Privacy Policy

Who we are

AquaForce (ABN 88 263 653 767) is a sole trader business operated by Marcus Abrao, based in Brisbane, Queensland, providing exterior pressure cleaning and soft washing services in South East Queensland. In this policy, we, us and our mean AquaForce.

We have chosen to handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and this policy is written to that standard. We also comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth) in how we contact you.

The short version

In plain terms

We collect the details you give us so we can quote your job, do it, and invoice you.
We do not sell your information, ever, to anyone.
We send marketing only if you have agreed, and every message has a way to stop it.
Your enquiry details and photos sit in our Google Workspace account and our website platform. Both store data overseas.
You can ask us what we hold, have it corrected, or have it deleted, by emailing services@aquaforce.com.au.

The rest of this page is the detail behind those points.

What we collect

Type	What it includes
Contact details	Your name, mobile number, email address and suburb. For a booking, the full property address.
Enquiry details	The services you selected, approximate size, your preferred timing, how you heard about us, and anything you wrote in the notes field.
Photographs you send us	Images you upload with your enquiry or send by SMS or email. These usually show your property and may incidentally show vehicles, belongings or people.
Job records	Your quote, booking, the work carried out, our before and after photographs, job notes, and any incident record.
Payment records	Invoice and payment status. We never see or store full card numbers; card payments are handled by our payment provider.
Communications	Emails, SMS messages, enquiry form submissions and notes of phone calls.
Website information	Standard technical information collected by our website platform, such as pages visited, approximate location, browser and device type. See clause 12.

We only ask for what we need to quote and carry out the work. You do not have to give us your details, but without at least a name and a contact method we cannot quote or book a job for you.

Unfinished enquiries

Worth knowing. Our enquiry form has three steps. The details you enter at the first step, your name, mobile, email and suburb, are saved to our system as soon as you move to the second step. That happens even if you never finish or submit the enquiry.

We do this so that an enquiry interrupted halfway is not lost, and we may follow up to ask whether you still need a quote. If you would rather we did not keep those details, email us and we will delete them. We treat an unfinished enquiry exactly like a completed one for every other part of this policy, including deletion on request.

How we collect it

Directly from you, through the enquiry form on our website, by phone, SMS, email, or in person on site.
Through our website platform, which records standard technical information automatically when you visit.
From someone acting for you, for example a property manager, body corporate or family member booking on your behalf. If that happens, we take reasonable steps to make sure you know we hold your details.

We do not buy contact lists, and we do not collect personal information about you from data brokers or social media.

Why we collect it

To prepare and send your quote.
To schedule and carry out the job, and to contact you about it, including weather changes and arrival times.
To issue invoices and record payment.
To keep a condition record of the work area, which protects both of us if there is ever a question about damage.
To respond to questions, complaints or claims.
To meet our tax, insurance and other legal obligations.
To ask for a review after a completed job.
To send service reminders or offers, where you have agreed to receive them.

If we ever want to use your information for a purpose that is not on this list and would not be obvious to you, we will ask you first.

Photographs

Photographs are a bigger part of this business than most, so they get their own section.

Photographs you send us are used to quote your job accurately and are kept with your job record.
Photographs we take before and after every job are our condition record. We take them on every visit and keep them with your job record.
Marketing use is separate and optional. Where we use before and after images in our marketing, we do not include your street address, house number, vehicle registration, people, or anything else that identifies you or the property.
You can opt out at any time, in person, by SMS or by email, without giving a reason. We will not use your photographs in marketing, or will remove them if already published. It does not affect your booking or your price.
We do not use photographs that show the inside of your home, or that show people, in any marketing.
Most of this marketing use is on social media. Clause 14 sets out exactly what we post, what we never post, and how to opt out before the job.

Who we share it with

We share your personal information only where we need to, and only with these categories:

Who	Why
Google (Google Workspace, Sheets, Drive, Gmail)	Our enquiry records, job records and the photographs you send us are stored in our Google Workspace account. Enquiry alerts are emailed to us through it.
Squarespace	Hosts our website and processes the enquiry form on it.
Our payment provider	Processes card payments. They receive the payment details; we do not.
Our SMS provider	Delivers booking confirmations, arrival messages and weather updates.
Our accountant or bookkeeper	Invoice and payment records, for tax and compliance.
Our insurer and its assessors	Only where a claim relates to your job, and only what is relevant to it.
Contractors who carry out work	The details they need to find the property and do the job. They are required to keep it confidential and use it only for that job.
Legal and regulatory	Where we are required or authorised by law, or where it is necessary to establish or defend a legal claim.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing.

Where it is stored and how it is protected

Enquiry and job records are stored in our Google Workspace account, protected by account passwords and multi-factor authentication.
Photographs are stored in folders in our Google Drive, with access limited to AquaForce personnel who need it.
Access is limited to people who need it to do their role. Contractors see only the job they are doing.
Paper records, where any exist, are kept secured and are destroyed when no longer needed.

We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information sent to us over the internet, but we take it seriously and we will tell you if something goes wrong. See clause 17.

Overseas storage

Some of the providers listed in clause 8, including Google and Squarespace, store and process data on servers outside Australia, including in the United States and other countries where they operate data centres.

