Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data we collect when you use this website or ask us to quote for or carry out work, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what your rights are. We follow the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR).

1. Who we are

Pearl Plastering Ltd (“Pearl Plastering”, “we”, “us”) is a company registered in England and Wales (company number 14798117). Registered office: Newton Magnus & Co, 10 Arrowsmith Court, Station Approach, Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8AT. We are based in Bournemouth / Corfe Mullen and work across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, the New Forest and wider Dorset.

We are the “controller” of the personal data described in this policy. If you have any questions about it, or want to use any of your rights, contact us:

• Email: info@pearlplastering.co.uk
• Phone: 07432 289572
• Post: Pearl Plastering Ltd, Newton Magnus & Co, 10 Arrowsmith Court, Station Approach, Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8AT

2. The personal data we collect

When you send an enquiry through our contact form, we collect your name and email address (required), and anything else you choose to give us: phone number, postcode, whether you’re a builder or developer, the type of work, the type of property and your message.

When you request our free plastering guide, we collect your name, email address and, if you choose, whether you’re a homeowner, builder, DIY-er or another trade.

When you call, email or WhatsApp us, we collect your name, contact details and whatever you tell us or send us about the job, including photos of the walls, ceilings or elevations you want work on.

When we quote for or carry out work, we collect the address of the property, details about the property and the work, access arrangements, drawings and plans (for builder work), and records of quotes, invoices, payments and correspondence. We may photograph the work in progress and when it’s finished (see section 5).

If you contact us through Checkatrade, Checkatrade passes us the details you give them so we can reply. If you leave us a review on Checkatrade, we may reproduce it on this website, shown as Checkatrade publishes it (for example first name or “Verified Reviewer”, postcode area and date).

When you browse this website, our hosting provider automatically records technical information such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you request and the time of the request. This is used to deliver the site and keep it secure. See section 11 for cookies.

We don’t need any sensitive information (such as health details) to quote or carry out plastering work, so please don’t include it in forms or messages. If you choose to tell us something about your health or a disability so we can plan the work around you, we’ll use it only for that purpose, with your explicit consent, and delete it when the job is finished.

3. How we use your data and our lawful basis

Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each thing we do with your data:

• Replying to enquiries, arranging a site visit and preparing a quote: taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, or our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us (for example, a builder’s site manager).
• Sending you the free plastering guide: our legitimate interest in providing the guide you asked for. We don’t add you to a newsletter or send you marketing because you downloaded it.
• Carrying out the work, scheduling, and dealing with snags or guarantee issues: performance of our contract with you.
• Invoicing, taking payment and keeping accounting records: legal obligation (tax and company law), and performance of our contract.
• Keeping business records and dealing with complaints, insurance matters or legal claims: our legitimate interest in running our business properly and protecting our legal position.
• Photographing our work for our records: our legitimate interest in keeping a record of the job. Using photos of your property on our website, Checkatrade profile or elsewhere to show our work: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• Showing reviews you have published on Checkatrade: our legitimate interest in showing genuine customer feedback.
• Keeping the website running and secure: our legitimate interest in operating a safe, working website.
• Any health or disability information you choose to share: your explicit consent (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(a)).

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your rights and expectations, and you can object at any time (see section 8). We don’t send marketing emails. If that ever changes, we’ll only do it in line with PECR, with an easy way to unsubscribe in every message. We don’t use automated decision-making or profiling.

4. Who we share your data with

We never sell your personal data. We only share it where we need to, with:

• Netlify, Inc., which hosts this website and receives and stores submissions from our contact and guide forms (Netlify Forms) before they are passed to us.
• Our email and phone providers, which carry the messages you send us.
• WhatsApp (part of Meta), if you choose to message us on WhatsApp. WhatsApp handles your messages under its own privacy policy.
• Adobe, which supplies the fonts used on this website (Adobe Fonts). Your browser requests the fonts from Adobe’s servers, so Adobe receives your IP address and counts the page view for font licensing.
• Google, which provides the map on our Areas We Cover page (see section 11).
• Checkatrade, if you contact us or review us through Checkatrade. Checkatrade is responsible for the data you give it under its own privacy policy.
• Our accountants, insurers and professional advisers, where needed to run the business, handle insurance matters or deal with legal claims.
• Other people involved in your job, only as far as the work needs: for example the main contractor or site manager on builder work, other trades on the project, or your insurer or loss adjuster on insurance reinstatement work.
• HMRC, the police, courts or other authorities, where the law requires it.

