Privacy Policy

This policy explains what information Househound collects, why we collect it, and what we do with it. It covers our website, the Househound web application, and the Househound mobile app (together, the “Service”).

Househound is used by home-inspection businesses (“Inspectors”) to run inspections and share reports with their clients. That means we handle information in two different roles: for Inspectors, we are the business providing the Service; for a homebuyer or agent who receives a report, we are processing that information on the Inspector’s behalf.

Information we collect

Information you give us

• Account information — name, email address, and a securely hashed password. We never store your password itself.
• Organization information — business name, logo, timezone, service offerings and pricing, and availability.
• Inspection information — property addresses, appointment times, and the contents of inspections: checklists, findings, narrative comments, and any photos, video, or 360° media captured during an inspection.
• Client and agent contact information — names, email addresses, and phone numbers that Inspectors enter so we can schedule inspections and deliver reports. This is information about other people, provided by the Inspector; see “Information about people who aren’t our customers” below.
• Voice notes — if you use autodraft, the audio you record is sent for transcription so it can be turned into a finding. We don’t keep the recording after it has been transcribed.
• Signatures — where an inspection asks for one, the signature drawn on the screen is stored as part of that report.
• Invoices and payment records — the amounts, line items, receipts, and refund history for inspections you bill through Househound. Card numbers are entered on our payment processor’s own hosted page and never reach Househound.
• Messages you send us — anything you write in the in-app help form, along with your account and app version so we can answer it.

Information we collect automatically

• Usage and diagnostics — feature-usage events and application error reports, used to keep the Service working and to decide what to improve.
• Technical information — IP address and browser/device type, used for security, rate limiting, and abuse prevention. We do not use IP addresses to work out where you are.
• App and installation identifiers — the mobile app checks for updates on launch, which involves sending a random per-installation token, your platform, and the app version to the service that hosts those updates. It is not tied to your identity and is not an advertising identifier.

We do not collect your location. The Househound apps ask for no location permission, and photos and video are stripped of any embedded location data when they are captured. Map coordinates in the Service are worked out from a property address an Inspector types in, and describe the property being inspected — not the device or the person using it.

We do not use advertising trackers, we do not run third-party advertising networks on the Service, and we do not collect an advertising identifier.

How we use information

• To provide the Service: scheduling, building reports, and delivering them.
• To send transactional email on an Inspector’s behalf — booking confirmations, appointment reminders, agreements, report delivery, and payment receipts.
• To process payments, and to bill Inspectors for their subscription.
• To secure the Service, prevent abuse, and troubleshoot problems.
• To comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.

How information is shared

• With the people an Inspector chooses. Reports are shared with the client (and, when the Inspector chooses, their agent) via a private link.
• With service providers who run the Service for us. These include our cloud hosting and database provider (Cloudflare), our email delivery provider, our payment processor (Stripe), and — when you choose to autodraft a finding — Groq, which receives the voice audio and/or note text you submit (plus the report context needed to draft a finding) solely to transcribe and suggest wording. Optional features may also use providers for property data and mapping. Service providers may only use the information to provide their service to us. On the mobile apps, autodraft asks for your explicit permission before any data is shared with Groq.
• When the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of people using the Service.
• In a business transfer — if Househound is acquired, information may move with the business, subject to this policy.

Information about people who aren’t our customers

Much of what Househound holds is about people who never signed up for it: the homebuyer who commissioned an inspection, their agent, and the property itself. Inspectors enter that information — names, email addresses, phone numbers, the property address, and sometimes a signature — so that appointments can be booked, agreements signed, and reports delivered.

For that information we act on the Inspector’s instructions. We use it to run the Service and for nothing else: we don’t market to it, profile it, or sell it. If you are one of those people and want your details corrected or removed, see “Your choices and rights” below.

Published reports and private links

When an Inspector publishes a report, we create a fixed snapshot of it at a long, randomly generated web address. Anyone who has that link can view the report, so treat it as confidential. An Inspector can revoke a link at any time, after which it stops working. Published snapshots deliberately exclude internal notes and account details.

Retention

We keep inspection records for as long as the inspection business’s account is active, because inspection reports carry long professional-liability tails. Diagnostic and usage records are kept on a shorter schedule. Invoices, payments, and refunds are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires, generally up to seven years.

When an individual account is deleted we immediately destroy its password, remove its email address, end every signed-in session, and suspend its memberships. Records that belong to the inspection business — its reports, media, client details, and the history of who edited what — survive, because they are the business’s records rather than one person’s; deleting the business removes those. Our account deletion page sets out exactly what is removed, what is kept, and for how long.

Security

Passwords are hashed, session and access tokens are stored only as hashes, data is encrypted in transit, and access to production systems is limited. No system is perfectly secure, but we take this seriously and design accordingly.

Your choices and rights

• Access and correction — most of your information is directly viewable and editable in the app.
• Deletion — you can delete your account from Settings in the mobile app or the web dashboard, or by emailing us. You can also ask us to delete part of your data without closing your account. See our account deletion page for the steps and for exactly what is removed and what is kept.
• Email preferences — marketing email includes a one-click unsubscribe. Transactional email about an inspection you are party to is part of the Service.
• Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete, or port your information, and to appeal a decision we make about such a request. Contact us and we’ll help.

If you received a report from an Inspector and want your information corrected or removed, the fastest route is to contact that Inspector directly, since it’s their record. You can also contact us and we’ll pass the request along.

Children

The Service is for businesses and their clients and is not directed to children under 13. We don’t knowingly collect their information.

Changes

If we make a material change to this policy we’ll update the date at the top and, for significant changes, notify account holders by email.

Contact

Questions about privacy, or want to exercise any of the rights above? Email us at hello@househoundusa.com and a person — not a ticket queue — will answer. We’ll also use that address to verify your identity before acting on a request about your data, and we’ll provide a postal address on request.