Data & Privacy

Privacy Policy

How The Roof Shepherd handles contact information submitted through this website, insurance papers you upload, and what the site's AI assistant does and does not store.

Effective September 6, 2026

Updated October 1, 2026

Data Collection

What we collect and why

What the Get Help form collects

The Roof Shepherd LLC (The Roof Shepherd) collects the name, phone, email, property address, message, and consent choices submitted through the Get Help form. This information is used to respond to your request and coordinate services, and to send the texts or newsletter you chose to receive. After you submit, an automatic confirmation email is sent to the address you provided so you know your request arrived.
Address suggestionsWhen you type four or more characters into the property address field of the Get Help form, our server passes those characters to Google's Places service so it can suggest matching addresses in and near Texas, and Google handles that request under its own privacy policy. Neither the characters nor the suggestions are stored or logged on our side, and nothing is sent if you type fewer than four characters. To limit abuse, the server keeps a short-lived request count tied to a one-way hash of your IP address, which cannot be turned back into the address and is deleted within two days.
No sensitive financial dataDo not submit Social Security numbers, financial account details, insurance policy numbers, or claim amounts through the website contact form.
Technical request dataWhen the form is submitted, the server also records standard technical data: IP address, forwarded IP data, browser identification, referring page, browser language, and submission time. This data is used for security, spam prevention, and rate limiting, and the referring page also helps us record how you found us, as described below. It is stored outside the public web directory. Rate-limit records are temporary and expire automatically.
How you found usWhen you send the Get Help form, it also carries a short note this site keeps in your browser for up to 30 days: the page you first landed on, the site or search that linked you here, any campaign or ad tag in that link, and the random number our analytics tool gives your browser, so we can connect your inquiry to how you found us.
Analytics dataWe use Google Analytics to see which pages are helpful. It counts the pages you visit, how you found us, and how you use each page, like clicks, scrolling, forms, videos and downloads. It also sees your device, your browser and your general area, like your city. Google says Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. It uses small cookies so a return visit is not counted as a new person. We turned off Google’s ad personalization, so this data is not used to target ads to you. When you send the Get Help form, our website tells Google Analytics that a form was sent from your visit and which kind of help you picked. It never sends your name, phone, email, address or message. Google Analytics does not tell us who you are. The only link to you is the note described above, and only if you send the form. To opt out, use an ad or tracker blocker, or the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Session recording and heatmapsThis site uses Microsoft Clarity, which records how pages are used so we can see where the site is confusing or broken. That recording includes mouse movement, scrolling, clicks and taps, and the pages visited in a session, and it can be replayed as a video of the visit. It is behavior on the page, not a recording of your screen, your camera, or anything outside this site.

Text typed into input boxes and drop-down menus is masked by Microsoft Clarity in all of its recording modes and cannot be unmasked, so what you type into the Get Help form is not captured in a replay. Even so, please do not enter sensitive information such as payment card details or government identification numbers into any field on this site. Nothing here asks for them.

Clarity uses partial or obfuscated IP addresses to estimate general location and does not store complete IP addresses. Microsoft handles this data under its own privacy terms, and Microsoft describes Clarity as acting as a data controller.

Clarity uses first-party and third-party cookies and similar technologies to recognize a returning session and to stitch a visit together. This site sets no advertising cookies of its own.

If you would rather not be recorded, an ad or tracker blocking extension will block Clarity, and the site works normally without it. Clearing cookies for this site also clears the identifier Clarity uses to link a session together.
No data sharingThe Roof Shepherd does not sell, rent, or give personal data collected through this site to anyone for marketing. The one outside company that may use site data for its own purposes, including advertising, is Microsoft, through Microsoft Clarity, as this policy explains. Form submissions are delivered by email through Google Workspace, site analytics are provided by Google Analytics, and session recording and heatmaps are provided by Microsoft Clarity. Google Workspace and Google Analytics act as service providers for us; Microsoft handles Clarity data under its own terms, as this policy explains. The Roof Shepherd does not sell your data and does not use it to target ads to you. Microsoft, however, states that data collected through Clarity may also be used by Microsoft for its own purposes including site optimization, fraud and security, and advertising, and that Clarity is operated alongside Microsoft Advertising. What Microsoft does with the data is governed by the Microsoft Privacy Statement, not by this policy.

Your Rights

How your information is protected

Data use

Information submitted through website forms is used for your request and for the texts or newsletter you chose. The newsletter goes only to people who sign up and confirm by email. The Roof Shepherd does not sell contact data and does not share form submissions with advertisers. Payments made online are processed by Stripe. When you pay by bank transfer, Stripe verifies the account through Stripe Financial Connections with your permission and shares with us the account owner details and a balance check for that payment; we never see or store your bank login or card number.

Data retention

Contact information submitted through the Get Help form is retained only as long as necessary to fulfill the service request. You may request deletion of information you submitted through the form by contacting info@theroofshepherd.com. Assistant conversations are handled separately and are described below.

Messages on Facebook, Instagram and Threads

If you message us, comment on our posts, or fill out one of our ad forms on Facebook, Instagram or Threads, we keep what you sent so we can answer you. We never use it for ads or share it with advertisers. If you don't become a customer, we delete it after 12 months, and you can ask us to delete it sooner by emailing info@theroofshepherd.com.

