Privacy Policy
1. What we collect
- Uploaded documents — the plans or reports you upload, used solely to prepare your cost document.
- Contact details — the email address you provide at checkout or sign-in, or when you ask us to email a link to your preview, used to deliver your preview link, report, receipt, and account access. We send other emails about building costs only if you tick the box asking for them, and you can stop them at any time by emailing hello@clearcost.au.
- Payment — handled entirely by Stripe. ClearCost never sees or stores your card details.
- Usage analytics — standard analytics (Google Analytics, Google Ads conversion, PostHog) to understand how the site is used.
2. How uploads are processed
Uploaded documents are transmitted securely and analysed with the assistance of AI tooling (Anthropic's Claude) to extract quantities and prepare draft calculations, which are then issued under QS certification. Uploads are used only to produce your report and are not sold or used to train models by ClearCost.
For the 3D Estimate, your PDF is opened in your own browser. The text and page images of the drawing sheets are sent for reading in the same way, held only while the building model is prepared, and not kept by ClearCost afterwards. If you are not signed in, versions you save in the 3D Estimate are stored only in your browser. ClearCost keeps the account details you give when you register for the 3D Estimate (email address, name, the kind of user you are, and a phone number if you give one) and a record of each plan upload: the time, the number of sheets and whether the reading finished. When you are signed in, it also keeps each version of your 3D model and estimate in your account, so you can reopen it from My Reports on any device and file it in a project. It also keeps the text of the building model read from your plans for 30 days, so a page that reloads or a repeat upload of the same plans can return it without reading them again. It does not keep the plans themselves, unless you buy the full breakdown and Bill of Quantities: the Bill of Quantities is prepared from your plans, so the PDF is sent when you open the payment form, kept for 2 days if the payment does not go through and for 30 days once it does, then deleted. You are emailed building cost updates only if you tick that box when you register.
3. Storage and retention
Reports and job data are stored on ClearCost's hosting infrastructure so your report can be re-downloaded and supported. If you would like your uploaded documents or reports deleted, email hello@clearcost.au and we will remove them.
4. Sharing
We do not sell your personal information. Data is shared only with the service providers needed to run ClearCost (hosting, Stripe for payments, Resend for email, analytics providers listed above) and where required by law.
5. Contact
Privacy questions or requests: hello@clearcost.au.