy, republish or sell them, or use them to provide services to others, without our written permission.

A6. Other websites

We link to other websites, such as CDSS, for your convenience. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content.

A7. The website as is

We work to keep this website accurate and available, but we provide it as is. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for any loss that comes from relying on the information on this website. This does not limit anything in Part B or Part C.

A8. Privacy

Our privacy policy explains how we collect, use, protect and delete your information.

A9. Governing law

California law governs these terms.

A10. Changes and contact

We may update these terms. The version posted when you use the website applies to that use. A purchase or a signed agreement keeps the terms that applied when it was made. Questions: hello@ghseniorcare.com or (909) 576-0228.

Part B. Consulting services

B1. A signed agreement comes first

Our consulting services (the Pre-Licensing Assessment, Tier 1 and Tier 2) start only when you and Guiding Hand sign our consulting agreement. Its scope, fees, payment terms, deliverables, data handling, limit of liability and termination terms are in that agreement.

B2. The agreement governs

If the agreement and this website say different things, the agreement wins. Nothing on this website is an offer of consulting services or a price quote.

B3. Moving from the Application Package to Tier 1

If you bought the Application Package and then sign for Tier 1, the credit described in section C4 applies, and your information is then handled under the agreement.

Part C. Application Package

These terms apply when you buy the Application Package. By ticking the box at checkout you accept these terms and confirm you meet the eligibility rules in section C1. Please read them before you buy.

C1. Eligibility

You may buy the Application Package only if all three are true:

  • The facility is in California.
  • The facility will have 4, 5 or 6 licensed beds. You choose the number at checkout.
  • One person will sign the application and its forms for the applicant.

You do not need to have formed a business entity or secured the property to buy. The questionnaire asks what it needs in either case.

C2. What the Application Package is

The Application Package is a set of documents for a California Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE) license application, prepared from the answers you give in our online questionnaire. It follows the numbered items on our Documentation Checklist. It is built from your answers and from our standard templates and fixed text. We do not visit or verify your property, and we do not check your answers against any outside record.

We deliver:

  • The documents for your application, as one highlighted full-package PDF, as separate files by section (Word files stay editable), with every spot you complete by hand marked in bright yellow.
  • The Application Key, which lists every item you sign, date or attach.
  • The Licensing Overview and three checklists (Documentation, Fire Clearance and Inspection).

You download everything from a page that you reach with a six-digit code we email you.

C3. What is not included

The Application Package does not include:

  • A site visit or a feasibility read of your property.
  • Fire clearance, capacity or renovation advice for your building.
  • A tailored operating model. Our standard approach is built into the documents.
  • Advisory calls.
  • A review of your lease, deed or entity documents for fit. We check only that they are present and consistent with your answers.
  • Coordination of your submission to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS).
  • Preparation for inspections or interviews.

You sign the documents, attach the items only you can supply, and send the application to CDSS yourself. We prepare documents. We are not a law firm, a healthcare provider, a construction company, a real estate brokerage or a regulatory agency, and nothing in the package is legal advice.

C4. Price and payment

The Application Package costs $2,000. Priority delivery is an optional add-on for $500. You pay at checkout through Stripe. Fees charged by CDSS, Live Scan operators, training vendors and other third parties are separate, and you pay them directly. If you later engage Guiding Hand for Tier 1 licensing advisory before you submit your application to CDSS, the $2,000 Application Package fee is credited toward the Tier 1 fee. Priority delivery fees are not credited.

C5. Delivery

  • The delivery clock starts when you submit a complete questionnaire. It does not start when you pay.
  • Standard delivery is within 10 business days after that. With priority delivery, delivery is within 3 business days after that.
  • These are the longest times we will take, not targets. We may deliver sooner.
  • If we ask you to fix or add something, the clock pauses while we wait. When you resubmit, it resumes with the business days that were left.
  • Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding federal holidays.
  • Late delivery. If we deliver after the 10 business days, you may ask for a full refund of everything you paid, and you keep the package. If you paid for priority delivery and we deliver after 3 business days but within 10, we refund the $500 priority delivery fee.

C6. Revisions

  • You may send unlimited revisions for 90 days from first delivery. You send a revision by reopening your questionnaire link and submitting the next version.
  • We return each revision within 10 business days, or within 3 business days if you paid for priority delivery. You pay for priority once. There is no second charge.
  • The 90 days do not restart when you send a revision.
  • If your legal name or facility address changes, we rebuild the whole package. That is free inside the 90 days.
  • If we send a corrected version to fix our own error, there is no charge and the 90 days do not change.
  • After the 90 days end, changes need a new purchase.

