Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Balaji Builds is operated by Balaji Constructions, a registered micro enterprise based at Gurmatkal, Yadgir District, Karnataka, India. We serve users across India, and we are the data fiduciary responsible for the personal data described in this policy.

What we run falls into two parts:

• A free marketplace connecting clients with construction professionals — civil engineers, structural engineers, architects, contractors and interior designers — along with property listings, building-material supplier listings and a project requirements board.
• Our own software products: Balaji Workspace (construction project management) and Balaji Invoice (invoicing and payment tracking).

For questions about this policy, or to exercise any of the rights in Section 9, contact us at admin@balajibuilds.com.

2. What Information We Collect

We collect different information depending on how you use the platform.

2a. Visitors (all users)

• Analytics data — page views, session duration, device type, browser, country, and navigation paths. Collected via Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity.
• Heatmaps & session replays — Microsoft Clarity records anonymised scroll behaviour and clicks to help us improve the site's usability. No passwords or payment details are ever recorded.
• Cookies — see Section 6 for full details.

2b. Clients contacting engineers

• Full name, phone number, email address
• Project type, estimated budget, project description
• This information is stored to let engineers respond to your enquiry and to prevent spam from a single source.

2c. Engineers registering on the network

• Full name, phone number, email address
• Professional specialisation, city / location, years of experience
• Approximate GPS coordinates (used to place you on the engineer map)
• Optionally: Degree Certificate, Government / National ID, Professional Licence, project portfolio documents. Uploading these is entirely voluntary. They are reviewed only by our admin team to assess your profile and are not shared with clients.

2d. Property listers

• Property type, address, location coordinates, asking price
• Owner's name and mobile number (shared with interested buyers upon enquiry)
• Site photos uploaded by the lister

2e. Material suppliers

• Business name, contact person, phone number, email address, city and location
• The materials, brands and categories you supply, and any photos you upload

2f. Clients posting project requirements

• Name, phone number, location, requirement description, budget and timeline
• Once approved, the requirement is shown to relevant registered professionals so they can respond

2g. Reviews

• Your name (displayed publicly), rating, review text, and the phone number you submit it from (not displayed publicly)

2h. Balaji Workspace users

If you use our project-management software, we store the working records you create in it:

• Project records — project names and details, daily site logs, tasks, milestones, quality checklists and issues
• Financial records — expenses, petty cash, client payments, supplier and contractor accounts, purchase orders and indents
• Labour records — the names of workers you add, their attendance, wage rates and payouts. You are responsible for having a lawful basis to record other people's details, and we process them only on your behalf.
• Files — site photographs, drawings and project documents you upload
• Location — see Section 13
• Team members — the people you invite to a project and the access level you grant them

2i. Balaji Invoice users

• Your business details — business name, address, GSTIN, logo and bank details
• Your clients' details — name, address, phone, email and GSTIN, as entered by you
• Your products or services, invoices raised, and payments recorded against them

The client details you enter belong to your business. We hold them on your behalf to provide the service and do not use them for any purpose of our own.

2j. Payment information

• If you pay for an additional Workspace project, we record the order reference, payment reference, amount, currency, status and date against your account.
• We never receive or store your card number, CVV, UPI PIN or net-banking credentials. Those are entered directly with our payment gateway partner. See Section 12.

2k. Contact form and chat

• Contact form — name, phone number, email address, service type, budget range and message content
• AI assistant — the messages you type into the on-site assistant, and any details you give it during a registration. See Section 11.
• WhatsApp registration bots — if you register through one of our WhatsApp bots, the answers you send in that conversation, along with your WhatsApp phone number. See Section 10.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To operate the platform — displaying engineer profiles, property listings, and facilitating connections between parties.
• To review listings before publishing — our admin team reads through submitted registration details and any optional documents before approving an engineer profile. This is a review of what was submitted; we do not independently confirm it with universities, licensing bodies or past clients.
• To protect our users — we enforce daily contact limits to prevent engineers' details from being harvested, and we review project enquiries for seriousness before revealing engineer contact information.
• To improve the platform — aggregated, anonymised analytics data helps us understand which features are useful and where we can improve.
• To communicate with you — we may send you a confirmation email, WhatsApp message or push notification when your profile is approved, when a client requirement matches your trade, or when there is an important update to our policies.
• To provide our software — to store and display the project, financial and invoicing records you create in Balaji Workspace and Balaji Invoice, and to generate the reports and exports you ask for.
• To answer your questions — to operate our AI assistant, as described in Section 11.
• To take payment — to process the one-time project fee, confirm it, keep a record of it and support you if something goes wrong (Section 12).
• To promote public listings — to publish approved listings and requirements on our own social media pages (Section 15).
• To comply with law — we may process or retain data where required by applicable law, including tax and accounting obligations, or in response to a valid legal request.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or significant effects on you.

