Privacy Policy

Aviso: Esta política solo está disponible en inglés. Si tiene preguntas, escríbanos a info@wattbuild.com.

Effective date: 2026-10-17 · Version 2026-10-17

1. Who We Are

WattBuild LLC, a Virginia limited liability company (ID 11628147)
225 E Main Street, Unit A
Charlottesville, VA 22902 USA
Website: wattbuild.com
Privacy questions and requests: info@wattbuild.com

WattBuild helps U.S. consumers understand, size and plan solar and home energy projects. It includes calculators, a project workspace, an AI assistant, public projects and forums. In this policy, "WattBuild", "we" and "us" mean WattBuild LLC, and "the Service" means the wattbuild.com website and everything on it.

2. Scope of This Policy

This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who receives it, how long we keep it, and the choices you have when you visit wattbuild.com or use any part of the Service, whether you are signed in or using a guest account.

WattBuild is intended for adults 18 and older in the United States (see sections 13 and 14). Our Terms and Conditions cover the rules for using the Service, and our Affiliate Links page explains how we earn commissions.

3. What We Collect

Category	Details	Source
Account and sign-in	Name, email address and profile picture. If you sign in with Google, Facebook or GitHub, we receive your name, email and avatar from that provider. Passwords are stored only as a hash	You, or the sign-in provider
Guest account	A random guest ID created automatically when you start using the site without signing in	Created by us
Agreement records	Which version of our Terms and this policy you accepted, when, and where (for example at sign-in or before your first chat), and your agreement that chats may be used to improve our AI (section 5)	You
Project address and location	The street address you enter for a project, its map coordinates, and the roof imagery and 3D roof analysis we fetch for it from Google	You, and Google
Energy and home details	Utility, electricity rates, energy use and the devices you list, plus calculator inputs such as system size or household size	You
Financial inputs	Costs, loan terms and similar numbers you enter so we can estimate payback and savings	You
Photos	Photos you upload to a project. We remove location (GPS) and other metadata from photos when they are stored	You
Chat content	Your messages to the AI assistant, its replies, and the text of any text files you attach	You, and our AI providers
Public content	Forum posts and projects you choose to make public	You
Opt-ins	Your email and the choice you made when you ask us to save a report, send a newsletter, or tell you when installer quotes are available	You
Usage and device data	IP address, browser and operating system, pages visited, clicks, cookies and similar IDs, and session recordings (see section 7)	Your browser
Affiliate clicks	Which product link you clicked	Your browser
Estimates we generate	System sizing, production and savings estimates calculated from the data above	Created by us

Health details. Some devices people list, such as an oxygen concentrator or a CPAP machine, can reveal health information. Please do not tell us a device is medical equipment unless you need to. We use your device list only to size your system, and it appears in a public project only if you publish that project.

4. How We Use It

Data type	Purpose
Account and guest data	Sign you in, keep your projects and chats together, and keep the Service secure
Agreement records	Show that you agreed to our Terms, and ask you again when they change materially
Project address and location	Fetch roof imagery, sun and weather data and local electricity rates, and calculate your estimates
Energy, home and financial inputs	Calculate energy, sizing and financial estimates
Photos	Show them in your project, and in your public project if you choose
Chat content	Answer your questions and, when you ask, make changes to your project. Used to improve our AI only if you agree (section 5)
Opt-ins	Keep your request and email you what you asked for. Report emails are not sent yet; we will send your report once email delivery is live (section 10)
Usage and device data	Measure traffic, fix problems, keep the site secure and improve it

Precise location. Your project address and coordinates are sensitive personal information. You give them to us when you enter an address, and we use them only to provide the Service. We do not sell them and do not use them for advertising. A project's address is locked once it is set; a different address needs a new project.

Google sign-in data is used only to sign you in and show your account. It is not used for advertising or to train AI.

No automated decisions. We do not make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects (such as credit, insurance, housing or employment) based on automated processing. Our estimates are information for you, not decisions about you.

5. The AI Assistant

The WattBuild chat is an AI assistant, not a person. To answer you, we send the following to our AI providers:

• your message;
• earlier messages in the same conversation;
• details of your current project (for example the general location, roof, devices, energy use and design settings) and the results of the tools the assistant runs;
• the text of any text files you attach.

Images are not sent to the AI. When you attach an image to a chat, the image itself is not sent to our AI providers and is not stored.

Street addresses. We automatically remove street addresses that you type into chat messages before they are stored or sent to an AI provider. A project is named after its street address by default; when a project's name looks like a street address, the assistant sees it only as "your project". This removal is automated and can miss an address written in an unusual way, so please enter your address in the address field rather than typing it in chat, and avoid putting it in a project name you choose yourself.

Who receives chat data:

• Anthropic, which provides Claude models.
• OpenRouter, which routes requests to other AI model vendors. OpenRouter passes your request on to the vendor of the model being used.
• TypeSafe, through OpenRouter, which runs a fast classifier (Jev) that reads each message to pick the right helper.

