Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

This website, ontariogardensuiteontario.com, is operated by a garden suite builder based in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. We design and build permitted garden suites — detached secondary dwelling units — across Barrie, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Midland, Tiny Township, Oro-Medonte, and the broader Simcoe County and Georgian Bay region.

We are a “responsible organisation” under Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) for personal information we collect, use, and disclose in the course of our commercial activities. References in this policy to “we,” “us,” or “our” refer to the operator of this website.

You can contact our privacy contact using the information at the bottom of this policy.

2. What Information We Collect

We collect personal information in two ways: information you give us directly, and information collected automatically when you use our website.

2.1 Information you provide to us

When you complete the contact form on our website, you may provide some or all of the following:

You are not required to complete every field. However, without at minimum your name and a way to contact you, we cannot respond to your enquiry.

2.2 Information collected automatically

When you visit our website, our hosting provider and analytics tools may automatically collect technical information, including:

• Your IP address and approximate geographic location (city/region level)
• Browser type and version
• Device type (desktop, mobile, tablet)
• Pages visited, time spent, and navigation path
• Referring website (how you found us)
• Date and time of your visit

This information is collected in aggregate and is used to understand how our website is used and to improve it. It is not used to identify you personally.

2.3 Information we do not collect

We do not process payments on this website. We do not collect credit card numbers, banking information, or any financial account details. We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal information such as health data, social insurance numbers, or government identification numbers.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the personal information you provide only for the purposes for which it was collected, as described at the time of collection, or for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances. Specifically:

• To respond to your enquiry. The primary use of your contact form information is to reply to you — by email, by phone, or both, depending on what you provided and what you indicated you prefer.
• To provide you with information about your project. If you’ve asked about a specific municipality, lot type, or construction method, we use the details you’ve given us to provide a relevant and accurate response.
• To send you project updates and educational content, if you have opted in to receive them. We may send occasional emails about garden suite rules, funding programs, and Simcoe County construction news. You can unsubscribe at any time.
• To improve our website. Aggregated, anonymised analytics data helps us understand which content is useful and identify areas for improvement.
• To comply with legal obligations. We may use or retain information to the extent required by applicable law.

We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making or profiling.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under PIPEDA, we rely on the following grounds for collecting and using your personal information:

• Your consent. When you complete our contact form and submit it, you are consenting to the collection and use of your personal information to respond to your enquiry. Where we send marketing communications, we rely on your express consent, indicated by the opt-in checkbox on our form.
• Legitimate business purposes. We collect and retain basic contact and enquiry information as a legitimate business purpose — to conduct our business, manage client relationships, and maintain records of interactions.
• Legal compliance. We may retain certain information to meet our legal obligations under applicable Canadian law.

You may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent to marketing communications does not affect the lawfulness of any communications sent before the withdrawal. Withdrawing consent to the processing of your contact information may mean we are unable to respond to ongoing enquiries.

5. Third Parties and Service Providers

We use the following categories of service providers to operate this website. Each provider processes your information on our behalf and is subject to their own privacy policies and data protection obligations.

Where service providers are located outside Canada, we take reasonable steps to ensure they provide a comparable level of protection to your personal information. International data transfers from Canada to US-based providers are common in web hosting contexts and are conducted under standard commercial arrangements.

We do not sell your personal information to any third party. We do not share your information with advertisers, data brokers, or any party for their independent commercial purposes.

We may disclose personal information if required by law, court order, or government authority, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of any person.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device when you visit — to support basic website functionality and, where analytics tools are active, to understand how visitors use our site.

6.1 Essential cookies

WordPress, our website platform, sets certain functional cookies that are necessary for the website to operate correctly. These include session management cookies and security tokens. These cookies do not collect personal information and cannot be disabled without impairing website function.

