Privacy Policy

Effective August 22, 2026. This policy describes how Gude (“Gude,” “we,” “us”) collects, uses, and shares information in connection with gude.co, plans.gude.co, dixon.gude.co, and evaluation.gude.co (the “Sites”), and in connection with inquiries and work that come through those Sites.

1. Who we are

Gude operates three service lanes described on the Sites: Product READY (evaluation of building systems and products), Dixon Engineering (licensed professional engineering), and California Modular / CMDAA (third-party plan review). This policy covers those lanes as they appear on the Sites. If we take an assignment, a separate engagement, proposal, or professional services agreement may add project-specific confidentiality terms. Those terms control for that work if they conflict with this policy.

Privacy questions: office@gude.co.

2. Scope

This policy applies to:

• Visiting or using the Sites
• Emailing us at office@gude.co
• Using a contact or intake form on the Sites (submissions are delivered to office@gude.co through a form processor)
• Files, drawings, checklists, or other materials you send so we can consider or perform work

It does not apply to other Gude websites or brands that publish their own notices, or to third-party sites we link to. It is not a substitute for a client confidentiality clause once we are engaged.

3. Information we collect

Information you provide

Depending on how you contact us, this may include:

• Name, organization, role, and contact details (email, phone, mailing address if you give one)
• Project or product name, location, jurisdiction or authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), and a description of what you need
• Intake checklist selections, document lists, and related notes
• Drawings, specifications, calculations, photographs, reports, and other files you attach or transmit
• Correspondence about schedule, fees, scope, or an existing project

Do not send information you are not authorized to share. If a file includes personal data about someone else (for example occupant names on a drawing set), you are responsible for having a basis to send it to us.

Information collected automatically

The Sites are hosted on GitHub Pages. Our domain registrar is GoDaddy. Email for Gude addresses is hosted on Microsoft 365. Those providers, and ordinary network infrastructure, may log:

• IP address, date and time, requested URL, referrer, and user-agent (browser and device)
• Standard error and security logs
• Email metadata (addresses, timestamps, spam/malware scanning) when you write to us

We do not currently run advertising pixels or sell Site traffic to data brokers. Intake forms on the Sites post through a form processor so the message is delivered to office@gude.co without opening your email application. Some browsers store local data on your device as a normal part of visiting any website.

Information from others

If we are engaged, we may receive project information from your consultants, contractor, manufacturer, jurisdiction, or other parties you ask us to work with. We treat that as project information under the engagement.

4. How we use information

We use the information above to:

• Respond to inquiries and decide whether we can take the work
• Provide evaluation, licensed engineering, or plan-review services if we are engaged
• Coordinate with jurisdictions, agencies, consultants, fabricators, and your team as needed for that work
• Keep professional records, including records a licensed practice or accredited review program is expected to retain
• Operate, secure, and improve the Sites and our email
• Comply with law, professional rules, and lawful requests

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

5. When we share information

We share information only as needed to run the Sites and do the work, including:

• Service providers that host the Sites (GitHub Pages), the domain (GoDaddy), and email (Microsoft 365), and any other vendor we use to store files, process mail, or support IT. They are not permitted to use the information for their own marketing of your project.
• Project parties you involve or that the assignment requires — for example an AHJ, listing or evaluation body, peer reviewer, consultant, or your client — when we are engaged or when you ask us to send something.
• Professional and legal obligations — if the law, a court, a regulator, or an applicable professional duty requires disclosure, or to protect Gude, our people, or others from harm or fraud.
• Business changes — if Gude’s relevant practice is reorganized, the records that belong with that practice may transfer with it, still subject to this policy or a successor notice.

We do not publish your drawings or intake on the Sites unless you have agreed in writing that we may use a project as a public example.

6. Retention

Inquiry email that does not become an engagement is kept long enough to respond and for ordinary business records, then deleted or archived in the ordinary course.

Project files, correspondence, stamps, calculations, review comments, and related records are kept as long as needed for the assignment, professional recordkeeping, insurance, and legal obligations. Licensed engineering and third-party plan review often require retention beyond the end of construction. We then delete or archive according to that schedule — not on a fixed consumer-app timer.

7. Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical measures appropriate to a small professional practice: access limited to people who need it, commercial email and hosting providers, and ordinary device and account controls. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Do not send passwords or payment-card numbers through the Site forms or unencrypted email unless we have arranged a specific channel.

8. Children

The Sites are for business and professional use. They are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

9. California and other privacy rights

Depending on where you live and whether a privacy statute applies to a particular request, you may have the right to ask what personal information we have about you, to ask for a copy, to ask us to correct it, or to ask us to delete it. California residents may also have rights under the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know, delete, and correct, and to not be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are used in California law.

To make a request, email office@gude.co with “Privacy request” in the subject and enough detail for us to find your records (for example the email address you used and the project name). We may need to verify it is you. We will respond as required by applicable law. Some records we cannot delete or alter — for example sealed engineering documents, plan-review files we are required to retain, or information that also belongs to another party to a project.

If an authorized agent submits a request on your behalf, we may require proof of authorization.

10. International visitors

The Sites and our email are operated from the United States. If you contact us from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be processed in the United States, where privacy law may differ from the law where you live.

11. Changes

We may update this policy. The “Effective” date above will change when we do. Continued use of the Sites after a posted change means the updated policy applies to that use. For an active engagement, material changes that affect how we handle that project’s information will be handled under the engagement unless the law requires otherwise.

12. Contact

Gude — privacy inquiries: office@gude.co. See also our Terms of Use and Contact page.