Privacy Policy

1.1 Information Needed to Use the Platform

We require certain data to establish your account and enable core platform functionality. Without this data, we cannot connect customers with tradespeople.

• Contact & Account Information: Your first name, last name, phone number, email address, and profile photo.
• Tradespeople only Identity & Professional Information: Government-issued ID and professional certifications (e.g., Gas Safe registration, electrical licensing) -- used solely for vetting and verification.

1.2 Information You Choose to Provide

• Service Details & Media: When chatting directly with a tradesperson, you may provide your exact physical address, describe the maintenance issue, and upload photos or videos.
• Scheduling Information: Your availability and preferred timing for a tradesperson visit.

1.3 Information Automatically Collected

• Live Geolocation Data
  Customers We collect your approximate or precise location to center the map and display nearby tradespeople.
  
  Tradespeople When marked as "Active," we continuously collect your live geolocation to pin your location on the customer-facing map. You may toggle this off by setting your status to "Offline."
• Usage Data: How you interact with the platform -- tradesperson filters, profiles you view, access times.
• Device Information: Hardware models, IP addresses, operating systems, and unique device identifiers.

2.1 Providing and Improving the Platform

• To dynamically populate our map UI with accurate, real-time locations of available tradespeople.
• To enable in-app messaging and photo sharing so customers can securely communicate service needs without initially exposing their personal phone numbers.
• To debug software issues and perform internal analytics to improve the matching radius and filtering systems.

2.2 Safeguarding the Community

• To verify the identities and professional credentials of tradespeople before they appear on the live map.
• To detect and prevent fraudulent accounts, spam, or malicious behavior within the chat system.
• To investigate safety incidents reported by either customers or tradespeople.

2.3 Analyzing Communications

We may automatically scan your in-app chat communications specifically for safety, fraud prevention, and terms of service enforcement -- for example, to detect abusive language or verify that tradespeople are not exhibiting predatory behavior.

3.1 Sharing Between Users

To facilitate a repair job, we share information between the Customer and the Tradesperson. When a Customer initiates a chat, the Tradesperson will see the Customer's profile name and provided information. When a Customer decides to book a service, they will share their exact physical address directly via the chat interface.

3.2 Service Providers

• Mapping Providers: Third-party APIs (such as Google Maps or Mapbox) to render the map UI and calculate distances. Location data sent to these providers is generally anonymized or stripped of direct identifiers where possible.
• Cloud Hosting & Storage: To securely store user databases, chat logs, and uploaded photos (e.g., AWS or Google Cloud).
• Verification Services: Third-party agencies that check the validity of tradesperson licenses and IDs.
• Waitlist & Email Services: We use Airtable to store waitlist sign-up data and Resend to deliver notification emails. These providers only receive the email address you submit and process it solely on our behalf.
• Infrastructure & Analytics: We use Vercel to host the platform and Vercel Analytics to collect anonymised usage statistics (only with your consent). We use Upstash Redis for rate limiting, which processes IP addresses transiently and does not store personal data.

3.3 Legal Obligations and Harm Prevention

We may disclose your information to courts, law enforcement, or governmental authorities if required by law, or if reasonably necessary to respond to a valid legal request, investigate suspected illegal activity, or protect the physical safety and rights of Renovate, our users, or the public.