Privacy Policy

This template is for general information only and is not legal advice. Please ask a qualified lawyer to review it, especially for your local law, GDPR, CCPA, or other regulations.

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy describes how [Your Company Name] (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses and protects your information when you use the HomeBuild Cost Portal (the “Service”).

Our Service helps house owners plan, track and manage construction budgets, contractors, suppliers and payments.

2. Information we collect

2.1. Information you provide directly

When you create an account or use the Service, we may collect:

• Name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Country and city
• Password (stored in encrypted / hashed form)
• Project details, such as project name, location, plot size
• Target budgets and category budgets (for example, structure, finishing, electrical)
• Contractor and supplier details (name, phone, city, category, settled amount)
• Notes or other information you choose to enter into the system

2.2. Payment and transaction information

The Service allows you to record payments you make to contractors and suppliers. We may store:

• Amount paid
• Payee type (contractor or supplier)
• Payee details (linked to your saved contractor/supplier)
• Payment date
• Payment method (for example, cash, bank transfer, online)
• Reference numbers and notes you provide

We do not store full payment card numbers if you use a third-party payment gateway. Such data is processed by the payment provider according to their own policies.

2.3. Automatically collected information

When you visit or use the Service, certain information may be collected automatically, such as:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device type and operating system
• Pages viewed, actions taken, and time spent on the Service
• Approximate location based on IP address

2.4. Cookies and similar technologies

We and our partners may use cookies and similar technologies to operate the Service, keep you signed in, remember your preferences, and measure how the Service is used. Where we show advertising (such as Google AdSense), cookies may also be used to personalise and measure ads.

3. How we use your information

We use your information for the following purposes:

• To create and manage your account.
• To verify your phone number and email address using one-time verification codes (OTP) sent via SMS or email.
• To let you create and manage projects, budgets, contractors, suppliers and materials.
• To record payments and show you summaries and reports.
• To send notifications, for example payment alerts to contractors and suppliers.
• To respond to your support requests and communicate with you about the Service.
• To improve, maintain and protect the Service (for example, analytics, troubleshooting, and preventing abuse or fraud).
• To comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms and conditions.

4. SMS, email and other communication providers

To send verification codes and notifications (such as payment alerts), we may use third-party communication providers. These services may process your phone number, email address and message content only for the purpose of delivering messages on our behalf.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that these providers protect your information and use it only as instructed by us.

5. Advertising, Google AdSense and cookies

Our Service may display ads provided by Google or other advertising partners. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites.

Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our Service and/or other sites on the internet. You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google’s Ads Settings or other industry opt-out pages where available.

In regions where it is required by law (for example, in the European Economic Area or UK), we will request your consent before using cookies for analytics or personalised advertising.

6. Legal bases for processing (where applicable)

If you are in a region that requires a legal basis for processing (such as the European Economic Area or UK), we rely on the following:

• Performance of a contract – to provide the Service, including account creation, budget tracking and notifications.
• Legitimate interests – to improve the Service, secure our systems and prevent fraud.
• Consent – for certain uses of cookies, analytics and personalised advertising.
• Legal obligation – where we are required to keep or share certain information by law.

7. How we share your information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with:

• Contractors and suppliers you link to your projects – for example, when you record a payment, we may send them a notification with relevant project and payment details.
• Service providers – such as hosting providers, communication providers (SMS, email), analytics providers, and advertising networks, who process data on our behalf and under our instructions.
• Authorities or legal recipients – when required to comply with law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request.
• Business transfers – if we are involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to appropriate safeguards.

8. Data retention

We keep your personal data for as long as it is reasonably necessary to provide the Service, manage our business and comply with legal obligations.

When we no longer need your data, we will delete or anonymise it, subject to any technical or legal limitations.

9. Data security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit (such as HTTPS), access controls and regular monitoring.

However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

10. International data transfers

Depending on where you are located, your information may be processed or stored in countries that may have different data protection laws than your own.

Where required, we use appropriate safeguards (such as standard contractual clauses) to protect your information when it is transferred internationally.

11. Your rights

Your rights may vary depending on your country, but can include:

• The right to access the personal data we hold about you.
• The right to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• The right to request deletion of your data (subject to legal exceptions).
• The right to object to or restrict certain types of processing.
• The right to withdraw consent where processing is based on your consent.
• The right to receive a copy of your data in a portable format where applicable.

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the details at the end of this policy.

12. Children’s privacy

The Service is not intended for children under the age of 16 (or the age defined by local law). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete such information.

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. In some cases, we may also provide a more prominent notice (for example, in the app or by email).

We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

14. Contact us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Email: [replace-with-your-email@example.com]
Address: [replace with your company address]