The service providers above act on our instructions or under their own privacy policies, and must keep your data secure.

5. Photos of our work

We may take photos at your property to record the job, and to show our work on this website, on our Checkatrade profile or elsewhere. We’ll only publish photos of your property if you’re happy for us to. If you’d like a photo taken down, email info@pearlplastering.co.uk and we’ll remove it from our website and any account we control.

6. International transfers

Some of our providers (including Netlify, Google, Adobe and Meta/WhatsApp) are based in, or store data in, the United States or other countries outside the UK. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, it is protected by appropriate safeguards, such as the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified under it, or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.

7. How long we keep your data

• Enquiries and quotes that don’t go ahead: up to 12 months from our last contact.
• Free guide requests: up to 12 months.
• Customer and job records (quotes, invoices, correspondence, job photos kept for our records): 6 years after the job is finished, to meet tax rules and cover the period in which legal claims can be brought.
• Photos published with your agreement: until you ask us to remove them.
• Website logs: for the periods set by our hosting provider.

After these periods we delete the data or anonymise it.

8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you (access);
• have inaccurate data corrected (rectification);
• have your data deleted in some circumstances (erasure);
• ask us to limit how we use your data in some circumstances (restriction);
• receive data you gave us in a portable format, where we process it by consent or contract (portability);
• object to our use of your data where we rely on legitimate interests, and object at any time to direct marketing;
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This doesn’t affect anything we did before you withdrew it.

To use any of these rights, email info@pearlplastering.co.uk or call 07432 289572. It’s free, and we’ll reply within one month. We may need to ask you to confirm your identity first.

9. Do you have to give us your data?

No, but we need your name and a way to contact you to reply to an enquiry or send you the guide, and we need your address and details of the job to quote for and carry out work. Everything else is optional. Some records are required by law once you become a customer (for example, invoices).

10. Keeping your data secure

We use reputable service providers and take sensible steps to protect your data, such as password-protected accounts and limiting access to the people who need it. No system is completely secure, but if something goes wrong we’ll act quickly and tell you and the ICO where the law requires it.

11. Cookies

Cookies are small files a website saves on your device. The law (PECR) says websites can only use cookies that are not strictly necessary if you agree to them.

Cookies we set: none. This website doesn’t use analytics, advertising or tracking cookies of its own, and doesn’t store anything in your browser’s local storage.

Third-party content that can set cookies or collect data:

• Google Maps (Areas We Cover page only). The embedded map is loaded from Google. When it loads, Google may set cookies on your device (for example its NID cookie, which usually lasts about six months) and receives your IP address and device information. Google uses these for its own purposes, including remembering preferences and, depending on your Google settings, advertising. These cookies are not strictly necessary for our site. See Google’s policy at policies.google.com/technologies/cookies.
• Adobe Fonts. Our fonts are delivered by Adobe. Adobe Fonts doesn’t set cookies on this website, but Adobe receives your IP address and a page view count when the fonts load.
• Links to WhatsApp and Checkatrade. These are ordinary links. Nothing is loaded from those services until you click, and once you do, their own cookie and privacy policies apply.

Controlling cookies: you can block or delete cookies, including third-party cookies, in your browser settings. Help pages: Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge. Blocking third-party cookies won’t stop the rest of our website working, though the map may not display.

12. Children

Our website and services are for adults. They are not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal data.

13. Complaints

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your data, please contact us first and we’ll try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator:

• Online: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
• Phone: 0303 123 1113
• Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example if we start using a new service provider. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make a significant change that affects you, we’ll tell you where we can.