C7. Support

After you buy, support is by email only, at hello@ghseniorcare.com. It covers questions while you complete the questionnaire and one round of fix requests for each review.

C8. Refunds

  • You have 90 days from purchase to submit the questionnaire. If you have not submitted it by then, your order closes.
  • Within 30 days of purchase, and only before you submit the questionnaire, you may ask for a refund. We keep $200 and refund the rest, including any priority delivery fee you paid.
  • After 30 days, or once you submit the questionnaire, we do not refund any fee, except for late delivery under section C5.

To ask for a refund, email hello@ghseniorcare.com. We refund to the payment method you used within 10 business days of your request.

C9. Your answers and your responsibilities

  • You are the applicant and the operator of your facility. You decide what goes in your application.
  • The package reflects only what you tell us. You are responsible for making your answers true and complete, for reading every page before you sign, and for every statement you sign on the CDSS forms.
  • Some pages are placeholders for documents only you can supply, such as identification, test results and proof of funds. You replace them before you submit.
  • We use standard text and standard policies in the package. You are responsible for deciding that they suit your facility before you sign.

C10. No guarantees

CDSS decides every licensing application. We do not guarantee that you will be licensed, that CDSS will approve your application, how long CDSS will take, or that the facility will reach any occupancy or profit. A single missing or incorrect item can delay a CDSS review. Fee amounts and form versions change, so check CDSS for the current ones.

C11. License to use, and no redistribution

All documents, templates, systems, manuals, checklists, forms and other materials we deliver ("Deliverables") are our property and are provided solely for your use in operating the one facility named in your questionnaire. We give you a limited license to use them for that purpose only. You may not, directly or indirectly:

  • (a) sell, resell, sublicense, lease, rent or otherwise transfer any Deliverable to a third party for compensation;
  • (b) share, distribute, publish or disclose any Deliverable to a third party, whether for compensation or otherwise, without our prior written consent;
  • (c) use any Deliverable to provide consulting, advisory, documentation or similar services to a third party; or
  • (d) reproduce or adapt any Deliverable for use at any facility other than the one named in your questionnaire.

You may give copies of the documents to CDSS, your local fire authority, your lender, your attorney, your accountant and anyone else who needs them for your license application for that one facility. You may never give them to another applicant or facility operator. Unauthorized distribution, resale or use of Deliverables is a material breach of these terms and an infringement of our intellectual property rights. If it happens, we may seek injunctive relief and damages in addition to any other remedy available at law or in equity.

C12. Your information

  • What we collect. The questionnaire collects personal and financial information, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver's license numbers and financial account numbers, and the documents you upload.
  • How we protect it. We encrypt this information and your uploads before they are stored, on a server that we control. We limit access to Guiding Hand. We use reasonable security procedures, as California Civil Code section 1798.81.5 requires.
  • Where it does not go. We do not send this information by email or messaging service, and we do not copy it into spreadsheets, customer-relationship software or workflow tools. Our internal status notes contain only an application number, a business name, a stage and a due date.
  • How you reach it. You sign in with a six-digit code emailed to you each visit. Each session lasts a day. Every download is logged with its time and device.
  • Backups. We keep the 7 most recent nightly encrypted backups, and never keep a backup for more than 14 days.
  • Retention. We delete your answers, uploads and generated package files 30 days after the 90-day revision window closes, which is 120 days after first delivery. We keep a permanent record of the sale that contains none of this information: your name, dates, the template version used and our review decisions.
  • Breaches. If a breach involves your information, we will notify you as California Civil Code section 1798.82 requires.
  • If your order closes without a submitted questionnaire, we delete your answers and uploads 30 days after it closes.
  • If we ask you for updates and hear nothing for 90 days, your order closes, and we delete your answers, uploads and package files 30 days after that. We remind you at 60 days.
  • If you later engage Guiding Hand for consulting, your information is then handled under that agreement.

C13. Limit of liability

Our total liability to you for anything related to the Application Package is limited to the fee you paid for it.

C14. Governing law

California law governs these terms.

C15. Changes and contact

The terms in effect when you buy are the terms that apply to your purchase. If we update them later, the update does not change a purchase already made.

Questions about these terms: hello@ghseniorcare.com or (909) 576-0228.

Version 2.0, October 19, 2026. Part C is the Application Package terms, version 1.2 of October 11, 2026, with section numbers prefixed by C.