Do AI providers train on your chats? Each provider's own terms and privacy policy govern how long it keeps this data and whether it may use it to train its models. For example, Anthropic states that it deletes API inputs and outputs within 30 days, and may keep content flagged for policy violations for up to 2 years. Other vendors' practices vary. We have not yet turned on settings that stop every vendor reached through OpenRouter from keeping or training on requests; until we do, we do not promise that they won't.

Using chats to improve WattBuild's AI. Before your first chat, we ask you to agree that your chats may be used to evaluate and improve our AI. Agreeing is a condition of using the chat; if you choose "Not now", nothing is sent and you can keep using the rest of WattBuild.

• Details like the devices you use, your energy use and your project settings may be used to evaluate and improve our AI. We automatically remove street addresses from chat text before such use. That removal is automated and may miss things.
• Chats from before you agreed are never used.
• We store your agreement with the date and the version of the wording you saw. If we change the wording materially, we ask again.
• To withdraw your agreement, email info@wattbuild.com. Chats after that date are not used this way, and you can no longer use the chat. There is no setting for this in the app yet.
• We do not yet use any chats this way; your agreement applies once we start.

Who at WattBuild sees chats. People at WattBuild may look at a conversation when needed to fix a problem, investigate misuse of the Service, or answer a request from you. They may also review chats to evaluate the AI, as you agreed above.

How long we keep chats. We keep your conversations until you ask us to erase them. Deleting a conversation in the app archives it; email us at info@wattbuild.com to erase it permanently.

6. Who Receives Your Information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral (targeted) advertising. The companies below receive personal information only to do work for us or because you asked, and this list is kept current on this page.

Recipient	What and why
Hosting and storage (Heroku; Google Cloud Storage)	Run the site and store data and photos
Google (Maps, Places, Solar API, sign-in)	Address search, maps, roof imagery and 3D roof analysis, and Google sign-in
Facebook and GitHub	Sign-in, only if you choose them
AI providers (Anthropic; OpenRouter and the model vendors it routes to, including TypeSafe)	Run the AI assistant (section 5)
PostHog	Product analytics (including your IP address, for approximate location), session recordings (section 7), and our server logs (below)
Google Analytics	Measure site traffic (Google signals and ad personalization off)
HubSpot	Customer relationship management (CRM) and website tracking
Postmark	Our email provider, when we send you email (section 10)
OpenEI	Receives your project's latitude and longitude to look up electricity rates
NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)	Receives your project location to look up sun and weather data
Affiliate partners	Learn that a purchase came from WattBuild when you click an affiliate link (see Affiliate Links)
Other users and the public	Content you choose to make public (section 8)
Authorities or others	When required by law, or to protect rights and safety
A buyer or successor	If WattBuild is merged, acquired or sells its assets, your information may move to the new owner, who must follow this policy for it

Server logs. Our servers send their logs (requests, warnings and errors) to PostHog so we can find and fix problems. These logs can include your WattBuild account or guest ID, the page addresses you requested, your browser details, request IDs and error details. They do not include your IP address, and we don't intend them to include your email address.

Installer quotes. If you ask us to tell you when installer quotes are available, we keep your request. We do not currently share it with any installer or vendor. We plan to connect users with solar installers and energy-product vendors who pay WattBuild for referrals. When we do:

1. you will first opt in to being matched;
2. before any of your details go to a vendor, we will show you which vendor it is and ask you to confirm;
3. we will keep a record of which vendors received your details, which you can ask us for.

Energy-use data (your usage, devices and rates) is never sold, and is shared with an installer or vendor only with your express consent in the step above.

7. Cookies, Analytics and Session Recording

We use cookies and similar tools to make the site work and to measure and improve it.

Cookie or tool	Purpose	How long
Sign-in session	Keeps you or your guest account signed in	60 days
external_user_id	Links analytics to your account or guest account	Until you clear it
theme	Remembers your light or dark theme choice	1 year
wb_tracking_consent	Remembers your answer to the analytics question (visitors in Europe, section 13)	1 year
PostHog	Product analytics and session recording	Set by PostHog
Google Analytics (_ga and related)	Site traffic measurement	Set by Google, up to 2 years
HubSpot	CRM and website tracking	Set by HubSpot

Session recording. PostHog records how pages are used (clicks, scrolling and page changes). Recordings mask all text on the page and the form fields you fill in, leave out images (such as aerial roof imagery, 3D roof views and your photos), do not record browser console messages, and do not record the chat panel at all.

Analytics events. PostHog analytics events include the text of elements you click (for example, a button's label). Your IP address is passed to PostHog so it can estimate your approximate location.

Google Analytics runs only on the live site, with Google signals and ad personalization turned off.

Your choices. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site will still work, but may not remember you or your guest account. Visitors in Europe can accept or decline analytics (section 13).

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. We do not respond to Do-Not-Track signals; there is no agreed standard for them. Because we do not sell your personal information or share it for targeted advertising, there is nothing for a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal to opt you out of. If that ever changes, we will honor GPC.

