Privacy Policy

Who we are

Harcourt Carpentry is a carpentry business based in Norfolk, working across Norwich and the surrounding area. We are the controller of the personal information described in this policy, which means we decide how and why it is used.

You can contact us about anything in this policy by email at info@harcourtcarpentry.com or by phone on 07766 866012.

Information we collect

We only collect the information we need to respond to you and to carry out your project:

• Contact details: your name, phone number and email address.
• Project details: the service you are interested in, your project postcode, a description of the work, your preferred contact method, desired timescale, approximate budget, how you heard about us, and any photographs or documents you choose to send us.
• Job records: if you become a customer, the property address, quotations, agreed variations, invoices and payment records.
• Messages: emails, WhatsApp messages and notes of phone calls about your enquiry or project.
• Website usage: if you accept analytics cookies, information about how you use this website (see our Cookie Policy).
• Security records: to protect this website from attacks and misuse, our security software (Wordfence) records the IP address, browser details and pages requested for suspicious or blocked visits and for attempts to log in.

How we use your information

We use your information to:

• reply to your enquiry and talk through your project;
• arrange and carry out a site visit;
• prepare estimates and written quotations;
• carry out, manage and complete the work, including arranging any other trades needed;
• send invoices, take payment and keep business and tax records;
• deal with any questions, disputes or claims; and
• with your consent, understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it.

When you send an enquiry through this website, we email you a copy of what you sent so you have a record of it.

Lawful basis for processing

Under UK data protection law we must have a lawful basis for using your information:

• Taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, and performing our contract with you: responding to enquiries, site visits, quotations and carrying out the work.
• Legal obligation: keeping financial and tax records.
• Legitimate interests: keeping a record of our communications, protecting the website from misuse, and defending legal claims.
• Consent: analytics cookies, and any other use where we ask for your permission. You can withdraw consent at any time.

Enquiry form and contact preferences

The forms on this website ask for the details we need to reply to you. Fields marked with an asterisk are required; everything else is optional. Submissions are stored securely in our website’s database so that no enquiry is lost if an email fails, and a notification is sent to our business email address.

We will contact you using the details you give us, by your preferred method where you tell us one. We do not use the details from an enquiry for marketing.

The forms include simple anti-spam checks and limit how many enquiries can be sent in a short time, to stop the form being misused.

Photographs of completed work

We take photographs of project progress and finished work. We may use them in our portfolio, on this website and on our social media to show the quality of our work. We photograph the work, not people, and we do not publish your name or address with them.

If you would prefer us not to use photographs of your project, please tell us by email at the start of the project and we will respect that.

Photographs you send us with an enquiry are used only to understand your project and are never published without your permission.

Sharing with third parties

We never sell your information. We share it only where needed, with:

• other trades and suppliers working on your project (for example roofing, scaffolding or licensed waste companies), and only the details they need to do their part;
• our website developer and hosting provider, who maintain the website and its database;
• our email and messaging providers (including WhatsApp, if you contact us that way);
• Defiant Inc., the maker of our website security software Wordfence, which receives details of blocked attacks, such as the IP address involved;
• Google, for website analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies;
• our accountant, insurers and professional advisers; and
• HM Revenue & Customs, the police or other authorities where the law requires it.

How long we keep information

• Website enquiries that do not lead to work: deleted after 180 days.
• Customer and job records: kept for six years after the end of the tax year in which the work finished, as required for tax purposes, and so we can deal with any questions or claims about the work.
• Project photographs: kept for as long as we use them in our portfolio.
• Analytics data: kept for 14 months in Google Analytics.
• Security records: kept only as long as needed to protect the website, and no longer than 90 days.

Where information is stored

Your information is stored in our website’s database, in our email account and on our business devices, all protected by passwords and access controls. Some of the service providers listed above may process data outside the UK; where they do, we rely on the protections UK law requires, such as UK adequacy regulations or approved contract terms.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
• ask us to delete your information;
• ask us to restrict or stop using your information, or object to how we use it;
• ask us to transfer your information to someone else; and
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

Some rights do not apply in every situation (for example, we must keep tax records for six years). To use any of these rights, email info@harcourtcarpentry.com. We will reply within one month and there is normally no charge.

Marketing and consent

We do not send marketing emails or messages, and we do not add enquiries to any mailing list. Analytics cookies are only used if you accept them in the cookie banner; you can change your choice at any time using “Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our services or the law change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last updated.

How to contact us or complain

If you have a question or a concern about how we use your information, please contact us first by email at info@harcourtcarpentry.com or by phone on 07766 866012, and we will do our best to put things right.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by phone on 0303 123 1113.