1. ABOUT THIS POLICY

(a) This Privacy Policy explains how Barn Haus Pty Ltd ACN 699 750 242 ABN 75 699 750 242 trading as Barn Haus (we, us, our) collects, holds, uses, discloses and protects your personal information.

(b) We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

(c) This Policy applies to all personal information we collect, including through our website https://www.barnhaus.com.au/, our social media accounts, our booking and enquiry forms, and in the course of providing our services.

(d) By providing us with your personal information, engaging us, using our website or otherwise dealing with us, you agree to your personal information being handled in accordance with this Policy.

(e) Where you have entered into a service agreement with us, this Policy forms part of the arrangement between us. If there is any inconsistency between this Policy and a privacy clause in a signed service agreement, the service agreement prevails to the extent of the inconsistency.

2. WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION

(a) Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not.

(b) Sensitive information is a subset of personal information and includes information about health, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs and criminal record. We do not ordinarily collect sensitive information. Where we do, we will only collect it with your consent and where it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities.

3. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us. It may include:

(a) Identity and contact information, including your name, the name of your business or entity, email address, phone number, postal address and social media handle.

(b) Property and project information, including the address of your property, its title particulars, lot and deposited plan number, site plans, survey information, photographs, existing dwelling details, your design brief, selections and preferences, and information about any easement, covenant, restriction or site condition affecting the property.

(c) Financial and transaction information, including billing details, payment records, invoices, the last four digits of a payment card, and information relating to any deposit or instalment. We do not store full payment card numbers.

(d) Engagement information, including your enquiry, correspondence, meeting notes, call and video conference records, instructions and approvals, and records of the services we have provided to you.

(e) Technical and website information, including your IP address, device and browser type, operating system, referring website, pages viewed, time spent and other analytics data.

(f) Marketing information, including your subscription preferences, whether you have opened or clicked on our communications, and your interactions with our social media content.

(g) Employment or contractor information, where you apply to work with us or supply services to us, including your resume, qualifications, registrations, insurances and references.

(h) You do not have to provide us with your personal information. If you choose not to, or you provide incomplete or inaccurate information, we may not be able to provide our services to you, or the services we provide may be affected.

4. HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect personal information:

(a) directly from you, including when you make an enquiry, book a consultation, complete a form, accept a proposal, email or message us, meet with us, or otherwise engage with us;

(b) through our website, booking platforms, checkout and payment pages, and social media accounts;

(c) from third parties involved in your project, including your architect, designer, engineer, surveyor, builder, certifier, conveyancer, real estate agent, strata manager or financier;

(d) from publicly available sources, including land title records, planning registers, council records and property information services;

(e) from a person who refers you to us, or on whose behalf you deal with us; and

(f) automatically through cookies and similar technologies, as described in clause 11.

5. WHY WE COLLECT, HOLD AND USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect, hold and use personal information for the following purposes:

(a) to respond to your enquiry and provide you with a quote or proposal;

(b) to provide our services, including pre-construction, council, design coordination, global selections, sourcing and supplier liaison services;

(d) to engage and instruct consultants and suppliers on your project;

(e) to communicate with you, including about your project, your bookings and any changes to our services;

(f) to issue invoices, take payment, manage our accounts and recover debts;

(g) to keep records, manage our business and comply with our legal, insurance, accounting and record keeping obligations;

(h) to improve our website, our services and our client experience;

(i) to send you marketing communications in accordance with clause 9;

(j) with your consent, to feature your project in our portfolio, on our website and on our social media; and

(k) for any other purpose you have consented to, or which is permitted or required by law.

6. WHO WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION TO

We may disclose your personal information to:

(a) Consultants and project professionals, including architects, designers, draftspersons, town planners, engineers, surveyors, soil testers, energy and BASIX assessors, certifiers, builders and trades engaged on your project;

(b) Councils, certifiers and government authorities, as described in clause 7;

(c) Suppliers and manufacturers, including overseas suppliers, showrooms, agents, interpreters and coordinators, as described in clause 8;

(d) Service providers, including our website host, cloud storage and email providers, customer relationship, booking and project management platforms, payment processors, accountants, bookkeepers and IT support;

(e) Professional advisers, including our lawyers, insurers and insurance brokers;

(f) Debt recovery agents and credit reporting bodies, where an amount owing to us remains unpaid;

(g) a purchaser or prospective purchaser of our business, or of any part of it; and

(h) any other person to whom you have consented to us disclosing your information, or where the disclosure is permitted or required by law.

(i) We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information.

7. INFORMATION LODGED WITH A COUNCIL OR CERTIFIER

(a) Where we prepare or lodge a development application, a complying development certificate application or other documentation on your behalf, we will disclose your personal information to the relevant council, certifier, planning portal and other authorities.

(b) You should be aware that some information lodged with a council becomes part of a public record. Depending on the application and the requirements of the relevant council and legislation, your name, the property address, the plans and the supporting documentation may be published on a planning register or portal, placed on public exhibition, made available for public inspection, provided to neighbours and objectors, or released in response to a government information access request.

(c) Once information is published or released by a council or certifier, we have no control over it and cannot recall, amend or remove it.

(d) By instructing us to prepare or lodge an application, you consent to that disclosure and publication.

