Privacy Policy

Last updated: 16 July 2026

1. About this Privacy Policy

Browne and Sons Limited respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information relating to:

• Visitors to our website;

• People who contact us about building work or property services;

• Prospective and existing customers;

• Suppliers;

• Subcontractors and tradespeople;

• Professional advisers and other business contacts.

This policy does not cover job applicants or recruitment.

2. Who is responsible for your information?

Browne and Sons Limited is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

Company name: Browne and Sons Limited
Company number: 09398213
ICO registration number: 00011283703
Registered office: King Arthur’s Court, Maidstone Road, Ashford, TN27 0JS
Email: enquiries@browneandsonsltd.co.uk
Telephone: 0800 6128 248

References in this policy to “Browne & Sons”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Browne and Sons Limited.

3. The personal information we collect

Depending on your relationship with us, we may collect and process:

• Your name;

• Email address;

• Telephone number;

• Home, business or project address;

• The location of proposed building work;

• Information about your property and proposed project;

• Project descriptions and requirements;

• Photographs, drawings, specifications and plans;

• Planning and Building Control information;

• Estimates, quotations, contracts and variations;

• Correspondence and records of conversations;

• Site-visit notes;

• Information about keys, access arrangements or alarm systems where necessary;

• Payment, invoice and transaction information;

• Bank-transfer information shown in payment records;

• Details of suppliers, subcontractors and professional consultants;

• Health, disability or accessibility information where this is relevant to safely arranging or carrying out the work;

• Website usage, device, browser and cookie information;

• Any other information you choose to provide to us.

We do not take payments through our website. Customers pay us by bank transfer.

Please do not provide personal information about another person unless you have their permission to do so or another lawful reason for providing it.

4. How we collect information

We may receive information directly from you when you:

• Complete our website enquiry form;

• Telephone or email us;

• Contact us through WhatsApp or text message;

• Contact us through Facebook, Instagram or another social-media service;

• Contact us through Checkatrade or Google Business Profile;

• Ask us to arrange a site visit or prepare an estimate;

• Enter into a contract with us;

• Communicate with us during or after a project;

• Provide drawings, photographs or other project documents;

• Make a payment to us.

We may also receive information from:

• Checkatrade;

• Architects and other design professionals;

• Previous customers who refer you to us;

• Other professional or personal referrals;

• Planning authorities and Building Control;

• Publicly available sources where reasonably necessary for a project.

Where information is obtained from someone other than you, we will only use it where we have a lawful reason to do so.

5. How and why we use personal information

We use personal information for the following purposes.

Responding to enquiries

We use your name, contact details, address and project information to:

• Respond to your enquiry;

• Discuss your requirements;

• Arrange site visits;

• Assess whether we can undertake the work;

• Prepare and provide estimates or quotations;

• Communicate with architects, engineers or other relevant professionals where necessary.

Our lawful basis is normally that the processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

The contract lawful basis can apply where someone asks a business to take a targeted and proportionate step before entering into a contract, such as providing a requested quotation.

Managing building projects

Where you appoint us, we use your information to:

• Provide the agreed building or property services;

• Organise labour, materials and deliveries;

• Coordinate tradespeople and specialist contractors;

• Manage architects, structural engineers and other consultants;

• Manage planning and Building Control requirements;

• Maintain project records;

• Deal with variations, queries and aftercare;

• Issue invoices and maintain payment records;

• Meet our contractual obligations.

Our lawful basis is that the processing is necessary to perform our contract with you.

Business administration

We use information to:

• Keep accurate business and project records;

• Manage supplier and subcontractor relationships;

• Operate our estimating and accounting systems;

• Manage insurance matters;

• Deal with complaints and disputes;

• Protect our legal rights;

• Establish, exercise or defend legal claims;

• Prevent fraud or misuse of our services;

• Maintain the security of our website, computers and systems.

Depending on the circumstances, our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in operating and protecting our business, performing a contract, or complying with a legal obligation.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether our use of the information is necessary and proportionate and whether it could unfairly affect the person concerned.

Accounting and legal requirements

We use and retain certain information to:

• Maintain invoices and accounting records;

• Complete tax returns;

• Respond to regulators or public authorities;

• Meet insurance requirements;

• Comply with other legal and regulatory obligations.

Our lawful basis is compliance with a legal obligation and, where relevant, our legitimate interests in maintaining appropriate business records.

Website operation and analytics

We may use website and device information to:

• Operate and secure our website;

• Understand how visitors use it;

• Diagnose technical problems;

• Measure website performance;

• Assess the effectiveness of advertising;

• Display embedded maps, videos, reviews or social-media content;

• Provide online chat functions.

Strictly necessary technology is used where required to operate and secure the website.