4. How We Store and Protect Your Data

Your data is stored in a managed PostgreSQL database provided by Supabase, with servers located in the European Union (Frankfurt, Germany). The platform is hosted on Vercel (global edge network). Both providers maintain industry-standard security certifications.

• All data is transmitted over HTTPS (TLS 1.2+).
• Database access is restricted to authenticated admin accounts only.
• Document files (degree certificates, IDs, photos) are stored in a private Supabase storage bucket — they are not publicly accessible via any URL.
• No payment card data is ever collected or stored on our systems.

While we take all reasonable precautions, no system can be guaranteed 100% secure. If you suspect a breach involving your data, please contact us immediately at admin@balajibuilds.com.

5. Sharing of Information

We never sell your personal data. We share information only in the following limited circumstances:

• Engineer ↔ Client connections — when a client submits a reviewed project enquiry, their name and project details are shown to the relevant engineer. The engineer's contact details are shared with the client only after the enquiry is reviewed.
• Property owner ↔ Buyer connections — a property owner's contact details are shared with a buyer who submits an enquiry through the platform.
• Requirement ↔ Professional matching — when a client requirement is approved, its details are shown to registered professionals whose trade and location match, so they can respond.
• Work assigned to a professional — if you order a design or documentation service from us and we assign it to a listed professional from our network to prepare (see Terms, Section 2c), we pass them what they need to do your job: your name and contact, and the plot details, measurements, sketches, photographs and documents you sent us. They may use it only for your job, must keep it confidential, and must not retain it afterwards or reuse it for anything else. We tell you when your work is assigned.
• Legal obligations — we may disclose information if required by a court order, law enforcement agency, or other government authority with jurisdiction.

5a. Service providers we use

Each of these processes data only as needed to provide its service to us, under its own privacy commitments:

• Supabase — database and file storage
• Vercel — website and application hosting
• Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity — usage analytics (Section 6)
• Razorpay — payment processing (Section 12)
• Groq and Google (Gemini) — the AI models behind our on-site assistant (Section 11)
• Meta Platforms — WhatsApp Business API for notifications and registration bots (Section 10), and Instagram / Facebook where listings are published (Section 15)
• Google — contact synchronisation (Section 16), and the browser push service that delivers notifications (Section 14)
• Resend — transactional email delivery

We do not give any of these providers permission to use your data for their own marketing.

6. Cookies

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies — required for the platform to function (e.g., session state, daily contact limit tracking). These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies — Google Analytics 4 uses cookies to measure site traffic and usage patterns. Data is aggregated and anonymised.
• Behaviour analytics — Microsoft Clarity uses cookies to generate heatmaps and session replays. No personally identifiable information is captured in recordings.

You can disable non-essential cookies through your browser settings at any time, though this may affect some site functionality.

7. Data Retention

• Engineer profiles — retained until the engineer requests deletion or the profile is removed by an administrator.
• Uploaded documents — retained alongside the engineer profile. Deleted when the profile is deleted.
• Client enquiry data — retained for up to 12 months to allow follow-up and to detect abuse patterns.
• Property listings — retained until the lister requests removal or the listing is taken down by an administrator.
• Analytics data — retained per Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity's standard retention periods (14 months for GA4 by default).
• Workspace and Invoice records — retained for as long as your account is open, so that your project history stays available to you. Deleted when you ask us to delete your account.
• Payment records — retained for as long as Indian tax and accounting law requires, generally 8 years, even after account closure. This is a legal obligation we cannot waive, and these records are kept even if you ask for deletion of everything else.
• Push subscriptions — deleted as soon as you turn notifications off.
• AI assistant conversations — retained for up to 12 months.

