Privacy at Arkhaus

Information you give us

When you send an enquiry: your name, mobile number and email address, your question, the answers you chose on the You pages (and anything you typed in your own words), where your site is and how far along you are.

If you ask for a cost review: the project’s suburb, type and stage, what prompted the review, any budget, quoted amount, dates and builder details you choose to give, a link you share, and any documents you upload (such as plans, quotes, engineering, specifications, programmes and photos).

What is sent with an enquiry

With your enquiry we also receive how you found the site (for example a search, a link, an advertisement or campaign tags), the pages you looked at, how many times you have visited, the kind of device you used and your approximate city or region, estimated from your internet connection. These details are kept in your own browser and reach Arkhaus only if you send an enquiry. (Website analytics and the hosting of the site work separately: see below.) If your browser asks not to be tracked (Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track), the pages, visits, device and location are not recorded; how you arrived is still sent with your enquiry.

Project documents

Documents uploaded with a cost review request are checked by the website (only PDF, JPG, PNG, Word and Excel files, checked by their contents as well as their names), renamed, and stored privately by Cloudflare with no public address. Our system then collects them and the website’s copies are deleted. They are opened only on our office computer, which runs antivirus software, and are used only to review your project. They are never published and never sent to AI tools.

Please remove passwords, bank details and personal information that is not about the project before uploading.

Website analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how the website is used by all visitors, not only those who enquire. It uses cookies and sends Google the pages you view, the choices you make on the site (for example which part of the site you open, the answers you select on the You pages and whether you open the contact form), your device type and approximate location. It never receives what you type. In the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland it is off until you agree. You can block it with your browser settings or the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.

Advertising

If you arrive through a Google advertisement, we may tell Google Ads that the click led to an enquiry. This uses the advertisement's own click reference, never your name, phone number or email.

Security

To stop spam and misuse, the enquiry form checks how quickly it was completed, uses a hidden field that people never see, and limits repeated sending using a one-way coded version of your internet address, which cannot be turned back into the address. This is never used for marketing.

Who handles your information

• Cloudflare: hosts the website. Like any web host it receives the technical details of every visit (such as your internet address and browser) and keeps its own records of them under its privacy policy; Arkhaus does not receive or keep those records. It also stores enquiries, and any documents sent with them, until they reach us.
• Google: website analytics and, if we advertise, advertising measurement.
• Our email provider: sends us a notification of each enquiry.

Some of these providers store or process information outside Australia.

How we use it

To reply to you, to understand your project and whether we are the right fit, to deliver your project if you become a client, to learn which parts of the site and which channels help people find Arkhaus, and to keep the website secure. We do not sell your information or share it for anyone else's marketing.

How long we keep it

• Enquiries, with the details sent with them: 24 months, then deleted, unless you become a client.
• The website's own copy of an enquiry, and the coded internet address: deleted as soon as the enquiry reaches our system.
• Documents sent with a cost review request: 12 months, then deleted, unless we go on to work together.
• Documents the website holds that have not reached our system within 30 days: deleted automatically.
• Client records: as long as we need them for your project and our legal obligations.
• Website analytics: kept by Google for the period set in our Google Analytics account.

Your choices and rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete the information we hold about you, including the details sent with your enquiry. Email hello@arkhaus.com.au. We will check it is you before we release or change anything, and we aim to reply within 30 days.

Questions and complaints

Contact us first at hello@arkhaus.com.au. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).