We rely on your consent before using non-essential analytics, advertising, functional or marketing cookies where consent is required. You may withdraw or change your cookie choices through the website’s cookie-preference controls.

6. Health, disability and accessibility information

Information concerning a person’s health or disability may be treated as special-category personal information and receives additional legal protection. The ICO states that organisations processing such information need both an Article 6 lawful basis and a separate Article 9 condition.

We may occasionally need health, disability or accessibility information to:

• Arrange suitable communication;

• Provide safe access;

• Plan work around a customer’s needs;

• Protect the safety of customers, workers or visitors;

• Make reasonable practical arrangements during a project.

We will only collect the minimum information reasonably required.

Where required, we will ask for your explicit consent before processing this information. You may withdraw that consent, although this may affect our ability to make the requested arrangements. Explicit consent is an available Article 9 condition for processing health and other special-category information.

We recommend that customers do not include detailed medical information in the initial website enquiry form. Relevant information can be discussed privately when necessary.

7. Who we share information with

We do not sell personal information.

Where necessary for the purposes described in this policy, we may share limited information with:

• Architects;

• Structural engineers;

• Surveyors;

• Planning authorities;

• Building Control bodies;

• Electricians and Gas Safe registered engineers;

• Specialist subcontractors and tradespeople;

• Materials and equipment suppliers;

• Delivery companies;

• Accountants and bookkeepers;

• Insurers and insurance advisers;

• Website, email, cloud-storage and IT providers;

• Estimating and accounting-software providers;

• Government bodies, regulators, police or courts where required by law.

We normally coordinate communications with subcontractors, tradespeople and consultants ourselves. We do not routinely provide them with a customer’s full contact details.

We may provide limited information, such as the project address, drawings, specifications or relevant access requirements, where this is necessary for them to price, plan or carry out their work.

Materials suppliers or delivery companies may receive the project address and relevant delivery instructions.

Service providers may include:

• Wix;

• Microsoft, including Outlook and OneDrive;

• Google;

• Meta, including WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram;

• HBXL;

• Our accounting-software provider;

• Checkatrade;

• Vimeo and other video providers where embedded content is used;

• Website analytics, advertising and online-chat providers.

These organisations may act as processors working on our behalf or, in some circumstances, as separate data controllers operating under their own privacy policies.

8. International transfers

Some of our technology and cloud-service providers operate internationally. This means personal information may be stored in, accessed from or processed in countries outside the United Kingdom.

Where a restricted international transfer takes place, we will seek to ensure that an appropriate legal mechanism is in place. This may include:

• UK adequacy regulations;

• The UK International Data Transfer Agreement;

• The UK Addendum to approved standard contractual clauses;

• Another safeguard permitted by UK data-protection law.

UK data-protection rules require restricted international transfers to be covered by an appropriate legal mechanism or safeguard.

You may contact us for more information about the safeguards applying to a particular service provider.

9. How we store and protect information

Personal information may be stored using:

• Wix;

• Microsoft Outlook and OneDrive;

• WhatsApp;

• Business mobile phones;

• Office computers;

• Paper files;

• Accounting software;

• HBXL estimating software.

We take reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect personal information from unauthorised access, alteration, loss, disclosure or destruction.

Measures may include:

• Password protection;

• Restricted access;

• Device and account security;

• Secure cloud storage;

• Software updates;

• Appropriate disposal of paper and electronic records;

• Limiting access to people who reasonably require the information.

No internet, email or storage system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Please avoid sending highly sensitive information through ordinary email, text message or social media unless this is necessary and an appropriate method has been agreed.

10. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably required for the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, contractual, accounting, insurance and dispute-resolution purposes.

Our normal retention periods are:

Enquiries that do not proceed

Information concerning an enquiry that does not become a project will normally be retained for 12 months after the last meaningful communication.

Estimates and quotations

Estimates, quotations and related information will normally be retained for two years after the estimate was issued or the last relevant communication, whichever is later.

Customer and project records

Contracts, project records, correspondence, drawings and related documents will normally be retained for six years after project completion.

Some records may be kept for longer where reasonably required because of:

• A warranty or guarantee;

• Insurance requirements;

• A dispute or potential legal claim;

• Building-safety considerations;

• Another legal or regulatory obligation.

Accounting records

Invoices, transaction records and other accounting information will normally be retained for six years, or longer where required by law.

Access information

Keys, alarm details and other property-access information will be returned, deleted or securely destroyed when they are no longer needed.

Health or accessibility information

Health, disability and accessibility information will normally be deleted when it is no longer required for the project or arrangement for which it was provided, unless there is a legal or safety reason to retain it.

Photographs

Selected project photographs that do not identify individuals may be retained indefinitely as a record of our work and for portfolio purposes.

