Privacy policy

1. About Us

Tradie Forms Australia (ABN 97 663 623 050) (Tradie Forms) is an independent tool for Australian tradies to complete compliance, operational, and custom forms. We are not affiliated with any Australian state or territory government or statutory authority.

This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our service.

2. Information We Collect

Form and workflow data

We collect and store the form data you enter, including customer details, installation details, test results, and other information in a form. We use this information to provide form filling, cloud saving, PDF generation, and related service features.

Form saving and cloud autosave: We store completed forms and may save the current state of an in-progress form to your account. This allows you to:

• View a history of your completed forms
• Reopen and edit previously completed forms
• Download PDFs of saved forms again later
• Access your forms from any device

You can turn cloud autosave off in account settings. This stops new draft updates from being saved. Existing forms and drafts remain until you delete them or they are removed under our retention practices.

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect and store:

• Email address (for account creation and authentication)
• Account creation date and verification status
• Login activity and usage patterns

Installer and Tester Saved Details

If you choose to save installer and tester saved details, we store:

• Personal details (name, email, phone numbers)
• Licence information (contractor's licence, supervisor's licence)
• Business address and contact information

Serial Number Data

To provide the serial number helper functionality (suggesting the next sequential serial number based on your previous usage), we store:

• Serial numbers you generate for forms
• Timestamps of when serial numbers were created

Usage Analytics

We collect product usage information through our analytics provider (PostHog) to understand how the service is used and where to improve it. This does not include form content, customer details, or other job-site information you enter into forms.

• Pages visited and features used (for example, PDF downloads)
• Account-level product preferences (for example, plan tier)
• Approximate location (country or region level)
• Device and browser information

AI assistant data

If you choose to use the AI assistant, we process the information needed to provide that feature. This can include your chat messages, the current form answers and field labels, attachments you add (including photos and text files), voice audio and its transcript, and information from saved details or connected job software that you ask the assistant to use. The assistant may also process its responses and the results of actions you ask it to take in the service.

We store a copy of your assistant chat history in your account so you can continue the conversation. Use New chat in the assistant to delete that stored chat history. Turning the assistant off stops future requests but does not delete an existing chat history.

3. How We Use Information

We use the collected information to:

• Provide and maintain your user account
• Authenticate your identity and secure your account
• Store and manage your saved details preferences
• Store and manage completed forms and drafts
• Generate sequential serial numbers through the serial helper feature
• Send account-related emails (verification codes, notifications)
• Analyse usage patterns to improve our service
• Provide the AI assistant, including transcription, suggestions, and requested form or account actions
• Maintain assistant chat history until you clear it or it is deleted under our retention practices
• Monitor service performance and security
• Comply with legal obligations and resolve disputes

4. Data Processing and Storage

Form data storage

We store form data, including saved forms and cloud drafts, on our servers to provide the service. The most recent state of an in-progress form may be saved so you can recover work, continue on another device, and reopen or download forms later. Saved forms and drafts are subject to the same security and access controls as your account data.

Account and Saved Details Storage

Secure Server Storage: Your account information and saved details are stored securely on our servers with:

• Industry-standard encryption at rest and in transit
• Access controls and authentication requirements
• Regular security audits and monitoring
• Data backup and recovery procedures
• Compliance with relevant data protection standards

5. Email Communications

We use email to communicate with users for essential service functions:

• Authentication: Sending one-time password (OTP) codes for secure sign-in
• Account Management: Important account updates, security notifications, and service announcements
• No Marketing: We do not send promotional or marketing emails without explicit consent

6. Cookies and Local Storage

We use cookies and local storage to:

• Maintain your authentication session
• Remember your preferences and settings
• Improve site performance and functionality
• Support product analytics (usage events only, not form content)

You can control cookie settings through your browser preferences. Blocking analytics cookies may reduce our ability to improve the service but should not affect core form filling. Disabling all cookies may affect account sign-in and saved details.

7. Data Security

We use reasonable security measures to protect your information:

• Encryption of data both in transit and at rest
• Secure authentication and session management
• Regular security assessments and updates
• Access controls and monitoring systems
• Industry-standard security practices and protocols

We apply these measures to form data, drafts, saved details, assistant chat history, and other account information we store.

AI assistant processing and storage

When you send an AI assistant request, the relevant chat history and current context are sent through our AI service providers to generate a response. We store assistant chat history in your account until you clear it using New chat. Clearing a chat deletes our active stored copy of that chat. It does not undo processing already performed by an AI provider or remove data that provider is required to retain under its own terms or legal obligations.

We do not use assistant prompts, attachments, audio, transcripts, or responses to train public AI models. We require our AI providers to handle that information only to provide the AI services to us, subject to the applicable provider agreement.

8. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your data:

• Access: View your account information, saved details, and saved forms through your account dashboard
• Correction: Update or correct your account and saved details information at any time
• Deletion: Delete saved forms, drafts, saved details, and assistant chats using the controls in the service where available. You can also ask us to delete personal information we hold about you, subject to information we must retain for legal, security, backup, or accounting reasons.
• Export: Request a copy of your stored data
• Cloud Autosave Control: Turn cloud autosave on or off through your account preferences
• AI Assistant Control: Turn the assistant off in Settings to block future requests, or use New chat to delete an existing assistant conversation
• Analytics: We do not offer an in-app analytics opt-out today. You can limit analytics through your browser or privacy extension settings. Contact us if you have questions.
• Communications: We only send essential account and service emails. We do not send promotional emails without your consent.

