BuildSOS
Privacy Policy
Last updated November 12, 2026
Effective date: November 13, 2026
This policy explains what personal information BuildSOS collects through this website, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We've written it in plain English. If anything is unclear, email us at info@buildsos.com.
The short version
- This website has no member accounts. You join BuildSOS, sign in and manage your membership on our member portal (portal.buildsos.com).
- On this website we collect what you type into a signup box: your email address and, if you choose, your ZIP code.
- We use it to send you what you asked for: our weekly tips or the Resilience Playbook.
- We don't sell your personal information or use it for targeted advertising. We use Google Analytics to count visits, and no advertising cookies.
- You can ask us at any time to see, correct or delete your information.
Who we are
BuildSOS is operated by BuildSOS Inc. ("BuildSOS", "we", "us"). We help homeowners and contractors prepare for disasters, respond to them and recover from them, with a particular focus on Florida and the Gulf Coast.
You can contact us about privacy in these ways:
- Email: info@buildsos.com
- Mail: BuildSOS Inc., 21212 Smith Road, Covington, LA 70435
For general questions, email info@buildsos.com.
What this policy covers
This policy covers the BuildSOS website and the emails you sign up for on it.
Membership. In this policy, "our member portal" means portal.buildsos.com, a separate system where you join BuildSOS, sign in and manage your membership. This website links to it but doesn't collect or store your membership details. See "When you join BuildSOS" below.
It doesn't cover:
- the mobile apps we link to (Disaster AIDvisor, Policy AIDvisor, Claims AIDvisor, the BuildSOS Resilience Game and the Disaster Diaries app). Check each app's store listing for its privacy information.
- other websites we link to, such as YouTube, the app stores, The Home Depot, FEMA or SAMHSA.
What we collect and why
When you join BuildSOS
The Join and Sign in links on this website open our member portal. You create your account there, not here, so this website never sees your password or your membership details.
The portal asks for the details we need to set up your membership, such as your name, email address and ZIP code and, for contractors, your company details. It keeps our membership records in our customer database (Odoo), and we add members to our email list in our email service (MailerLite). Contractor verification, such as a BuildZoom check, and linking a Pro Xtra member discount are also handled through the portal.
Your rights in this policy cover your membership information too. See "Your choices and rights".
When you sign up for weekly tips or the Resilience Playbook
We ask for your email address. Most of our signup boxes also let you give your ZIP code, which is optional. We use these to send you what you signed up for: our weekly tips, or the Resilience Playbook.
When you press the button, two things happen:
- We save a record of the signup in our own database: your email address, your ZIP code if you gave it, which signup you chose, the page you signed up on, the date, and the two technical details described under "What we collect automatically".
- We send your email address, your ZIP code if you gave it, and which list you chose to our email service, MailerLite, which sends the emails for us.
Every email list we send to has an unsubscribe link. You can also email us to be taken off.
When you email us
If you email us (for example, to ask a question or to send credentials for a contractor certification), we keep your message and your contact details so that we can reply and follow up.
What we collect automatically
- A scrambled code instead of your IP address. When you send a form on this website, we turn your internet (IP) address into a scrambled code. We can't turn the code back into your address, and the code changes every day. Our own signup and security records keep only this code, never the address itself. We use it to stop spam and repeated attempts.
- Browser details. When you sign up for emails, we also note which browser and type of device you used.
- Logs kept by our providers. Our hosting provider (Vercel) and our database provider (Supabase) do receive your IP address and browser details, as any website does, and keep them in their standard security and technical logs.
- A rough location for notices. Our hosting provider works out which US state your connection is probably in, and we use that only to show notices meant for your state. We don't store it.
- Visit statistics. We use Google Analytics to see how many people visit and which pages they read. It sets cookies in your browser and receives your IP address, your browser and device type and the pages you view. We have switched off its advertising features.
- Cookies. Google Analytics sets the only cookies visitors get from this website. Our team gets a few more when they sign in. See "Cookies and other browser storage" below.
What we don't collect
- No payment details. This website takes no payments.
- No precise location. We don't ask your browser for your location. The only location we store is the ZIP code you give us.
- No passwords, files or posts from visitors. Visitors can't sign in, upload documents or post content on this website.
- Nothing from the Contractor Finder search (our Find a Contractor page). If that changes, we'll update this policy first.
If you're on the BuildSOS team
Our staff and editors are the only people with accounts on this website. We keep each team member's name, email address and role, check their email address and password when they sign in, and record which team member made each change through our staff area. Two-step sign-in with an authenticator app is required for administrator actions, and for any team member who has turned it on.
If a team member checks "Remember me", they stay signed in on that browser. If they forget their password, we email a reset link that works only in the browser that asked for it. Our sign-in messages never reveal whether an email address has an account.
When the team uploads a photo, we strip out hidden details, such as where and with what camera it was taken, before it's published. Uploaded photos are stored with Supabase. If a photo is deleted, we keep it for up to 30 days so it can be restored, unless we remove it right away. After a photo is removed, copies can take a few hours to disappear from our servers.
How we use your information
- To send weekly tips or the Resilience Playbook. We use your email, your ZIP code if you gave it, and which signup you chose. We do this only because you asked. You can unsubscribe at any time.
- To keep the site safe and stop spam. We use the daily scrambled code and your browser type.
- To answer your messages. We use whatever you send us.
- To run our team's accounts, as described in "If you're on the BuildSOS team".
- To follow the law and protect our rights, using any of the above as needed.
We don't let a computer make decisions about you that have legal effects or other major effects, such as decisions about credit, housing or a job.