We do not intentionally include customers or other members of the public in project photographs used for our portfolio.

Where photographs identify an occupied private property, contain personal possessions or otherwise amount to personal information, we will:

• Remove identifying details where reasonably practicable;

• Obtain permission before publishing them where appropriate;

• Limit their use to legitimate business purposes;

• Review whether continued retention remains necessary.

Personal data should not be kept for longer than it is actually needed, and there are no universal statutory retention periods under data-protection law. Retention should be determined according to the organisation’s purposes and circumstances.

Cookies and website data

Cookie and analytics information is retained according to the lifespan of the relevant cookie and the settings of the service concerned. Further details should be provided in our Cookie Policy and cookie-preference centre.

We periodically review stored information and securely delete or anonymise it when it is no longer required.

11. Project photographs

We take photographs during and after projects for purposes including:

• Recording progress;

• Documenting completed work;

• Managing quality or warranty issues;

• Discussing technical matters;

• Demonstrating previous work;

• Website, portfolio and social-media use.

We do not intentionally include identifiable customers or members of the public in portfolio photographs.

Before publicly using photographs of a recognisable private property, we will consider whether the customer’s permission is required and remove house numbers, personal documents and other identifying information where reasonably practicable.

Where permission has been given for a photograph to be used publicly, the customer may ask us to stop using it in the future. This will not necessarily affect material already printed or lawfully published, but we will consider reasonable removal requests.

12. Cookies and third-party website services

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies provided by Wix and other services.

Depending on which website features are enabled, these may include:

• Wix Analytics;

• Google Analytics;

• Google Ads tracking;

• Meta or Facebook Pixel;

• Google Maps;

• YouTube;

• Vimeo;

• Checkatrade review tools;

• Social-media feeds;

• Online-chat services.

Cookies may be classified as:

• Strictly necessary;

• Functional;

• Analytics;

• Advertising or marketing.

Non-essential cookies should not be placed until you have made the relevant choice through the cookie banner.

You can reject non-essential cookies and change your choices through the cookie-preference control available on the website.

More information about individual cookies, providers, purposes and durations should be included in our separate Cookie Policy.

13. Direct marketing

We do not currently send newsletters, promotional emails, promotional text messages or other direct-marketing communications.

Responding to an enquiry or communicating about an estimate or existing project is not treated by us as direct marketing.

Should we introduce direct marketing in the future, we will update this policy and obtain consent or use another lawful basis where permitted.

14. Children

Our website and services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information directly from anyone under the age of 18.

Information about children may occasionally be provided by an adult customer where it is relevant to safely planning or undertaking work at a family home. We will only use the minimum information necessary for that purpose.

15. Automated decision-making

We do not use automated systems to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on customers.

Estimates, prices and decisions about accepting work are reviewed and made by a person.

16. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis on which we process your information, you may have the right to:

• Ask whether we hold personal information about you;

• Request access to your personal information;

• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;

• Ask us to delete information;

• Ask us to restrict how information is used;

• Object to certain uses of your information;

• Receive certain information in a portable format;

• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;

• Complain about how your information has been handled.

These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every situation. For example, we may need to retain information to meet a legal obligation or establish or defend a legal claim.

You will not normally be charged for exercising your rights.

We may ask for information to confirm your identity before responding. Most valid rights requests must be handled without undue delay and normally within one month, subject to limited extensions for complex or multiple requests.

To exercise a right, contact:

Email: enquiries@browneandsonsltd.co.uk
Post: Browne and Sons Limited, King Arthur’s Court, Maidstone Road, Ashford, TN27 0JS

17. Data-protection complaints

You may contact us if you are dissatisfied with how we have collected, used, stored or shared your personal information.

Please send your complaint to:

Email: enquiries@browneandsonsltd.co.uk
Post: Browne and Sons Limited, King Arthur’s Court, Maidstone Road, Ashford, TN27 0JS
Telephone: 0800 6128 248

Please provide:

• Your name and contact details;

• A description of the issue;

• Relevant dates or correspondence;

• The outcome you would like us to consider.

We will acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days, investigate it appropriately and communicate the outcome without undue delay. These complaint-handling requirements now apply to organisations under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concern first, but you are not required to contact us before approaching the ICO.

18. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when:

• Our services or business practices change;

• We introduce new website functions;

• We use different service providers;

• The law or regulatory guidance changes.

The latest version will be published on our website. The “last updated” date at the top will show when the policy was most recently revised.

19. Contacting us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or our use of personal information should be sent to:

Browne and Sons Limited
King Arthur’s Court
Maidstone Road
Ashford
TN27 0JS

Email: enquiries@browneandsonsltd.co.uk
Telephone: 0800 6128 248
Company number: 09398213
ICO registration number: 00011283703