For users with accounts, you also have rights under applicable privacy laws to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal data. Many of these rights can be exercised through your account settings. For anything else, including analytics questions, contact us.

9. Data Retention

We retain your data only as long as necessary to provide our services:

• Account Data: Retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period after deletion for legal compliance
• Installer and Tester Saved details: Stored until you delete them or close your account
• Saved forms and drafts: Stored until you delete them, or for a reasonable period after account closure where needed for security, legal, backup, or dispute-resolution purposes
• Serial Number Data: Retained to maintain sequential numbering functionality and for audit purposes
• Usage Analytics: Aggregated and anonymised data may be retained for service improvement
• Email Communications: Authentication emails are not stored after delivery
• Subscription Data: Billing and subscription information retained as required for accounting and legal purposes
• Assistant chat history: Retained until you use New chat to clear it, or for a reasonable period after account closure where needed for security, legal, backup, or dispute-resolution purposes. Voice audio is sent for transcription and is not stored in your assistant chat history.

10. ServiceM8 Integration

When you connect ServiceM8 to Tradie Forms, we access data from your ServiceM8 account only to provide the integration features you enable. This section describes how that data is handled for the ServiceM8 add-on.

Data we access from ServiceM8

When you sign in with ServiceM8 and approve access, we may read:

• Your business profile (company name, email, ABN where available)
• Job details you choose to import (job number, address, category, schedule, notes)
• Customer and contact details linked to jobs you select
• Assigned staff details when you allow that access

If you enable PDF upload, we can attach completed PDFs you generate in Tradie Forms to job cards in ServiceM8 when you choose to send them.

What we store

• Encrypted sign-in credentials so the connection stays active
• ServiceM8 vendor account identifier and business name for display
• Optional per-form field mappings when you use Connect import mode
• Short-lived cached copies of job search and field lists (about 15 minutes) to speed up import while you fill a form

We do not bulk-sync or permanently mirror your ServiceM8 job database. Job and customer values are fetched when you search or import into a form.

Retention and deletion

Connection details are removed when you disconnect inTradie Forms or revoke the add-on in ServiceM8. Cached import data expires automatically. Field mappings are deleted with the connection.

Your choices

You choose what ServiceM8 shares when you connect. You can disconnect at any time from Connections in Tradie Forms, or disable the add-on in your ServiceM8 account. Contact support@tradieforms.com.au for privacy questions about the integration.

Fergus integration

When you connect Fergus, we access data from your Fergus company only to provide import features you enable. We read job, site, and customer details when you search or import into a form. We do not bulk-sync or permanently mirror your Fergus database.

We store encrypted connection credentials, your company identifier, and connection metadata for your workspace. Short-lived cached copies of job search and field lists (about 15 minutes) speed up import while you fill a form. Disconnect in Connections to remove stored credentials and mappings.

Xero integration

When you connect Xero, we access data from the Xero organisation you link only to provide import and optional PDF attach features you enable.

We may read contacts (names, phones, addresses), organisation settings (business name, ABN, contact lines), and projects when Projects is enabled in Xero. We fetch values when you search or import into a form. We do not bulk-sync or permanently mirror your Xero contact database.

If you enable PDF upload, we can attach completed PDFs you generate inTradie Forms to the linked Xero contact when you choose to send them.

We store encrypted sign-in credentials, your organisation identifier and name for display, and optional per-form field mappings when you use Connect import mode. Short-lived cached copies of contact and project search results (about 15 minutes) speed up import while you fill a form. Disconnect in Connections, or revoke access from your Xero connected apps list, to remove stored credentials and mappings.

11. Third-Party Services

We use trusted third-party services for payment processing (Stripe), user authentication (Clerk), product analytics (PostHog - usage events and account metadata only, not form payloads), cloud hosting (including Convex), Google Maps (address features where enabled), and AI processing for the AI assistant. The AI assistant uses Vercel AI Gateway and the language, vision, and transcription providers selected through it. When you use the assistant, the information described in the AI assistant data section may be shared with those providers to transcribe audio, generate responses, suggest field values, and perform the actions you request in the service.

Your data may be processed in Australia, the United States, or other countries where our service providers operate. The providers and model used can change as we maintain the service. You can contact us for the current AI provider list and likely processing locations. We take reasonable steps to require service providers to protect personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

We use PostHog to measure assistant reliability and usage. For AI observability, we send account or device identifiers and technical metadata such as model, timing, and usage information. We configure this processing not to send assistant prompts or responses to PostHog.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We'll notify you of significant changes via email or through the service, and continued use means you accept the updated policy.

13. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy or to exercise your privacy rights, contact support@tradieforms.com.au.

14. Governing Law

This policy is governed by Australian law, including the Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles. We comply with all applicable privacy laws and are committed to transparent data practices and user control over personal information.