AI Assistant

The AI assistant on this site

What it is

This site offers an AI assistant that answers general roofing questions and helps you decide whether an inspection makes sense. It is an educational tool. It is not a roof inspection, not a diagnosis, not an estimate, and not legal, insurance, or engineering advice. It cannot determine what your insurance policy covers.
Answers are drawn from this websiteThe assistant answers from approved written material published on this site, together with a set of reviewed roofing guidance. Where it does not have approved information, it is designed to say so and direct you to speak with a person rather than guess.
What is removed before anything is storedBefore a conversation is written to our records, an automatic process removes email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, unit numbers, policy, claim and account numbers, and card-style number sequences. This removal is automatic and pattern-based. It is thorough but not perfect: it cannot reliably detect a personal name typed into open text. Please do not type names, account numbers, policy documents, or financial details into the assistant. If you give the assistant a street address so it can size your roof, it sends that address to the U.S. Census Bureau’s public geocoding service to find the building on a map; the address is then removed from the conversation before it is stored, as described above.
What is kept, and for how longConversation text, after the removal described above, is kept for up to 90 days and then deleted. A short record of questions the assistant could not answer is kept for up to 90 days so the site can be improved. Anonymous counts, such as how often a particular guidance topic was useful, contain no conversation text and may be kept indefinitely. Records of recurring question themes are removed after 365 days without recurrence.
Photos you send with the Get Help formYou can add up to 5 photos of your roof, ceiling, walls or gutters to a request. Your phone makes each photo smaller before it is sent, and our website re-encodes it, which removes camera details and any location data it carried. Our website keeps it in a private folder that is not reachable from the web for up to 90 days, then deletes it. Our office keeps a copy with your request and project records. Photos are used only to look at your property and to prepare our follow-up; they are not used for marketing and are not sent to an AI provider. Please keep people, vehicles, house numbers and neighboring property out of the frame, and do not send photos of documents.
Photos you send in the chatYou can attach a photo of your roof, wall, gutter or attic to a question. The photo is reduced in size and re-encoded before it is stored, which removes camera details and any location data it carried. It is kept in a private folder that is not reachable from the web, for up to 90 days, then deleted. It is sent to our AI provider to produce the answer, under the same terms as the conversation text. Photos are used only to look at your property and to prepare a follow-up if you ask for one; they are not used for marketing. Please keep people, vehicles, house numbers and neighboring property out of the frame, and do not send photos of documents.
Deletion requests for assistant conversationsWe want to be straightforward about a limitation. Assistant conversations are not stored against your name, email, or account, and the session reference is a one-way hash that cannot be reversed. Because of that, we have no way to locate a specific person's past conversations in order to delete them on request. The tradeoff is deliberate: the records are not linked to you in the first place. Information you submit through the Get Help form is different, is linked to your request, and can be deleted on request.
Processing by our AI providerTo generate a reply, your message is sent to Anthropic, our AI provider, and processed under their commercial terms. Anthropic does not use commercial API traffic to train its models. Their handling is governed by their own published policies.
Rate limiting and abuse preventionTo prevent abuse, the assistant records a one-way hash of your IP address combined with a value that changes daily. The original IP address is not stored, and the hash cannot be reversed to recover it. These records expire automatically.
EmergenciesDo not use the assistant to report an emergency. For fire, structural collapse, electrical hazards, or immediate danger, contact emergency services or your utility first. For an active roof leak, call or text 512-575-5052.

Text Messages

Text messages

We text only people who asked us to

The Roof Shepherd sends text messages only to people who asked for them, by checking the texting box on our Get Help form or by texting us first. Texting is optional and never a condition of service or purchase. When you agree, we record the date and time, the page, and the exact wording you agreed to, so there is a clear record of your choice.
Your number is never shared for marketingWe do not share, sell, or provide your mobile phone number or messaging consent data to third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.
Who delivers our textsA texting service provider delivers our messages for us. It acts only as our service provider and may not use your number for its own purposes.
Stopping textsReply STOP to any text, or tell us any other way, and we stop. Reply HELP for help. The full rules are in our Text Message Terms.

Insurance Papers

Insurance papers you upload

How we keep your insurance papers

If we send you a private upload link, or you ask for one when you send our Get Help form, you can use it to send us your insurance papers, like your declarations page, your policy or a claim letter. We use them to help you understand your policy, your options and your rights, and to support the damage records and supplements we send to your insurance company.
Locked before it leaves your deviceEach file is locked (encrypted) on your phone or computer before it is sent. Our website keeps only the locked copy and cannot open it. Only our office can unlock it. We save it with your project file, then delete the copy on the website. Our project files are backed up to Google Drive.
Never soldWe never sell your papers, and we do not share them for marketing.
What not to uploadPlease don’t upload a driver’s license, a Social Security card or a bank statement. We don’t need them.
Deleting your papersTo ask us to delete your papers, email info@theroofshepherd.com.

Careers

Job applications and resumes

How we handle your application

When you apply for a job or ask about working with us on our Careers page, we receive your name, phone, email, the role you chose and your note. We use them only to consider your application and to contact you about it.
Your resume, locked before it leaves your deviceIf you choose to send a resume, you get a private upload page. Each file is locked (encrypted) on your device before it is sent. Our website keeps only the locked copy and cannot open it. Only our office can unlock it. We save it with our hiring records, then delete the copy on the website.
How long we keep itOur website keeps your contact details only until our office files your application, usually within a few days. We keep applications and resumes in our private hiring records, which are backed up to Google Drive.
Never soldWe never sell your application or resume, and we do not share them for marketing.
What not to sendPlease don’t include a Social Security number, a driver’s license or bank details. We don’t need them to review an application.
Deleting your applicationTo ask us to delete your application and resume, email info@theroofshepherd.com.

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