Privacy policy

Uncle Polar Limited runs Tidy Builder and is the controller of your personal information. We're a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17312029). Our registered office is 20 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU, United Kingdom.

We're registered with the Information Commissioner's Office. Our registration number is [ICO registration number to be added].

For anything about your information, email hello@tidybuilder.com.

When a business uses Tidy Builder to keep its own records about its clients, staff or suppliers (for example invoices, timesheets or contacts), that business decides how that information is used. We look after it on the business's behalf. Ask the business about those records.

• Your account: name, email address, phone number if you add one, your language and how you'd like to be told about things.
• Your projects: site addresses, quotes, changes, contracts, drawings, materials, decisions, photos, documents, notes and messages, plus anything else you or the people you work with add.
• Agreements: when you agree or sign something, we record what you agreed, the words you ticked, your typed name, the time, your internet address and the browser or device you used. This is the proof both sides rely on.
• Site visits: recordings, made only after everyone present has agreed, plus the names of the people present, the written transcript (with who spoke when), the points agreed, actions with who is responsible for each and any photos or videos taken during the visit.
• Photos and videos: the original file exactly as taken, including the date, time and any location the camera stored in it. If a photo has no location, the app asks your phone where you are, which your phone only shares if you allow it. We use the location to show whether a photo was taken on site. Photos are locked once uploaded so the record can be trusted. Before a photo is shared outside the project, faces can be blurred on a separate copy. The original is never changed.
• The building contract: the pricing, terms, risk choices and the condition of the property before work starts (photos, notes and surveys). If you rank what matters most to you so the app can suggest a fair package, your ranking is private to you. The other side only sees the package.
• Problems, delays and disputes: problem notices, the options offered and the choice made, delay requests with their evidence, formal notices, replies and, if it comes to it, notice to end a contract and a valuation of the work done.
• Receipts and statements: photos or copies of receipts, delivery notes and merchant statements, with the details read from them. What a client sees depends on the contract.
• Documents and credentials: files you upload or email in, the folders they sit in and who can see each one. Businesses can add insurance and other credentials with their expiry dates, which their clients can see.
• Household members: if a homeowner adds a partner or co-owner who must also approve things, their name, email and approvals.
• Business records: for businesses, things like invoices, payments, costs, timesheets (who worked and for how long), team schedules, enquiries and supplier details. Spanish invoices also carry both parties' tax numbers (NIF), which the law there requires.
• Location: when you tick “Record where I am” on clocking in or out, when someone on site sets where the site is and with photos as described above. Otherwise we don't collect it.
• Payments: Stripe handles card details. We only see that a payment was made and how much it was.
• Technical details: sign-in records and error logs that keep the service secure and working.

Some information is about people without an account: for example a tradesperson recorded at a site visit, a name in a message or a contact a business keeps, or a passer-by caught in a photo. The person who adds it is responsible for having told them. A builder must get the agreement of everyone present before recording a site visit and the app records who was there. The app reminds people taking photos to keep neighbours and passers-by out of shot. Anyone can ask us about information we hold about them, using the contact details above.

• To provide Tidy Builder to you (contract): your account, your projects, agreements, messages, reminders and the plan you pay for.
• To keep a fair record for both sides (legitimate interests): agreement records stay accurate and can't be changed, so nobody can dispute later what was agreed.
• To keep Tidy Builder safe and working (legitimate interests): security, preventing misuse and fixing problems.
• Where you choose (consent): recording site visits, recording your location and sharing photos of people outside the project. We keep a record of each answer. We also ask before sending you texts or WhatsApp messages. You can change your mind at any time.
• Where the law requires it (legal obligation): for example keeping financial records for tax.

We never sell your information. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.

The people on your project. Everyone in a shared project space sees what's shared there. Competing builders never see each other's prices, messages or names. Private notes, costs, receipts the contract doesn't share and drafts stay with the person or business that made them. Architects, engineers, surveyors and subcontractors only see the parts that concern them. A homeowner chooses which document folders each party can see. This is enforced in the database, not just on screen.

Services that help us run Tidy Builder. They only use your information to do this work for us, under contracts that protect it:

Anthropic doesn't use what we send it to train its models. We may also share information if the law requires it, or with a buyer if our business is ever sold. If that happens, this policy still applies.

A few services (Anthropic, which drafts, translates and reads receipts, Twilio and parts of Stripe) work in the United States. Messages and records sent for translation, site-visit transcripts sent for drafting and receipts or statements sent to be read go to Anthropic. When information goes there, it's protected by safeguards approved under UK law, such as the UK-US data bridge or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

• Your account and projects: while your account is open.
• Site-visit recordings: each business chooses how long to keep them, 12 months unless it chooses otherwise. When that time is up the audio is deleted and only the transcript and the shared points stay with the project.
• Photos: kept with the project unless the business or homeowner who owns a private photo chooses to delete it after a set time. Photos shared on a project are kept, because the other party relies on them.
• Agreement records: kept even after an account is deleted, because the other party relies on them as proof. They keep only the name you agreed under.
• Financial records such as invoices: at least 6 years, as tax law requires. They stay with the project record for as long as it is kept.
• Security logs: kept by our hosting and database providers for a short time under their own settings.

You have the right to:

• get a copy of your information (you can download it yourself in Settings)
• have wrong information corrected
• have your information deleted (you can delete your account yourself in Settings)
• object to how we use it, or ask us to limit it
• take back any consent you gave
• have your information given to you in a form you can take elsewhere

To use any of these, email hello@tidybuilder.com. We'll reply within one month.

We only use cookies that keep you signed in and keep Tidy Builder secure. The app may also save a few pages and settings on your phone so it works without signal on site. There are no advertising or tracking cookies, so there's nothing to accept or turn off.

Information is encrypted on its way to us and where it's stored. Access is checked in the database for every record. Sign-in tokens for outside accounts are encrypted. If something ever goes wrong, we'll tell you and the Information Commissioner's Office when the law requires it.

Tidy Builder is for adults. We don't knowingly collect information about anyone under 18.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll tell you by email or in the app. The date at the top shows when it last changed. See also our terms of use.