How long we keep information
- Signup records: we keep a record of each signup (your email, ZIP code, which signup, the page, the date, the daily scrambled code and your browser type) until you ask us to delete your information, or until we no longer need it to manage your email preferences.
- Your details in our email service (MailerLite): until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your information, unless we need to keep something to meet a legal duty, such as a record that you unsubscribed.
- Membership records in our member portal and customer database: for as long as you're a member, or until you ask us to delete your information.
- Records used only to limit repeated attempts: normally cleared after about a day.
- Logs kept by our hosting and database providers: up to 30 days.
- Emails you send us: for as long as we need them to deal with your question, and then for as long as we need a record of it.
How we protect information
No website can promise perfect security, but here's what we do:
- The whole site uses HTTPS, so information is encrypted on its way to us.
- This website never asks visitors for a password. Membership passwords go only to our member portal.
- We limit how often anyone can send a signup form, and we use a hidden trap field to catch spam bots.
- Our own signup and security records keep only a scrambled code that changes daily, never your IP address.
- Our content editors can't see signup records through the staff area.
- Staff access is checked on every request, two-step sign-in protects administrator actions, and every change made through our staff area is logged.
If we learn of a security breach that affects your personal information, we'll notify you and the authorities as the law requires.
Your choices and rights
Emails
You can stop our tips and other email lists at any time. Use the unsubscribe link in any of those emails, or email info@buildsos.com. We'll stop sending you list emails within 10 business days of your request.
Your rights
Wherever you live in the United States, you can ask us to:
- Tell you what personal information we hold about you, and give you a copy in a common format.
- Correct information that's wrong.
- Delete your information, including your membership. We'll delete it from this website's signup records and our email service, and from our membership records in the member portal and customer database.
To change your membership details, sign in to our member portal, or email us and we'll make the change for you.
How to make a request
Email info@buildsos.com or write to us at BuildSOS Inc., 21212 Smith Road, Covington, LA 70435. Tell us what you'd like us to do. You don't need to be a member to make a request.
Verification. To protect you, we have to confirm that a request really comes from you. Please send it from the email address on your membership or signup. If you can't, or if something doesn't match, we may ask you to confirm by email or to give a detail we already hold. We'll use what you send only to verify your request.
Someone acting for you. You can ask someone, such as an authorized agent, to make a request for you. We'll need written proof that they're allowed to, and we may still ask you to confirm your identity directly.
Response time. We'll confirm we've received your request within 10 business days and answer within 45 days. If we need more time, we'll tell you why, and we may take up to 45 more days.
Limits. Sometimes we have to keep certain information, for example to meet a legal duty, to resolve a dispute or to prevent fraud. If so, we'll tell you what we kept and why.
No penalty. We won't treat you differently, or charge you more, because you used your privacy rights.
Notice for California residents
This section adds to the rest of this policy. It is our notice at collection (the notice the law requires when we collect your information) under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA). We give California residents these rights whether or not the CCPA applies to us.
What we collect, where it comes from and who gets it
This list covers this website. Our member portal collects membership details separately, as described in "When you join BuildSOS".
- Identifiers (email address, IP address, and the daily scrambled code, which is an online identifier). From: you and your browser. Disclosed for business purposes to: Supabase; MailerLite (your email address only, not your IP address or the code); Vercel; Google (your IP address and a cookie identifier, through Google Analytics).
- Internet activity (browser and device type, the page you signed up on, server logs). From: your browser. Disclosed to: Supabase; Vercel; Google (pages viewed, browser and device type, through Google Analytics).
- General location (ZIP code, not precise location). From: you. Disclosed to: Supabase; MailerLite.
We don't collect sensitive personal information from visitors to this website.
Why we collect it: the purposes listed in "How we use your information".
How long we keep it: see "How long we keep information".
Selling and sharing. In the past 12 months we have not sold or shared personal information as the CCPA defines those terms, including for cross-context behavioral advertising. We have no actual knowledge of selling or sharing the personal information of anyone under 16.
Your California rights. You have the right to know what we collect, use and disclose; the right to delete; the right to correct; the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your information (we do neither); and the right not to be treated differently for using these rights. To make a request, follow the steps in "How to make a request".
Direct marketing ("Shine the Light"). We don't share personal information with other companies for their own direct marketing.
Rights in other US states
A growing number of US states give their residents privacy rights. These usually include the right to see, correct, delete or get a copy of your information, and the right to opt out of targeted ads, the sale of your information and some kinds of profiling. We don't do any of those last three things. To use your other rights, see "How to make a request".
Appeals. If we turn down your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision, or by emailing info@buildsos.com with "Privacy appeal" in the subject line. We'll answer within the time your state's law allows, usually 45 or 60 days. If we deny your appeal, we'll tell you how to contact your state attorney general.
Children
You must be at least 18 to become a BuildSOS member. Our website isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If we learn we've collected personal information from a child under 13, we'll delete it. If you think a child has given us personal information, email info@buildsos.com.
Visitors outside the United States
We built this website for people in the United States. If you use it from another country, your information will be processed in the United States and anywhere else our service providers operate. Privacy laws there may differ from those where you live.
Links to other websites
Our pages link to other sites and apps, including YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Play, the Apple App Store, The Home Depot, FEMA, SAMHSA, the Workforce Discovery Portal and our podcast feed. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we aren't responsible for how they handle your information. Links open in a new tab.
Changes to this policy
We'll update this policy when our website or practices change, for example if we add a new way to collect information or a new service provider. When we do, we'll change the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll also tell members and email subscribers by email or with a notice on the site before it takes effect.
Contact us
Questions, requests or complaints about privacy:
- Email: info@buildsos.com
- Mail: BuildSOS Inc., 21212 Smith Road, Covington, LA 70435