6.2 Analytics cookies

If Google Analytics or a similar analytics tool is active on this website, it sets cookies that collect anonymised data about your visit — pages viewed, time on site, traffic source, and similar aggregate metrics. This data is processed by the analytics provider (e.g., Google) and does not personally identify you. You can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

6.3 Managing cookies

Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, delete existing cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. Refusing essential cookies may affect your ability to use certain features of the website. Browser-level cookie controls are explained in your browser’s help documentation.

7. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law.

• Contact form submissions from active enquiries are retained for the duration of the business relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards — typically up to three years — to allow us to reference previous conversations if you contact us again.
• Marketing contact lists are retained until you unsubscribe or request removal, at which point your contact details are removed from our marketing lists promptly (within 10 business days).
• Website analytics data is retained as configured in our analytics platform, typically 14–26 months, after which it is deleted or anonymised by the provider.
• Records we are legally required to retain (such as tax or accounting records that may reference business correspondence) are kept for the period required by applicable law — generally seven years under Canadian tax law.

When personal information is no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to securely delete or anonymise it.

8. How We Protect Your Information

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:

• HTTPS/TLS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our website
• WordPress security plugins and regular software updates
• Access controls limiting who within our organisation can access personal information
• Managed hosting with SiteGround, which provides server-level security monitoring

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we use commercially reasonable measures to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you believe your personal information has been compromised, please contact us immediately using the details in Section 14.

9. Your Rights and Choices

Under PIPEDA, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

• Right of access. You may request a summary of the personal information we hold about you, the purposes for which it is used, and the third parties to whom it has been disclosed.
• Right to correct. If the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you may ask us to correct it.
• Right to withdraw consent. You may withdraw consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions. Withdrawing consent may mean we are unable to provide certain services.
• Right to erasure (where applicable). You may ask us to delete personal information we hold about you. We will comply where we are not required to retain the information by law or for legitimate business purposes.
• Right to complain. If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) — see Section 14 for details.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information in Section 14. We will respond to requests within 30 days, or notify you if we need additional time.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

10. Email Communications and CASL

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) requires that we obtain your express or implied consent before sending you commercial electronic messages — including promotional emails about our services.

Express consent: If you check the opt-in box on our contact form indicating you’d like to receive updates, you are providing express consent to receive our occasional email communications about garden suites, funding programs, and relevant Simcoe County construction information.

Implied consent: If you have an existing business relationship with us — for example, you have recently enquired about a project and we have had substantive correspondence — we may communicate with you about related matters during the active relationship period, as permitted by CASL.

Unsubscribe: Every commercial email we send includes a clearly visible, functional unsubscribe mechanism. You may also unsubscribe at any time by contacting us directly. We will process unsubscribe requests promptly and no later than 10 business days after receipt.

We do not send spam. We do not purchase email lists. We do not send commercial messages to people who have not consented or with whom we do not have an existing business relationship.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our website and services are directed at adults — specifically, homeowners in Ontario considering garden suite construction. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 18, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to delete that information.

12. Links to Other Websites

Our website contains links to sister websites and external resources, including:

• icfhome.ca — ICF home builder information
• icfpro.ca — ICF construction professional resources
• ontarioheatloss.ca — Heat loss calculation services
• septicreplacement.ca — Septic system services in Simcoe County
• Government and municipal websites (simcoe.ca, barrie.ca, etc.)
• Conservation authority websites (nvca.on.ca, lsrca.on.ca)

When you follow a link to another website, that website’s own privacy policy applies. We have no control over, and accept no responsibility for, the privacy practices of any external website. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any website you visit.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of this website after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy. If you have concerns about any changes, please contact us before continuing to use the website.

14. Contact and Privacy Complaints

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, wish to exercise your rights under PIPEDA, or have a concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact us:

Filing a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, you have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC):

• Website: priv.gc.ca
• Phone: 1-800-282-1376 (toll-free in Canada)
• Address: 30 Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3

The OPC can investigate complaints, conduct audits, and make recommendations regarding PIPEDA compliance. Filing a complaint with the OPC is free of charge.