Privacy Policy

When you reach out to us or fill out a consultation request, we'll grab the basics - your name, email, phone number, and whatever details you share about your project. If you're signing a contract with us, yeah, we'll need more info like your address and payment details (but that's kinda obvious, right?).

We also collect some technical stuff through our website - IP addresses, browser types, pages you visit. Nothing creepy, just standard analytics to see what's working and what's not. We use cookies too, but the boring kind that help the site function properly.

If you send us photos of your property or site plans, we'll keep those on file as part of your project documentation. That's just good business practice for an architecture studio.

Pretty simple, honestly. We use your info to do our job - responding to your inquiries, working on your architectural projects, sending you updates about your design progress, and occasionally sharing news about our studio (but only if you've said it's cool).

Your contact details help us schedule meetings, send proposals, and keep you in the loop during the design and construction phases. We might also use your info to improve our services - like if everyone's asking about the same thing, maybe we should add more info to our website about it.

We'll never sell your information to third parties. That's not our thing. The only time we'd share your details is if we need to bring in consultants for your project (structural engineers, landscape architects, etc.), and even then, they're bound by confidentiality agreements.

Yeah, we use cookies. Not the chocolate chip kind, unfortunately. These are small files that help our website remember you and function properly. Some are essential (the site literally won't work without them), and others help us understand how people use our site.

We use Google Analytics to see which pages people visit most, how long they stick around, that sort of thing. It's anonymized data, so we're not sitting here watching your every click. We just wanna know if our portfolio page is loading properly or if people are bouncing because something's broken.

You can disable cookies in your browser settings if they bother you, but heads up - some parts of the site might not work as smoothly. Most browsers let you control cookie preferences pretty easily these days.

We take security seriously. Your data is stored on secure servers with encryption and all that good stuff. Our team uses password-protected systems and we regularly update our security measures to stay ahead of potential threats.

Project files and client information are backed up regularly and stored in secure cloud services that comply with Canadian privacy standards. We don't leave sensitive documents lying around, and our office has physical security measures too.

That said, no system is 100% foolproof. We do our best to protect your information, but if there's ever a breach, we'll let you know right away and tell you what steps we're taking to fix it. Transparency matters.

Under Canadian privacy laws (specifically PIPEDA), you've got rights. You can ask us what information we have about you, request corrections if something's wrong, or ask us to delete your data (though we might need to keep some stuff for legal or contractual reasons).

Wanna opt out of marketing emails? There's an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every newsletter we send. No hard feelings. You can also contact us directly at info@galendorquinthal.info if you have specific privacy concerns or requests.

If you're not happy with how we've handled your privacy concerns, you can file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. We'd rather work it out with you directly, but that option's there if needed.

We work with a few third-party services to keep things running smoothly - email providers, cloud storage, analytics tools, payment processors. These companies have their own privacy policies, and we make sure they meet reasonable security standards before we use them.

Sometimes our website might link to other sites - maybe a supplier's page or a green building certification organization. Once you click away from our site, their privacy policies apply, not ours. We try to only link to reputable sources, but we can't control what they do.

If we ever share your project photos in our portfolio (which we think looks pretty cool), we'll always ask for your permission first. Same goes for testimonials or case studies. Your project, your call.

We keep your information for as long as we need it to provide services to you and meet our legal obligations. For active projects, that's pretty obvious - we need your details to do the work.

After a project wraps up, we'll typically keep project files for about 7 years. This is standard practice in the architecture industry and helps us with warranty issues, legal requirements, and professional liability stuff. It's boring but necessary.

If you just sent us an inquiry but never became a client, we'll keep your contact info for a reasonable period (usually a couple years) in case you change your mind. After that, we'll purge it from our systems unless there's a good reason to keep it longer.

Laws change, technology evolves, and sometimes we need to update how we do things. If we make significant changes to this privacy policy, we'll let you know - either through email (if we have your contact info) or by posting a notice on our website.

We'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page whenever we make changes. It's worth checking back occasionally if you're curious, though we're not planning any dramatic overhauls anytime soon.

If you keep using our services after we've updated the policy, we'll take that as acceptance of the new terms. If you're not cool with the changes, reach out and we can discuss your options.

Got questions about how we handle your information? We're here to help. Seriously, we'd rather you ask than worry about it.

Email us: info@galendorquinthal.info
Call us: (604) 555-0189
Visit us: 1247 Granville Street, Suite 302, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1M5

We'll do our best to respond to privacy inquiries within a few business days. If it's something complex that needs more digging, we'll let you know and give you a timeline for when you can expect a full answer.