1. Who we are
Empower Projects (“we”, “us”) builds hurricane-resistant homes in the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Canada. This policy explains how we handle personal information collected through www.empowerprojects.ca (the “site”). If you have a question about it, write to info@empowerprojects.ca.
2. What we collect
We collect only what is needed for the purposes in section 3.
- Contact form. Your first and last name, email address, project type and message, plus a phone number, budget range and timeline if you choose to give them. We also record the page you were on when you submitted the form.
- AI chat assistant. The messages you type. If you ask our team to contact you and agree to it, we also collect your name, email address, and optionally your phone number, location, project type, budget and timeline, together with a short summary of what you asked for.
- Technical information. Like every website, our hosting provider receives your IP address, browser and device details and the pages you request. Google reCAPTCHA, which protects the chat and the contact form from spam and abuse, also receives your IP address and information about your browser and device. We use this to keep the site secure and to limit abusive traffic. We do not use it to identify you.
- Analytics (only if you accept). If you choose “Accept” on our consent banner, Google Analytics collects information such as the pages you view, your approximate location, your device and browser and how you arrived at the site. If you choose “Decline”, or make no choice, we do not load Google Analytics.
3. How we use it
- To answer your enquiry, discuss your project and provide information or a quote.
- To send you a one-time confirmation email after you use the contact form.
- To run, secure and troubleshoot the site, including blocking spam and automated abuse.
- To understand how the site is used and improve it, but only if you accepted analytics.
- To meet legal obligations.
We do not sell personal information. We do not send marketing emails unless you have asked to receive them.
4. The AI chat assistant
- The assistant is an AI. It can make mistakes and is not a substitute for talking to our team. Please do not share payment details, passwords or other sensitive information in the chat.
- To write its replies, the assistant sends your recent messages in the conversation (up to the last 12) to our AI provider, OpenAI. We do not send your IP address or any identifier along with them. OpenAI processes this information under its own terms and may keep it for a limited time for security and abuse monitoring.
- Our servers do not keep a copy of your conversation. It stays in your browser and disappears when you reload or close the page. The only thing the chat keeps in your browser is a random session identifier, which is cleared when you close the tab.
- The assistant only passes your details to our team after you clearly agree to it in the chat. You can decline and keep chatting without giving any personal information.
5. Your consent
- Contact form. By submitting the form you agree that our team may contact you about your enquiry and that we will handle your information as described in this policy.
- Chat. We ask for your clear agreement in the chat before sending your details to our team.
- Analytics. We only use Google Analytics if you accept it on the consent banner.
You can change your analytics choice at any time using the “Cookie settings” link in the footer of every page. You can also withdraw any other consent by emailing us.
6. Cookies and similar technologies
- Chat session identifier. A random code held in your browser’s session storage while the tab is open. It lets the assistant recognise that you have already sent a request in this visit.
- Your consent choice. Stored in your browser’s local storage so we remember whether you accepted or declined analytics.
- Google reCAPTCHA. Loads when you open the chat or use the contact form. Google may set cookies or read information from your device to tell people and bots apart. See Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
- Google Analytics (only if accepted). Sets cookies that measure visits and usage.
- Embedded media and images. Some pages show YouTube videos, and images and videos on the site are served from Google Cloud Storage and other image hosts. Those services receive your IP address when your browser loads their content and YouTube may set cookies when its player loads.
7. Who we share information with
We share personal information only with service providers that help us run the site, and only as needed to provide their service:
- Vercel, which hosts the site.
- Mailgun, which delivers the emails sent from the contact form and the chat.
- OpenAI, which generates the chat assistant’s replies (see section 4).
- Google, for reCAPTCHA, Google Analytics (only if accepted), cloud storage for site media and YouTube.
We may also disclose information when the law requires it. Several of these providers are based in, or process data in, the United States, so your information may be handled outside the country where you live.
8. How long we keep it
- Enquiry details (from the contact form or the chat) are kept in our business email for as long as we need to respond and follow up, and generally for no more than 24 months after our last contact with you, unless you become a client or the law requires us to keep them longer.
- If an email cannot be delivered, a copy of the enquiry may be written to our hosting provider’s logs so that it is not lost. The provider keeps those logs for a limited period.
- Chat conversations are not stored by us (see section 4).
- Analytics data is kept for the period set in our Google Analytics account.
9. Keeping information safe
The site uses encrypted connections (HTTPS), and access to enquiry details is limited to our team and the providers listed above. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Your choices and rights
You can ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it. You can also withdraw your consent or object to how we use your information. Email info@empowerprojects.ca and we will respond within 30 days. We may need to confirm your identity first. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may also complain to the privacy or data protection authority in your country.
11. Children
The site is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make a significant change we will say so on the site.
13. Contact us
Empower Projects
52 Conifer Close, Pine Bay, Grand Bahama, Bahamas
114-6170 12 St. SE, Calgary, AB T2H 2X2, Canada
Email: info@empowerprojects.ca
Phone (Bahamas): +1 (242) 820-8704