Stonewood Homes

1. Introduction

Stonewood Homes NZ Master Franchisee Ltd (“Stonewood Homes”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ). This policy explains what personal information we collect through stonewood.co.nz and stonewoodhomes.co.nz (together, the “Site”), how we use and disclose it, how it is stored, and how you can access or correct your information.

Stonewood Homes operates through a network of independently owned and operated franchises. This policy governs the personal information that Stonewood Homes NZ Master Franchisee Ltd collects through the Site, for which it is the responsible agency. When you enquire about building in a particular region, we pass your information to the relevant local franchise so it can respond to you directly. Each franchise is a separate business and is responsible, as a separate agency under the Privacy Act 2020, for the personal information it holds. We remain responsible for our own handling of your personal information at all times.

2. Information we collect

We collect personal information you provide directly when you interact with the Site – for example, through enquiry and “Get in touch” forms, newsletter sign-ups, plan book or brochure downloads, careers and franchise enquiries, and showhome or phone/email contact. Depending on how you engage with us, this may include your name, contact details (such as email address and phone number), preferred build location, CV/resume, and any message or other information you choose to provide.

We also collect limited technical information automatically when you browse the Site, such as IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, referral source, and approximate location, via the cookies and analytics tools described in Section 4.

Information submitted through Site forms may be accessed manually by our team or transferred automatically using standard customer relationship management (CRM) and workflow-automation tools, and, if you become a customer, into our construction management platform, Buildertrend, so that we can respond to your enquiry and manage your project (see Sections 5-8).

3. How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and provide requested information, quotes, or brochures;
• Connect you with the relevant Stonewood Homes franchise for your region;
• Manage and track leads and customer relationships within our CRM;
• Send newsletters or marketing communications, where you have consented or as otherwise permitted by law (you may unsubscribe at any time);
• Assess careers or franchise applications;
• Operate, maintain, and improve the Site, including analytics and advertising measurement;
• Carry out internal customer research and analysis, to better understand our customers and improve our products and services;
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms.

We will only use your personal information for the purposes set out above, for a directly related purpose, or as otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act 2020.

4. Cookies and tracking technologies

The Site uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to remember preferences, understand how visitors use the Site, and measure the performance of our marketing. Some cookies are strictly necessary to operate the Site. Others – including the analytics and advertising tools below – are optional, and we use them only where you have consented through our cookie banner (or enabled them through your browser settings). This includes:

• Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, which helps us understand how visitors use the Site (such as pages viewed, time spent, and referral source);
• Meta Pixel, provided by Meta Platforms, Inc., which helps us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and deliver more relevant ads to you on Facebook and Instagram.

These tools use standard cookie-based tracking and may collect information such as your IP address, device and browser details, and browsing behaviour on the Site, and may link this to information Google or Meta separately hold about you through your use of their own services. Google and Meta act as independent controllers of the data they collect through these tools and may use it for their own purposes; we encourage you to review their own privacy policies. You can withdraw or change your cookie consent at any time through the cookie banner. You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings; disabling cookies may affect Site functionality.

5. Disclosure of information

We may share personal information with:

• The relevant Stonewood Homes franchise owner/business in the region you have enquired about, so they can respond to you directly. Each franchise is responsible for complying with this policy and applicable law;
• Our CRM and workflow-automation providers, used to store and manage enquiry data;
• Buildertrend, our construction management platform, if you become a customer – see Section 6 for more detail;
• Google and Meta, via the Google Analytics and Meta Pixel tools described in Section 4, for website analytics and advertising measurement, subject to your cookie consent;
• External marketing or advertising agencies engaged to manage our digital marketing and advertising campaigns – these agencies are only authorised to use the information for that management purpose;
• Other service providers who support our operations, such as website hosting, email/marketing platforms, and customer/project management tools;
• Professional advisers, financiers, or insurers, where relevant to your enquiry or build;
• Regulatory or government bodies, where required by law;
• A purchaser or successor entity in connection with a business sale, merger, or restructuring.

We do not sell personal information to third parties.

6. Construction management platform

We use Buildertrend, a third-party construction management platform, to manage enquiries, quotations, projects, client communications, selections, variations, scheduling, and related construction services.

If you become a customer, the personal information you provide may be securely stored and processed within Buildertrend for the purpose of delivering our services and managing your build.

Buildertrend may process information on our behalf under contractual terms that require it to protect the information and use it only for those purposes. We only share information with Buildertrend that is necessary for the provision of our services.

7. Third-party service providers

We may share your personal information with other trusted third-party providers who help us operate our business and deliver our services. These may include:

• customer relationship management (CRM) systems;
• construction management platforms (such as Buildertrend);
• cloud hosting providers;
• email and communication platforms;
• marketing and analytics providers.

These providers are only permitted to use your information for the services they perform on our behalf, and are contractually required to protect it appropriately.

8. Overseas disclosure

Some of the service providers referred to in Sections 4-7 may store or process information on servers located outside New Zealand, consistent with standard practice for cloud-based software platforms. This may include our CRM and workflow-automation providers, our construction management platform, and the analytics and advertising tools described in Section 4. Where a provider processes personal information on our behalf, we require it by contract to protect that information with safeguards comparable to those under the Privacy Act 2020. Where information is instead used by an overseas party for its own purposes – such as Google and Meta through the tools described in Section 4 – we rely on the consent you provide under Section 4.

9. Data storage and security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, or disclosure, including administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Retention of information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or for as long as required by law. As a general guide, we retain enquiry and lead information while you remain an active contact and for a reasonable period afterwards, and we retain customer and build records for the period needed to meet our legal, tax, and warranty obligations.

If you unsubscribe or opt out of marketing communications, we will stop sending you further communications and remove you from our active marketing lists. We may still retain other records relating to your enquiry or build for as long as necessary for the purposes above or as required by law.

11. Your rights – access and correction

Under the Privacy Act 2020, you have the right to request access to, and correction of, personal information we hold about you. To make a request, contact us using the details in Section 13. We will respond within the timeframes required by law (generally within 20 working days) and may need to verify your identity before releasing information.

12. Careers and recruitment information

If you apply for a role or express interest in working with us, we collect and use the information provided (including your CV) solely to assess your application and communicate with you about it. This information is retained in accordance with our recruitment record-keeping practices and applicable law.

13. Complaints and contact details

If you have a question, concern, or complaint about how we handle your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer:

Email: [email protected]

We will endeavour to respond within a reasonable time.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner:

Website: www.privacy.org.nz     |     Phone: 0800 803 909     |     Email: [email protected]

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on the Site, and the “Effective date” shown at the top indicates when it was last updated. We will notify significant changes through the Site.