Privacy Policy

This policy explains what Yardstick collects, why, and what you can do about it. It is written to be read, not to be skipped.

Yardstick is a quoting tool for deck and fence contractors. If you are a homeowner who received an estimate made with Yardstick, see the section titled "If a contractor quoted you" near the end.

Who we are

Yardstick USA, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Questions, requests, or complaints: support@yardstickusa.com

What we collect

When you create an account. Your email address and a password. The password is stored only as a cryptographic hash, so nobody at Yardstick can read it or recover it for you.

Your business details. Business name, phone number, email address, license number, and a logo if you upload one. These appear on the estimates you produce, which is the reason we hold them.

Your rate book. The material, labor, and profit figures you enter, and any receipt totals you record to check a rate. This is commercially sensitive information and we treat it that way. See "How your pricing is protected" below.

Your jobs. For each job you create: the customer name, property address, and phone number you enter; whether you marked the job won or lost, the reason you chose, and any short note you added; the measurements you take; the specifications you choose; the photographs you capture; any notes or markup you add to those photographs; and the resulting estimate total.

Photographs. Images you take or upload, stored in object storage and served only through short-lived links that expire.

Activity records. An audit log of significant actions on your account: signing in and out, password changes, jobs created and deleted, rate changes, and subscription changes. Kept for twelve months, then deleted.

Usage records. Which screens you open in the app and how often, and which actions you take, such as creating a job or sending an estimate. These records name the screen and the action and never their contents. They stay on our own servers and are sent to nobody. Kept for twelve months, then deleted.

Payment information. Handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number. We keep an identifier that links your account to your Stripe customer record, and your current subscription status.

If you join our mailing list. Your email address and the trade you selected.

Technical information. Your IP address when you sign in or request a password reset, used to limit repeated attempts. Server logs that record requests without their contents.

What we do not collect

The public marketing pages at yardstickusa.com use Google Analytics to measure visits and clicks on the signup buttons, which sets Google cookies in your browser on those pages.

The app is different. It sends nothing to Google or to any other company. We measure which screens are used and how often, so we know which parts of the product are worth improving. We never record what you write in them: not a customer name, not an address, not a measurement, not a photograph, not a price, not an estimate total.

The only cookie Yardstick itself sets is the one that keeps you signed in. We do not use advertising trackers.

We do not collect location data. The app never asks for your position.

We do not read your camera roll. You choose which photographs to add.

We do not sell your data. There is no circumstance in which we would.

Why we hold each thing

How your pricing is protected

Your rate book is a trade secret. A competitor knowing your margins is a real commercial harm, and the product would be worthless if it leaked.

Two independent walls keep your account separate from every other account. Every request runs scoped to your account in application code, and the database itself enforces row-level security so it will refuse another account's rows even if application code asks incorrectly. That second wall is verified against the live database, not assumed.

We do not aggregate, benchmark, analyse, or publish contractor pricing, and we will not begin doing so without asking you first.

If your business has more than one person on the account

The business that pays for the subscription owns the work created under it. People on the account create that work as part of their job, and an owner or an admin can see all of it.

What that means for you as a person on somebody's account. Your name, your email address, and your mobile number are held so the account can identify you. Your mobile number stays inside the account and never appears on an estimate or a document sent to a homeowner. The jobs you create belong to the business, and when you leave, they stay.

Your own account records, meaning your sign in details and your activity in the audit log, are yours. Write to us if you want to see them.

Who we share with

We use a small number of service providers, each doing one job:

Each holds only what it needs. We share your information with nobody else, except where the law requires it, and we will tell you if that ever happens unless we are legally barred from doing so.

Where your data lives

In the United States.

How long we keep it

While your account is open, we keep your jobs, photographs, and rate book until you delete them.

When you cancel, your data stays available for ninety days so you can export it or change your mind. After that we delete it.

When you ask us to delete your account and its contents, write to support@yardstickusa.com. We complete the deletion within thirty days and we tell you when it is done. Some records are kept longer where the law requires, such as invoices for tax purposes and the records described above of what we told you about your subscription.

Records of what we told you about your subscription are kept longer, because the law requires it. When your subscription starts, converts from a trial, or changes, we send you an email stating the terms, the price, the charge date, and how to cancel. We keep a copy of exactly what we sent and when we sent it, for three years, or for one year after your account ends, whichever is longer. That record holds your email address and the terms of your own subscription. It holds none of your work: no jobs, no customers, no photographs, no pricing. It survives account deletion on purpose, because a record of what you were told has to outlast the account it was about.

The audit log is kept for twelve months. Entries older than twelve months are removed the next time somebody on the account signs in.

Mailing list addresses are kept until you unsubscribe.

What you can ask for

Whatever state you are in, you may ask us to:

• Show you everything we hold about you
• Correct anything that is wrong
• Delete your account and its contents
• Export your data in a usable format
• Stop sending you marketing email

Write to support@yardstickusa.com. We respond within thirty days and we do not charge for this.

You may also export your own data at any time without asking us. The Backup control in the app writes a file containing your jobs, photographs, and rate book.

If you are in California, the CCPA gives you these rights specifically, plus the right not to be treated differently for exercising them. We do not sell personal information and never have, so there is nothing for you to opt out of.

If a contractor quoted you

A contractor may have used Yardstick to prepare your estimate. If so, they entered your name, your property address, and possibly your phone number and photographs of your property.

That contractor decides what happens to that information, not us. We hold it on their behalf. Contact them first.

If you cannot reach them, write to support@yardstickusa.com and we will help you get in touch or handle your request directly where the law requires it.

Security

Passwords are hashed. Sessions expire and their tokens are stored hashed, so a copy of our database would not let anyone sign in as you. Photographs are served only through links that expire in minutes. All traffic is encrypted in transit.

No system is perfect. If we ever discover a breach affecting your information, we will tell you promptly and tell you plainly what happened, in line with the notification laws of your state.

Children

Yardstick is a tool for working contractors and is not directed at anyone under eighteen. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that materially affects you, we will email you before it takes effect. The date at the top always reflects the current version.