8. International Transfers

Balaji Builds serves users across India. Your data may be processed by our service providers (Supabase, Vercel, Google, Microsoft) in data centres located outside India. These transfers are subject to the providers' data processing agreements and applicable data protection frameworks.

9. Your Rights

Regardless of your location, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate information.
• Deletion — request that we delete your profile, documents, and associated data.
• Withdrawal of consent — if you previously gave consent for optional uploads, you may withdraw it at any time and request removal of the relevant files.
• Objection — object to how we process your data in certain circumstances.
• Data portability — Balaji Workspace lets you export your own data to CSV at any time from within the application, without asking us.
• Grievance redressal — if you are in India, you may raise a complaint about how we handle your data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

To exercise any of these rights, or to raise a grievance, email us at admin@balajibuilds.com or call +91 73531 76156. We will acknowledge within 7 business days and resolve the matter as quickly as we reasonably can.

Some data must be kept even after a deletion request where the law requires it — most notably payment records, as explained in Section 7. We will tell you if that applies to your request.

10. WhatsApp Messaging

Balaji Builds uses the WhatsApp Business API (provided by Meta Platforms, Inc.) in three ways:

• Internal admin alerts — when a client submits an enquiry, a professional applies, or a listing is submitted, our admin team receives an automated WhatsApp notification with the submission details.
• Registration bots — you can register as a professional, supplier or property lister by chatting with our WhatsApp bot instead of filling in a web form. The answers you provide in that conversation are stored and used to create your listing, exactly as if you had used the website. You can stop at any point by ending the conversation.
• Relevant notifications to you — if you are a registered professional, we may message you when a client requirement matching your trade and location is approved, so you can respond to it. You can ask us to stop these at any time.

We also use WhatsApp to invite construction businesses we have identified publicly to list themselves on the platform. Such an invitation is sent once; if you do not wish to hear from us, reply asking us to stop and we will not contact you again.

• Phone numbers you provide are used to facilitate contact between our platform and the relevant parties. They are never sold, and never shared with third parties for their own marketing.
• WhatsApp messages are subject to Meta's own Privacy Policy.

11. AI Assistant

Our website offers an AI assistant that answers questions about the platform and can help you complete a registration. Balaji Workspace also includes AI features that let you ask questions about your own project data and add entries by typing in plain language.

• Where your messages go — what you type is sent to our AI providers, Groq and Google (Gemini), which generate the reply. Relevant context is sent with it — for the website assistant, information about our services; for Workspace, the relevant records from your own project.
• What we store — conversations may be retained so we can improve the assistant and investigate problems.
• Please do not type sensitive information into the assistant that is not needed to answer your question — for example identity numbers, bank details or passwords.
• Your conversations are not used to train third-party AI models, and we do not use them for advertising.
• The assistant can make mistakes. Do not rely on it for legal, financial or engineering advice.

12. Payment Information

If you pay the one-time fee for an additional Balaji Workspace project, the payment is processed by Razorpay Software Private Limited, a payment gateway licensed in India.

• Your card number, CVV, UPI PIN and net-banking credentials are entered directly with Razorpay. We never see, receive or store them.
• We share your name, email address and phone number with Razorpay so it can process the payment and issue a receipt.
• We store only the order reference, payment reference, amount, status and date against your account — enough to prove what you paid for, to support you if something goes wrong, and to meet our record-keeping obligations.
• Razorpay processes your data under its own Privacy Policy.
• Payment records are retained for as long as required by Indian tax and accounting law, which is generally 8 years, even if you close your account.

13. Location Data

Some features use your device's location. Location is only ever read when you actively use one of these features — we do not track your location in the background, and we do not build a movement history.

• "Near me" search — when you ask to sort professionals, suppliers or properties by distance, your browser asks your permission and we use the coordinates for that search.
• Placing a listing on the map — when you register as a professional or supplier, or list a property, you may use your current location to set the listing's position. The approximate location is then shown publicly as part of that listing.
• Site location in Workspace — you may record a construction site's coordinates so that attendance and site logs can be tied to the correct site.

