Privacy Policy | Triangle Landscapers

Triangle Landscapers ("we," "us," or "our") operates trianglelandscapers.com (the "Site"), a directory and bidding platform that connects homeowners in the Raleigh-Durham-Cary area with landscaping businesses. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

1. Information We Collect

Information Homeowners Provide

When you request quotes, create an account, or contact us, we collect:

First and last name, email address, and phone number
City/ZIP code and property type (residential or commercial)
Project details, measurements, timeline, and budget range
Photos and video walkthroughs you choose to upload of your property or project
Your starting bid amount, bid deadline, and preferred project dates, if provided
Account login credentials (your password is stored as a salted cryptographic hash — we never store or can see your plain-text password)

Information Landscaping Businesses Provide

Most business listings on the Site are built from publicly available data on Google Maps and Google Places (business name, address, phone, ratings, reviews, and photos). If a business owner claims and verifies their listing, we additionally collect:

Contact name, direct phone number, and login email
Business phone, email, website, and social media links
Insurance and bonding information (provider, policy/bond number, expiration date) and any proof documents uploaded — these documents are stored securely and are only ever visible to the submitting business and to our administrators, never to the public
Identity verification status through Stripe Identity (see Section 4 — we do not receive or store the identity documents themselves; Stripe processes and retains those directly)
Bids placed on homeowner projects, including bid amounts and any notes

Payment Information

Certain features on the Site (submitting a bid, revealing a bid's identity, or verifying business identity) require payment, processed entirely by Stripe, Inc. We never receive or store your full card number — only a payment confirmation and Stripe's own transaction/session identifiers.

Information Collected Automatically

Standard web server logs (IP address, browser type, pages visited, referring pages) via Cloudflare, our hosting provider
Session cookies used to keep you logged in to a homeowner, business, or admin account
Aggregate usage analytics via Google Analytics (see Section 5)

2. How We Use Information

To match homeowner project requests with relevant landscaping businesses
To operate homeowner and business accounts, including login and session management
To process payments for bids, bid reveals, and identity verification via Stripe
To manually review and approve business listing claims and verification submissions
To send transactional emails (lead notifications, claim status, payment confirmations)
To maintain, secure, and improve the Site, and to understand how it's used
To communicate with you about your account or in response to a message you send us

3. How We Share Information

We share information only as needed to operate the Site:

With landscaping businesses: when you request quotes, we share your project details with matched businesses. If a business or you pay the reveal fee on a specific bid, your contact information (or the business's) is shared with the other party.
With service providers: Stripe (payment processing and identity verification), Cloudflare (hosting, storage, and email delivery), and Google (Places data, Analytics, Search Console). Each handles data under its own privacy policy.
With our administrators: for manual review of business claims, insurance/bond verification, and general site moderation.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
We may disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Triangle Landscapers, our users, or the public.

4. Payments and Identity Verification

Payments are processed by Stripe. Identity verification for business owners is performed by Stripe Identity, which collects a government-issued document and a selfie directly through Stripe's own hosted flow — these are sent to and retained by Stripe, not by us. We only receive and store the verification outcome (verified, pending, or requires input).

5. Cookies and Analytics

We use functional cookies to keep you signed in (separate cookies for homeowner, business, and admin accounts). We also use Google Analytics, which sets its own cookies to help us understand aggregate site traffic and usage patterns. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, though doing so may prevent you from staying logged in.

6. Data Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), salted password hashing, and access-restricted storage for sensitive documents like insurance proof. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain account and project information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Site's services, resolve disputes, and comply with legal obligations. You may request deletion of your account and associated data as described below.

8. Your Choices and Rights

You can update your account information at any time by logging in.
You can request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information by contacting us (see Section 11).
You can decline to provide certain information, though this may limit your ability to use some features (e.g., we can't match you with landscapers without a city and service).

9. Children's Privacy

The Site is intended for users who are at least 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do. Continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or your information? Reach us through our contact page.