Privacy policy

This website is run by Nathan Butler, a sole trader trading as Monkey Business Tree Surgery & Landscaping (“we”, “us”, “our”), based in Newbury, West Berkshire. We are the data controller for any personal data you give us through this website, and we are committed to protecting it in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we use your data, email mbnewburyltd@gmail.com or call 07719 252126.

When you request a quote using our contact form, or contact us by email, phone or WhatsApp, we collect:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• The service you are interested in and a description of the work
• Any photos you choose to send us
• Your address or location, if you share it so we can visit or quote

When you use our garden design tool, we also collect:

• The garden photos you upload. Location (GPS) and camera details are removed from each photo before it is stored.
• The style you choose, the measurements you enter and any notes you add
• If you plan your whole garden: the areas you mark on your photo, what you'd like in each, any sizes and the notes you add
• Your email address, if you give it (we ask for it from your third design, so we can send your designs to you)
• If you ask for a quote for a design: your name, phone number, postcode or town, and your email address if you give it
• Your IP address and a random device ID, stored only as scrambled codes (salted hashes) that we cannot turn back into the originals. We use them only to stop the tool being overused.

We only use your personal data to:

• Reply to your enquiry and prepare a quote
• Create the garden designs you ask for, and send them to you if you give your email
• Arrange site visits and carry out work you have asked for
• Keep the design tool fair to use and protect it from bots and abuse
• Send invoices and keep records we are legally required to keep

Our lawful bases for this are that it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract (quotes and designs), to perform a contract with you, to comply with our legal obligations (for example, tax records), and our legitimate interest in keeping the design tool secure and fair to use (bot checks and usage limits). We will never sell your data or use it for marketing without your consent.

To create your design, we send your garden photo and the choices you made to OpenAI, which creates the AI illustration. If OpenAI can't create it, we send the same photo and choices to Google (Gemini) instead.

If you plan your whole garden, we also send the areas you marked and what you'd like in each, with your notes, so the picture matches your plan. Before anything is made, your notes are checked by OpenAI's automatic content filter, and we take out email addresses and phone numbers before they go into the picture request. Nathan sees your full notes with your plan if you ask for a quote.

Under their API terms, neither OpenAI nor Google uses your photos to train their AI models. Both may keep the data for a limited period to monitor for abuse, under their standard terms, and both may process it outside the UK.

Your photos, designs and quote requests are stored in a secure database and private file storage with Supabase, in London. They are private: only Monkey Business and the developer who maintains this website can access them.

You can create an account to see your designs, quote requests and jobs in one place. There are no passwords: we email you a link that signs you in. We create your account the first time you use one of these links.

For your account we keep your email address, your name and phone number if you give them to us, and when you last used your account. When you first sign in, any designs, enquiries and jobs made with the same email address are attached to your account automatically, so you can see them together.

Supabase runs our sign-in system and keeps security logs about sign-ins (including IP addresses) for a limited period, to protect accounts.

When we take on work for you, we keep a job record: what the work is, where, your contact details, the dates we've agreed, its progress, and any notes we've written for you. You can follow it in your account. When the job is booked in and as it progresses, we may email you an update with a link to see your job.

While the work is going on, Nathan may send you updates with photos of the work at your property. We remove location (GPS) and camera details from each photo, and keep the photos in private storage with Supabase, in London. You can see them in your account; the update email includes small copies. We don't put them on our website or social media.

Nathan may also keep private notes about your enquiry or job (for example, access arrangements or what was agreed on site) to help him do the work. You don't see these in your account, but they're part of the data we hold about you and are included if you ask for a copy of your data.

We only show photos of your garden on our website with your permission. We record how and when you gave it (for example, ticking the box in your account, or in person or by WhatsApp) and the exact wording you agreed to.

We remove location and camera details from every photo, and we don't show faces, house numbers or car number plates. While a photo is on our website, a copy is kept in public file storage with Supabase, in London, so anyone visiting the page can see it.

You can change your mind at any time, in your account or by contacting us. We take the photos down straight away and delete the public copies. We keep a record of your permission and when you withdrew it (no photos) for 2 years, in case of questions, then delete it.

If you choose to share a design from your account, we make a private link. Anyone with the link can see the AI illustration, clearly labelled as an AI illustration, and your before photo only if you choose to include it. It doesn't show your name, address or the guide price.

Shared pages are not listed by search engines. You can stop sharing at any time and the link stops working straight away. If you posted the link somewhere like WhatsApp or Facebook, the preview those apps already made may stay visible there.