Your browser or device always asks before sharing location, and you can refuse or withdraw that permission at any time in your browser or device settings. Every affected feature still works without it — you can type a city or address instead.

14. Push Notifications

If you switch on notifications in Balaji Workspace, we store a push subscription for your browser or device — a technical identifier issued by your browser's push service, which lets us deliver a message to it. It does not identify you personally by itself and cannot be used to read anything on your device.

• We use it to send you notifications about your own account and projects — for example a weekly summary, or an alert when a project goes over budget.
• Notifications are off until you turn them on, and you choose which types you receive in your Workspace settings.
• You can turn them off at any time in Workspace settings or in your browser or device settings. When you do, we delete the subscription.
• Delivery is handled by your browser vendor's push service (for example Google's, for Chrome). We do not send them any content beyond the notification itself.

15. Publishing Listings to Social Media

To help listings reach more people, we may automatically publish a post about a newly approved listing or client requirement to our own Instagram and Facebook pages.

• Such a post can include the listing's title, type, location, price and photographs you uploaded, together with a link back to the listing on our website.
• Once published to Instagram or Facebook, the content is public and subject to Meta's own terms and privacy policy. It may be seen, saved or shared by anyone, and copies may persist even after we delete the post.
• By submitting a public listing you agree to it being promoted in this way. If you would prefer your listing not to be posted to social media, tell us when you submit it, or email us and we will remove the post.
• We only ever publish information from listings that are already public on our website. Enquiries, private account details and Workspace data are never posted.

16. Contact Synchronisation

So that our small team can respond to people quickly by phone, the name and phone number of users who register or make an enquiry may be saved into a Google Contacts account belonging to Balaji Builds.

• This is our own business address book. Your details are not published, sold, or shared with any other user through it.
• Only the name, phone number, and a label identifying how you came to us are stored — never documents, enquiry contents or financial data.
• The Google account is controlled by us and protected by the same access restrictions as our other admin systems.
• If you ask us to delete your data, we remove your entry from this address book as well.

17. Children's Privacy

Our platform is intended for adults and construction professionals. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe a minor has submitted information to us, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

18. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the platform after changes are published constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

19. Balaji Workspace Mobile App (Google Play)

We publish an Android application called Balaji Workspace on the Google Play Store. This app is a mobile version of the project-management workspace available at balajibuilds.com/workspace. It is built as a Trusted Web Activity — it displays our existing, secured website inside an app window — so it follows this same Privacy Policy in full.

19a. Who the app is for

The app is intended for civil engineers, contractors and site supervisors registered on Balaji Builds. Users sign in with the phone number linked to their Balaji Builds engineer profile.

19b. Data the app handles

• Account & identity — your name and the mobile phone number used to log in.
• Project content you create — project names and details, daily site logs, tasks and milestones, material records, labour attendance, expense entries, and notes.
• Files you upload — site photos and project documents you choose to add. These are stored in a private storage bucket and are not publicly accessible.
• Shared reports — when you generate a shareable project report link, the information in that report becomes viewable by anyone you send the link to.
• Diagnostics & analytics — the same aggregated, anonymised usage analytics described in Sections 2 and 6.

The app collects nothing beyond what the website workspace already collects. All data is stored in the same secured infrastructure described in Section 4.

19c. Device permissions

• Camera / photos & files — requested only when you choose to attach a site photo or document to a project. We never access your media in the background.
• Location — requested only when you choose to set or use a site's location. It is read at that moment only; we do not track your location in the background. See Section 13.
• Notifications — requested only if you switch on notifications. You can decline, and turn them off later. See Section 14.
• Internet access — required for the app to load and sync your workspace.

Every one of these permissions is optional. Declining any of them leaves the rest of the app fully usable.

19d. Data sharing, security & deletion

We do not sell your data and we do not share it with third parties for advertising. Data handling, retention and your right to request deletion are covered in Sections 5, 7 and 9. To delete your app data or account, email admin@balajibuilds.com and we will remove your profile, uploaded files and associated project data.

20. Contact Us

For any privacy-related queries, requests, or concerns: