Privacy policy
The Home Upgrade Co. is the trading name of Ger Devereux, a sole trader registered in Ireland (CRO business name registration in progress). This policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. We keep it in plain English on purpose.
Who is responsible for your data
The data controller is Ger Devereux, trading as The Home Upgrade Co. You can contact us about anything in this policy by WhatsApp on +353 89 222 3395 or by email at ger@thehomeupgradeco.com.
What we collect and why
We only collect what we need to design your kitchen and give you a quote:
- Your name and phone number, when you message us on WhatsApp or respond to one of our ads. We use these to reply to you and arrange your design visit.
- Your messages to us, including anything you tell us about your project. We use these to understand what you want and prepare for the visit.
- Photos you send us and photos we take at the design visit, of your current kitchen or room, and your room measurements. We use these to create your 3D designs and your quote.
- Your address, when you book a design visit, so we can come to you.
- Plans and drawings you send us through our extension kitchen page, with your number, area and where you are with the build. We use them to design the kitchen into your extension. They are not sent to any AI tool or shared outside our design team.
- Advertising measurement data, through the measurement tools of the advertising platforms we use, but only if you consent to it (see cookies below).
Letters we post to homes with new planning permission
Grants of planning permission are published on the public planning registers kept by the county and city councils. We read the registers for Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow and write, by post only, to addresses where permission has been granted for an extension or a new home that is likely to need a new kitchen.
- What we keep: the address, the council and planning reference, the dates, and a short letter code. We never collect or keep the name of the person who applied, and we address the letter to "The Occupier".
- Why, and on what basis: to tell people planning a building project about our kitchens, relying on our legitimate interest in direct marketing by post. We have weighed this against your interests: it is post only (never calls, texts or emails), it says plainly where the address came from, it carries an easy opt-out, and we write at most twice.
- How long: we delete the address six months after our last letter. If you ask us to stop, we keep only the address on a do-not-write list so we never write again.
- Your right to object: text STOP to 089 222 3395 or email ger@thehomeupgradeco.com, quoting the code on the letter if you have it, and we remove the address the same day. You can also ask what we hold or ask us to delete it, and you can complain to the Data Protection Commission.
The legal bases we rely on
- Taking steps before a contract: handling your enquiry, the design visit, the 3D plans and the quote.
- Contract: if you go ahead, managing your order, delivery and installation.
- Legitimate interests: the letters we post to homes with new planning permission (see above).
- Consent: the advertising measurement tools, and any photos of your finished kitchen we might ask to use in our marketing. We ask separately for that, and you can always say no.
- Legal obligation: keeping invoices and tax records for the periods Irish law requires.
Who we share your data with
We never sell your data. We share it only with the people needed to deliver what you asked for:
- Our design and manufacturing team, who create your 3D plans and build your kitchen. They receive your room photos, measurements and design requirements. Because manufacturing takes place outside the EU, this involves a transfer of that project information abroad. We keep what is transferred to the minimum the design work needs.
- Our installation team in Ireland, who receive your name, address and phone number to carry out the survey and the fitting.
- WhatsApp (Meta), which processes your messages when you contact us there, under its own privacy policy.
- Google, when you use the kitchen redesign tool on this site. The photo you upload is sent to Google's image model to create the concept pictures, and Google may process it outside the EU under its own terms. We only do this when you tick the box on the tool, and we keep the photo and the concepts for 30 days before deleting them. We never use them in our marketing.
- Google Ireland, Microsoft Ireland and Meta Platforms Ireland, for advertising measurement, and only if you consented to it on the cookie notice.
Cookies and advertising measurement
Our site sets no cookies at all unless you agree. Nothing loads before you choose, and choosing to decline is as easy as choosing to accept.
If you accept on the cookie notice, we load measurement tools from the advertising platforms we use, so we can tell whether our ads are working (for example, that someone who saw an ad visited the site and then messaged us). These are:
- Google Ads, for our search advertising on Google.
- Microsoft Advertising, for our search advertising on Bing.
- The Meta pixel, for our advertising on Facebook.
They record that a visit or a message followed one of our ads. If you decline, none of them ever loads and the site works exactly the same. You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie settings link, which brings the notice back.
How long we keep your data
- Enquiries that do not go ahead: we delete your details and photos within 12 months of our last contact.
- Extension plans: the drawings you upload and your details are deleted 12 months after you send them if the project does not go ahead with us. Message us and we delete them sooner.
- The kitchen redesign tool: the photo you upload and the concept pictures are deleted 30 days after you use it. Your number, area and answers are kept as an enquiry under the rule above. Message us and we delete them sooner.
- Completed projects: we keep order and invoice records for 7 years, as Irish tax law requires. Design files and photos are deleted within 2 years of completion unless you have agreed we can use them in our marketing.
Your rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have the right to:
- Ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Have anything inaccurate corrected
- Have your data deleted, where we no longer need it
- Object to or restrict how we use it
- Receive the data you gave us in a portable format
- Withdraw consent at any time, where consent is the basis we rely on
To use any of these rights, just message us. We will respond within one month. If you are not happy with how we handle your data, you have the right to complain to the Data Protection Commission, Ireland's supervisory authority, at www.dataprotection.ie.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle personal data, we will update this page and change the date at the top.