This means your information may be held overseas and may be subject to the laws of those countries. We choose established providers with published privacy and security commitments, but we cannot control foreign laws. By giving us your information, you consent to it being stored and processed overseas in this way. If you would prefer your information was not handled this way, contact us and we will discuss what we can do, though it may mean we cannot take your booking online.

Marketing and opting out

We send marketing messages, such as service reminders and occasional offers, only to people who have agreed to receive them or who are existing customers who would reasonably expect them.
Every marketing email and SMS identifies us and includes a simple way to stop receiving them. Reply STOP to an SMS, use the unsubscribe link in an email, or just tell us.
We action opt-out requests promptly and in any case within 5 business days.
Opting out of marketing does not stop messages about a job you have actually booked, such as confirmations, arrival times, weather changes and invoices. Those are service messages, not marketing.
We do not make unsolicited marketing phone calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Register.

Cookies and the website

Our website is hosted on Squarespace, which uses cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, keep it secure, and give us basic analytics such as how many people visited a page and which device they used. Some of these are necessary for the site to function and cannot be turned off without breaking it.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you do, parts of the site may not work properly. We do not use your browsing on our site to build an advertising profile about you.

Reviews

After a completed job we may invite you to leave a review on Google. Leaving one is entirely your choice, and whatever you write is between you and Google under their terms, not ours. We never write reviews ourselves, never offer anything in exchange for a positive review, and never ask anyone to review a job they did not have done.

Social media

We post photographs of our work on social media, currently Facebook, Instagram and our Google Business Profile. It is how a small local business shows people what it actually does, and it is a large part of how we get found.

What we post

Before and after images of the work area, and occasionally short clips of the work in progress.
Nothing that identifies you or the property. We never post your street address, house number, vehicle registration, people, pets, or the inside of your home.
We do not tag a location more precise than the suburb, and we leave the suburb off if you would rather we did.

You can say no before we start

If you would rather nothing from your property appeared anywhere, tell us when you book or any time before the job and we will not post it. You do not need to give a reason, and it makes no difference to your booking, your price or how we do the work.

If you only decide afterwards, that is fine too. Tell us and we will take the post down. We cannot control anything another person has already shared or saved, which is part of why we would rather know beforehand.

Talking to us on social media

If you comment on a post or send us a message through a social media platform, that conversation happens on their system and is covered by their privacy policy, not ours. Please do not send us your address, payment details or anything else sensitive that way. Phone, SMS or email is better, and we will usually move the conversation there anyway.

We do not currently run advertising that targets you based on having visited our website or been a customer. If that changes, we will update this clause and clause 12 before switching it on.

How long we keep it

Record	Kept for
Enquiries that never became a job	12 months, then deleted.
Job records, quotes and condition photographs	7 years from the job, which covers tax record keeping and the period in which a claim could be brought.
Invoices and payment records	7 years, as required for tax purposes.
Marketing contact details	Until you opt out, plus a minimal record of the opt-out itself so we do not contact you again by mistake.
Incident and claim records	7 years, or longer if a claim is still open.

When a retention period ends we delete the records or remove anything that identifies you.

Access and correction

You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, at any time, by emailing services@aquaforce.com.au.
We will respond within 30 days, and usually much sooner. There is no charge.
We may need to confirm who you are before we release anything, so that we are not handing your details to someone else.
If anything we hold is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
If we cannot give you access or make a correction, we will explain why in writing and tell you how to complain about that decision.

Deleting your information

You can ask us to delete the personal information we hold about you. Email us and we will action it within 30 days and confirm when it is done.

There are two things we may not be able to delete straight away. The first is records we are required by law to keep, mainly invoices and payment records for tax purposes. The second is records connected to an open complaint, claim or dispute. We will tell you if either applies, explain exactly what is being kept and why, and delete it once the obligation ends.

If something goes wrong

If we become aware of unauthorised access to, or disclosure or loss of, personal information we hold, we will assess it promptly, take steps to contain it, and notify you directly if it is likely to cause you serious harm. Where notification to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is required, we will make it.

Sensitive information

We do not ask for sensitive information, which includes health information, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. We have no reason to collect any of it. Please do not include this kind of information in your enquiry notes. If you do send it to us, we will delete it.

Children

Our services are for property owners and occupiers, and our website is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us their details, contact us and we will delete them.

Other websites

Our site may link to other websites, such as our Google Business Profile. This policy covers only our handling of your information. Once you follow a link, the other site's privacy policy applies, and we have no control over how they handle your information.

Complaints

If you think we have mishandled your personal information, email services@aquaforce.com.au with the detail. Put "Privacy complaint" in the subject line so it is not missed.
We will acknowledge it within 2 business days and give you a written response within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with how we handle it, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the business changes. The effective date and version number at the top of this page tell you which version you are reading. If we make a change that materially affects how we handle information we already hold about you, we will tell you directly rather than rely on you noticing this page.

Contact us

Privacy enquiries, access requests, corrections and deletions all go to the same place.

AquaForce · ABN 88 263 653 767 · Brisbane, Queensland
Email: services@aquaforce.com.au
Phone and SMS: 0450 536 695