When you book a site visit, we keep the address and postcode for the visit, any access notes you give us (for example, which gate to use), and the time you booked, along with your name, phone number and email address from your enquiry.

We email you a confirmation with a calendar invite, a reminder the day before, and an update if the visit is moved or cancelled. Nathan receives the same details so he can plan the visit. The links in these emails let you change or cancel your visit without signing in, so please keep them private.

Booked visits (name, address, time and any access notes) and job start dates also appear in Nathan's own calendar app through a private link, so his calendar provider (Apple iCloud or Google) stores a copy as part of his calendar.

We do not sell or rent your personal data. We only share it with service providers who help us run our business, and only as needed to provide their service:

• OpenAI: creates the AI garden illustrations (may process data outside the UK).
• Google (Gemini): creates the illustration if OpenAI can't (may process data outside the UK).
• Supabase: stores design-tool photos, designs and enquiries, and job progress photos, and the before and after photos shown on our website, in London, and runs our sign-in system.
• Resend: delivers emails from our contact form and design tool, to us and to you.
• Cloudflare Turnstile: checks that design-tool users are people, not bots.
• Vercel: hosts this website and provides cookieless visitor statistics.
• Apple, Google and other push services: deliver new-enquiry alerts to Nathan's own phone. Alerts are encrypted and show only a first name, the service and the town.
• Our email provider, and WhatsApp if you choose to contact us that way.

Some of these providers are based outside the UK, for example in the US. Where your data is transferred outside the UK, it is protected by the safeguards UK data protection law requires.

When you submit our contact form, your enquiry and any photos you add are emailed to us by Resend, and if you give your email address, Resend sends you a copy. We also keep a record of your enquiry (but not the photos) in our enquiries records, so no request gets lost.

We use Vercel Analytics to understand how many people visit our website and which pages are popular. Vercel Analytics collects anonymous, aggregated information (such as pages viewed, referring website, country, browser and device type). It does not use cookies to track you across other websites and we cannot use it to identify you personally.

We don't use tracking cookies. Instead, your browser stores a few small items for this website:

• Whether you’ve closed our privacy notice, so we don’t show it again.
• Whether you have closed our seasonal offer banner or pop-up.
• A random device ID, created only when you make a design with our design tool and used only for its fair-use limits. On our side it is stored only as a scrambled code.
• Your current design, until you close the browser tab, so you don’t lose it if you refresh the page.
• If you open our website by scanning the QR code on one of our signs, a note that you came from a sign, until you close your browser. It holds no ID and nothing about you; if you send us an enquiry during that visit, we record that you found us through a sign.
• Sign-in cookies, only if you sign in to an account, to keep you signed in. These are strictly necessary and are removed when you sign out.
• A small offline page, if you add our website to your home screen, so it can still show our phone number when you have no signal. Nothing else is saved for offline use.

You can clear these at any time through your browser settings.

• Designs and photos from the design tool: deleted automatically after 30 days, unless they're saved in your account.
• Your account, and the designs saved in it: deleted after 12 months without using it, unless you have a job with us that isn't finished.
• Job records (including their updates, progress photos and Nathan's notes): kept for 6 years after the job is completed or cancelled, then deleted.
• Sign-in links that were never used: removed after 7 days.
• Links to shared designs: until you stop sharing, or the design or your account is deleted.
• Before and after photos on our website: shown while your permission stands, or until we remove them. Records of a withdrawn permission (no photos): deleted after 2 years.
• Site visits: kept for as long as the job they belong to; if no job follows, deleted 12 months after the visit date.
• Links for booking a visit: removed 30 days after they were used or expired.
• If you ask for a quote for a design: the design and its photos are kept for as long as we keep your enquiry.
• Enquiries that don't lead to work: deleted within 12 months.
• Customer records (quotes, invoices and job details): kept for 6 years to meet HMRC tax record requirements, then deleted.
• Design-tool usage counters (scrambled codes only): deleted after 7 days.
• Records of what the AI service costs us contain no personal data.

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct any data that is inaccurate or incomplete
• Delete your data (the “right to be forgotten”), where we don't need to keep it for legal reasons
• Restrict or object to how we use your data
• Data portability: receive your data in a commonly used format
• Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on your consent

We will respond to any request within one month and there is normally no charge.

To see, correct or delete the data we hold about you, including designs and photos from our design tool, email mbnewburyltd@gmail.com or call 07719 252126. Please tell us your name and the email address or phone number you used, and roughly when you made any designs, so we can find your details.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please contact us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with a new “last updated” date.