Tracking across other sites. We do not use advertising pixels, and we do not allow third parties to track you across other websites for advertising through WattBuild. Google Analytics, HubSpot and PostHog collect information about your use of WattBuild for us.

8. Accounts, Guests and Public Content

Guest accounts. When you start using WattBuild without signing in, we create a guest account for you automatically and keep it in your browser's cookies. If you clear your cookies, the guest account can't be recovered. If you later sign in, the guest's projects and chats move into your account; we keep the guest record and a record of the merge. Today we keep guest accounts indefinitely.

Public projects. When you publish a project, the public copy shows its city, state and the center point of its ZIP code (never your street address), rounded numbers, the photos you choose, and your public handle. Designs in a public project are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0), so others may reuse them with credit. Unpublishing takes the public copy down and archives it; it does not undo reuse that others have already made.

Forums. Forum posts are public and show your name and profile picture.

9. Your Privacy Rights

Many U.S. states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas and Virginia, give their residents privacy rights. We offer these rights to all our users, wherever in the U.S. they live:

1. Know and access the personal information we hold about you, and the categories of sources, purposes and recipients
2. Get a copy of it in a portable format
3. Correct inaccurate information
4. Delete your information
5. Opt out of marketing emails
6. Learn the specific third parties we have disclosed your information to
7. Appeal our decision on your request

We do not sell your personal information, share it for targeted advertising, or use it for profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects, so there is nothing to opt out of for those uses. We do not use sensitive information (such as your precise location) for anything other than providing the Service. We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.

What you can do yourself today: delete a project or a photo, and archive a chat conversation.

Everything else is handled by email. Account deletion and data export are not yet available in the app. Email info@wattbuild.com and tell us what you want.

• Verification. Write from the email on your account. For a guest account, tell us and we will verify that the request comes from the browser that holds the guest account. We may ask for more information if we can't verify you, and we use it only for that.
• Authorized agents. Someone may make a request for you with your signed permission. We may ask you to confirm it directly.
• Timing. We handle requests manually and respond within 45 days. We may extend this once by another 45 days where the law allows, and will tell you why.
• Appeals. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our answer. We will decide within 60 days and explain the result. If you disagree, you may contact your state Attorney General.

10. Emails

We may send service emails (for example sign-in, password reset or security notices) and, only if you opt in, newsletters and other updates, through our email provider Postmark. Marketing emails include an unsubscribe link. You can also stop marketing emails at any time by writing to info@wattbuild.com.

11. Data Security

• HTTPS encryption in transit
• Passwords hashed (never stored in plain text)
• Access to personal data is limited to people and vendors who need it to run the Service

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will tell you as the law requires.

12. How Long We Keep It

Data	How long we keep it
Accounts, projects, photos and opt-ins	Until you delete them or ask us to delete them
Agreement records and AI-improvement answers	As long as your account exists, so we can show what you agreed to
Guest accounts	Indefinitely today. We plan to set a limit
Chat conversations	Until you ask us to erase them. Deleting a conversation in the app archives it; email us at info@wattbuild.com to erase it permanently
Roof imagery and analysis from Google	Kept in our storage; we are reviewing how long
Sign-in sessions	60 days
Analytics, session recordings and server logs	As set in each provider's retention settings
Data held by AI providers	As described in section 5
Public project copies	Until you unpublish them; then archived
Forum posts	Until you ask us to remove them

When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your account, projects, chats, photos and opt-ins, and take down your public projects. Some things can remain: reuse of your CC BY 4.0 designs that others have already made, your forum posts, unless you ask us to remove them too, and copies in backups until the backups expire. We may also keep records we need to meet legal obligations or resolve disputes.

13. U.S. Scope and Visitors From Other Countries

WattBuild is intended for users in the United States, and your data is processed and stored in the United States.

Visitors in Europe. If your device's time zone is in Europe, we ask before loading Google Analytics, HubSpot and PostHog session recording: "May we use Google Analytics, HubSpot and session replay (PostHog, with all text hidden) to see how WattBuild is used?" Those tools load only if you choose Accept; WattBuild works the same if you choose Decline. We remember your answer for one year in the wb_tracking_consent cookie. There is no setting to change it in the app yet; to change it, email info@wattbuild.com, or delete that cookie in your browser and you will be asked again. PostHog product analytics (without session recording) and our server logs still run for all visitors. We detect Europe from your device's time zone, which may not match where you are.

14. Children

WattBuild is for adults 18 and older and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If we learn that we have, we delete it. Parents or guardians can contact us at info@wattbuild.com.

15. Changes to This Policy

We review this policy at least once a year. When we change it, we post the new version on this page with a new effective date and version, and list the change in section 17. For a material change, we tell you in the app before it takes effect and ask you to acknowledge it. Before we use information we already hold in a materially new way, we will ask for your consent, and we will not apply the new use to information collected before you gave it.

16. Contact Us

Email: info@wattbuild.com

Mail: Privacy, WattBuild LLC, 225 E Main St, Unit A, Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA

17. Version History

Version	What changed
2025-07-12	First published version

Earlier versions are available on request from info@wattbuild.com.