8. OVERSEAS DISCLOSURE

(a) Where you engage us for our global selections, sourcing or procurement services, we will disclose your personal information to overseas recipients, including suppliers, manufacturers, showrooms, agents, interpreters, coordinators and members of our team located in the People’s Republic of China.

(b) The information disclosed may include your name, contact details, property and project details, plans, specifications, measurements and selections.

(c) We may also store personal information on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States and the People’s Republic of China, where our website, cloud storage, email and platform providers are located.

(d) By engaging us for those services, or by providing us with your personal information for the purpose of those services, you consent to that overseas disclosure, and you acknowledge and agree that:

(i) overseas recipients may not be subject to laws which protect personal information in a way that is substantially similar to the Australian Privacy Principles;

(ii) you may not be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), or at all, in respect of an overseas recipient; and

(iii) as a result of your consent, Australian Privacy Principle 8.1 does not apply to that disclosure and we are not accountable for those overseas recipients under that principle.

(e) You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the details in clause 17. We cannot provide our global selections, sourcing or procurement services without disclosing personal information to overseas recipients, and a withdrawal of consent may mean we are unable to continue providing those services to you.

9. DIRECT MARKETING

(a) We may use your personal information to send you marketing communications about our services, offers, resources, events and content, by email, SMS, post and social media.

(b) We will only send you marketing communications where you have consented, or where you would reasonably expect to receive them, and always in accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

(c) Every marketing communication we send will include an unsubscribe facility. You may opt out at any time by using that facility or by contacting us using the details in clause 17.

(d) Opting out of marketing communications will not stop us sending you communications relating to your project or your engagement with us.

(e) We do not use or disclose sensitive information for direct marketing purposes.

10. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

(a) We use artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence tools to assist us in the preparation, delivery and administration of our services, including for drafting and reviewing correspondence, translation and interpreting, comparing and summarising quotations, preparing schedules and documentation, scheduling, transcription and general administration.

(b) Artificial intelligence is used as a tool to assist us. It does not replace our expertise, our judgement or our review, and we remain responsible for the services we provide to you.

(c) Where we use those tools, your personal information may be processed by the provider of the tool, and may be processed or stored outside Australia. Clause 8 applies to that processing and storage.

(d) We take reasonable steps to use reputable providers, and to use tools and settings which do not permit your personal information to be used to train a publicly available artificial intelligence model. We will not input your confidential information into a publicly available artificial intelligence tool without your consent.

(e) We do not use artificial intelligence to make any decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you without human involvement.

(f) If you do not wish us to use artificial intelligence tools in connection with your personal information, please contact us using the details in clause 17. We will tell you if that affects our ability to provide our services to you.

11. COOKIES, ANALYTICS AND OUR WEBSITE

(a) Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate, to remember your preferences, to measure how the website is used and to improve it.

(b) A cookie is a small text file placed on your device. Most browsers accept cookies by default. You can set your browser to refuse cookies or to notify you when one is set, however some parts of our website may not function properly if you do.

(c) We may use third party analytics and advertising tools which collect information about your use of our website. Those providers may combine that information with information they hold from other sources.

(d) Our website may contain links to third party websites, including supplier and social media sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites, and you should review their privacy policies.

12. HOW WE HOLD AND PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

(a) We hold personal information in electronic form, in cloud based systems, and in some cases in hard copy.

(b) We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. Those steps include access controls, password protection, multi factor authentication where available, secure and reputable service providers, and staff and contractor confidentiality obligations.

(c) No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security, and you provide information to us at your own risk.

(d) Email is not a secure means of communication. You should independently verify our bank account details with us, by a means other than email, before making any payment to us.

(e) If we suffer an eligible data breach, we will comply with our obligations under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including notifying you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where required.

13. HOW LONG WE KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION

(a) We keep personal information for as long as it is needed for the purposes set out in this Policy, and for as long as we are required to keep it by law, by our insurers, or for the purpose of resolving or defending a claim.

(b) Because claims relating to building and construction matters may be brought many years after the work is done, we generally retain project records for at least ten (10) years from the completion of our services.

(c) When personal information is no longer needed and we are no longer required to keep it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy it or to ensure it is de-identified.

14. ACCESS AND CORRECTION

(a) You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and you may ask us to correct it if you believe it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

(b) To make a request, contact us using the details in clause 17. We may ask you to verify your identity before we act on your request.

(d) We do not charge for making a request. We may charge a reasonable fee for giving access, for example where the request requires significant time or copying, and we will tell you about any fee before we incur it.

(e) We may refuse access or correction where we are permitted or required to do so by law. If we refuse, we will tell you why in writing and explain how you may complain.

15. COMPLAINTS

(a) If you have a concern or complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us using the details in clause 17. Please set out your complaint in writing with as much detail as you can.

(b) We will acknowledge your complaint promptly, investigate it, and respond to you in writing, ordinarily within thirty (30) days.

(c) If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

(i) Online: www.oaic.gov.au

(ii) Phone: 1300 363 992

(iii) Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

16. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

(a) We may update this Policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website, and the date it was last updated appears at the top of this Policy.

(b) Where a change is material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you. Your continued engagement with us after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Policy.

17. CONTACT US

If you have any question about this Policy, or wish to make a request or a complaint, contact us at:

(a) Barn Haus

(b) Email: lauren@barnhaus.com.au