Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Home Trade Pros LLC ("Home Trade Pros," "we," "us," or "our") operates the website at hometradepros.com. We connect homeowners with licensed, verified contractors in California. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding that information.

2. Information We Collect

From Homeowners

When you submit a project, we collect:

• Full name
• Phone number (verified via SMS)
• Email address
• City, state, and ZIP code
• Project details (trade, job type, description, photos if provided)
• Preferred contact method (phone call, email, or text)

Homeowners do not need to create an account. No passwords are collected from homeowners. By providing your phone number, you consent to receive transactional SMS messages related to your project submission, verification codes, and service notifications. We do not send marketing or promotional messages. You may opt out of SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any message. Reply HELP for assistance. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply.

From Contractors

When you register as a contractor, we collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number (optional SMS verification)
• Password (stored securely using one-way hashing)
• Contractor license number and state
• Selected trades
• City, state, and ZIP code
• Government-issued ID or contractor license photo (for identity verification, if applicable)

Identity verification documents are used solely to confirm contractor identity and are not shared with other users or contractors, except where required by law.

Automatically Collected

• We use essential session cookies required for the website to function, such as maintaining login sessions and preventing abuse. These cookies do not track users across websites and are not used for advertising.
• We do not use analytics trackers, advertising pixels, or third-party tracking scripts.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To connect homeowners with licensed contractors based on project details and location
• To verify phone numbers and email addresses
• To verify contractor license status using publicly available records from the California State Licensing Board (CSLB)
• To process payments and manage contractor wallet balances
• To send transactional notifications (lead updates, credit-back resolutions, verification codes)
• To review and resolve credit-back disputes
• To prevent fraud, duplicate submissions, and fake accounts

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. We do not send marketing emails to homeowners. Contractors may receive service-related communications regarding their accounts.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process personal information in order to:

• Provide and operate our service
• Connect homeowners with licensed contractors
• Verify identities and prevent fraud
• Process payments and maintain financial records
• Comply with legal obligations

5. Information Shared With Contractors

When a contractor purchases your lead, they receive your name, phone number, email address, project details, and preferred contact method. This information is shared so the contractor can reach out to you about your project. Up to three contractors may receive your information per project submission.

Contractors who receive homeowner contact information through our platform are required to use that information solely for the purpose of responding to the homeowner's project request. Contractors may not use this information for unrelated marketing, solicitation, or resale. Violation of this policy may result in account termination. Home Trade Pros is not responsible for how contractors independently use or store homeowner contact information after it has been shared in connection with a project request.

6. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate our platform:

• Twilio — SMS and voice calls for phone verification and notifications
• Resend — Email delivery for verification codes, notifications, and alerts
• Stripe — Payment processing for lead purchases and wallet top-ups. Payment information is processed directly by Stripe and never stored on our servers.
• Cloudinary — Secure storage for uploaded photos (project images, ID verification)
• Neon — Cloud database hosting for application data
• Vercel — Website hosting and serverless infrastructure
• Google Analytics — Anonymous website usage analytics (pages visited, device type, general location). No personally identifiable information is sent to Google Analytics.
• Sentry — Error monitoring to help us identify and fix technical issues. May capture technical request data such as IP addresses in error reports.
• Upstash — Rate limiting to protect against abuse. Processes IP addresses only; no personal data is stored.

Each of these services has their own privacy policy governing how they handle data. We only share the minimum information necessary for each service to function.

7. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including:

• Passwords are hashed using industry-standard one-way encryption (bcrypt)
• All data is transmitted over HTTPS
• Payment information is processed by Stripe and never touches our servers
• Database hosted on Neon with point-in-time recovery
• Verification codes expire automatically and are limited to 5 attempts

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Data Retention

• Lead data is retained for as long as the lead is active, plus a reasonable period for dispute resolution and record-keeping
• Contractor accounts and associated data are retained for as long as the account is active
• Verification codes are temporary and automatically expire (10–30 minutes depending on type)
• You may request deletion of your data by contacting us (see below)

9. Your Rights (California Residents)

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), California residents have the right to:

• Know what personal information we collect and how it is used
• Delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions
• Opt out of the sale of personal information — we do not sell your data, so this does not apply
• Non-discrimination — we will not treat you differently for exercising your privacy rights

To exercise any of these rights, including requesting deletion of your personal data, please email us at: andrew@hometradepros.com. We will respond to verifiable requests within 45 days.

Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information: We do not sell or share your personal information as defined under the CCPA/CPRA.

10. Children's Privacy

Our service is not directed to individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child under 18, we will take steps to delete that information.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Continued use of our service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, contact us at: