Privacy Policy

Last updated: 4 September 2026

builds by A.D ("we", "us", "our") is a website design studio. This policy explains what information we collect when you use this website or engage us for services, how we use it, and how it's protected — including information related to payments.

1. Information we collect

We collect information in a few different ways:

Contact and enquiry forms — your name, email, phone number, and details about your project when you fill in the contact form or request a quote.
Orders and checkout — your name, email, and the package or service you've selected, when you go through checkout.
Payment information — see Section 2 below. We do not collect or store your full card number, CVC, or other card details on our own systems.
Local device preferences — your theme (light/dark), currency, language, and whether you've dismissed the cookie notice, stored only in your own browser. See Section 5 below for details.

2. How payments are handled

Card payments are processed by Stripe, and PayPal payments are processed by PayPal. When you pay, your card or account details go directly to these providers — they never pass through or get stored on our own servers. We only receive confirmation that a payment succeeded, along with a payment reference ID and the email address you provided.

We plan to add EcoCash as an additional payment option; this section will be updated with the relevant details once that's live.

We are not a payment processor. Stripe and PayPal are both PCI-DSS compliant providers responsible for securing your payment details under their own privacy and security policies.

3. How we use your information

To respond to your enquiry or quote request
To process and deliver the service or package you've ordered
To send you order confirmations and updates about your project
To keep basic business records (e.g. for accounting purposes)

We do not sell your information to third parties, and we do not use it for advertising.

4. Who we share information with

We use a small number of trusted service providers to run this site and business. Each only receives the information needed to do their specific job:

Stripe / PayPal — to process payments
Supabase — our cloud database, where enquiries, orders and project information are securely stored
Vercel — our website hosting provider
Resend — our email delivery provider, used to send enquiry notifications and replies

We don't share your information with anyone else unless required by law.

5. Cookies and local storage

This site does not use tracking or advertising cookies. We use your browser's local storage to remember a few preferences (theme, currency, language, and whether you've seen the cookie notice) — this data stays on your own device and is never sent to us. See the cookie notice on the homepage for full details.

6. How long we keep your information

We keep enquiry and order information for as long as reasonably needed to deliver our services, maintain business records, and meet any legal or tax obligations. If you'd like your information deleted sooner, contact us (Section 9) and we'll action this where we're not legally required to retain it.

7. Your rights

You can ask us at any time to:

Tell you what information we hold about you
Correct inaccurate information
Delete your information, where we're not required to keep it for legal or accounting reasons

8. Security

We take reasonable technical steps to protect the information we hold, including secure cloud storage and never handling raw card data ourselves. No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, but we work to keep your information safe.

9. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Reach out via the contact form or email us directly at buildsbyad@outlook.com.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time as the business or services change. The "Last updated" date at the top will always reflect the latest version.

This policy is written in plain English to be genuinely useful, not just a legal formality — but it's a general template and not a substitute for professional legal advice specific to your business and jurisdiction. Consider having a solicitor review it, especially as you scale up.