Legal
Privacy notice
How Carlson Ground Maintenance uses your personal information. Last updated 22 October 2026.
1. Who we are
Carlson Ground Maintenance is a trading name of [Owner’s full name], a sole trader based at [business address]. We provide garden and grounds maintenance for homes and businesses in Sheffield and within 10 miles.
We decide how and why your personal information is used, which makes us the “data controller” under UK data protection law. If you have a question about this notice, contact us by email at or on .
ICO registration number (if we are registered): [number, or delete this line if not registered].
2. What information we collect
| Who | What we collect | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| People who enquire | Name, phone, email, organisation, postcode or site address, details of the sites and work, and anything else you write. | You: our website form, phone, email, WhatsApp or text. |
| Customers | The above, plus access details (gate or key arrangements, pets, alarm information), preferences, payment details, invoices, payment history and our messages with you. | You, and our own records of the work. |
| Photos and reviews | Before and after photos of gardens and grounds. Reviews you leave about us on Google, Facebook and similar sites. | Our visits. You. |
| People who visit this website | Basic technical information your browser sends, such as your IP address and browser type, kept by our web host in server logs. | Your browser. |
| Cover gardeners and subcontractors | Name, contact details, insurance, and qualification or DBS evidence. | You. |
You do not have to give us any of this, but we cannot reply to an enquiry or do the work without the basics.
3. Why we use it, and our legal basis
| What we do with it | Our legal basis |
|---|---|
| Reply to enquiries and give quotes | Taking steps at your request before a contract, and our legitimate interest in running a business. |
| Do the work, schedule visits, send invoices and collect payment | Performing our contract with you. |
| Keep accounting and tax records | A legal obligation. |
| Take before and after photos for your photo report and our own quality checks | Performing our contract, and our legitimate interest in checking our work. |
| Use photos in our marketing (no people, house numbers or number plates) | Your consent, given in our agreement. You can say no, or withdraw it at any time. |
| Send reminders and service messages, and ask for a review after a job | Our legitimate interest in running a good service. |
| Deal with insurance claims, disputes and safety issues | Our legitimate interests, and legal claims. |
We do not send marketing emails or texts unless you have asked us to. We do not sell your information, and we do not use it to make automated decisions about you.
4. Who we share it with
We share your information only where we need to, with:
- The service that handles our website forms ([Formspree]) and our email provider ([name]).
- Our website host ([Netlify]).
- Our accounting and invoicing software ([FreeAgent, Xero or QuickBooks]).
- Our payment or direct debit provider ([GoCardless, or our bank]).
- Messaging and scheduling tools ([WhatsApp, Google Calendar, text reminder service; delete any we do not use]).
- Our insurer and professional advisers, such as our accountant and solicitor.
- A cover gardener or subcontractor who attends your site. They get only your name, the site address and the access details needed for the visit.
- HMRC, courts, regulators or the police, where the law requires it.
These providers act on our instructions and may use your information only to provide their service to us. If you click a link to Google, Facebook or WhatsApp, that service then handles your information under its own privacy notice.
5. Transfers outside the UK
Some of these providers (for example Google, Meta, Netlify and Formspree) may handle information in the United States or elsewhere. We choose providers that protect it with UK-approved safeguards, such as the UK–US data bridge or the UK’s standard contract clauses. Ask us if you want details. [Check each provider you use before publishing.]
6. How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that did not lead to work | [12 months], then deleted. |
| Customer records and invoices | 6 years from the end of the tax year they relate to, as accounting and tax rules require. |
| Access and alarm details | Deleted when the work for you ends. |
| Photos used in marketing | Until you withdraw your consent, or we stop using them. |
| Website server logs | [Per our web host, usually under 12 months]. |
7. Your rights
You have the right to ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, to have it deleted, to limit how we use it, to object to our use based on legitimate interests, and to receive it in a portable format. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
To use any of these rights, email . We reply within one month, and it is free. We may need to check who you are first.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first and we will try to put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or on 0303 123 1113.
8. Keeping it safe
We protect your information with passwords and two-step verification, locked phones and laptops, and by never sharing access or alarm codes beyond the gardener doing the visit. If a data breach is likely to put you at risk, we will tell you and the ICO as the law requires.
9. Cookies, fonts and tracking
This website does not set cookies, and it does not use analytics, advertising or tracking tools. That is why there is no cookie banner.
Two small items are kept in your browser’s session storage so the site works smoothly: a note that you have already seen the opening animation, and a note that you closed the reviews badge. They stay on your device, are never sent to us, and are cleared when you close the browser.
Our fonts load from [Google Fonts / our own server]. If they load from Google, your browser sends your IP address to Google when a page opens. If this changes, or if we add anything that tracks visitors, we will update this notice and ask for your consent where the law requires it.
When you send a message through our website form, it goes to our form service ([Formspree]) and then to our email. The WhatsApp button opens WhatsApp on your device; nothing is sent until you choose to send a message.
10. Children
Our services are for homes and businesses. We do not knowingly collect information about children. We do not show children in our photos.
11. Changes to this notice
We may update this notice. The date at the top shows when it last changed.