Privacy policy

Hi Hank Inc. (“Hank,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy (this “Policy”). This Policy describes how we collect, use, retain, and disclose personal information about you in connection with our website at https://www.hihank.com (the “Site”), our web and mobile applications, our APIs, and the related software, content, features, and services we make available (collectively, the “Services”). Not all features or Services described in this Policy may be available at all times or in all areas; this Policy describes information practices that apply to the Services as they exist at the time of your use. This Policy is incorporated into and forms part of our Terms of Service. Capitalized terms used but not defined here have the meanings given in the Terms of Service.

Hank provides a software platform that supports licensed home inspectors in conducting and delivering property inspections, generates AI-assisted inspection reports for homeowners, and connects homeowners with repair, remediation, and trade professionals through a marketplace. This Policy applies to all users of the Services, including (i) home inspectors and inspection firms (“Inspectors”), (ii) homeowners and prospective homeowners (“Homeowners”), and (iii) repair, remediation, and trade professionals (“Contractors”), as well as visitors to the Site.

Please read this Policy carefully. By accessing or using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to the collection, use, disclosure, and other handling of information as described in this Policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use the Services. This Policy may change from time to time as described in the section titled “Changes to This Policy” below.

This Policy applies only to information collected through the Services and through communications, including email, text, chat, and other electronic messages, between you and the Services. It does not apply to information collected by us offline or through any other means, including any other website operated by Hank or any third party (including our service providers and affiliates) that does not link to this Policy, or to information collected by any third party that may link to or be accessible from or through the Services.

1. Children’s and Minors’ Data

The Services are not directed to, and are not intended for use by, children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you are under 18, please do not use the Services or provide any personal information through the Services. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe we may have collected information from a child under 18, please contact us using the information in the section titled “How to Contact Us” below.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information about you when you interact with the Services, when information is generated automatically through your use of the Services, and, in limited circumstances, from third parties. The categories of personal information we collect depend on your role (Inspector, Homeowner, Contractor, or visitor) and how you use the Services.

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

We collect information you provide to us when you create an account, complete or pay for an inspection, request a quote, contact us, or otherwise interact with the Services. This information may include:

• Account and contact information, such as your first and last name, business or firm name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, username, password, and (for business users) job title.
• Professional information, such as licensing, certification, registration, and insurance information for Inspectors and Contractors, including license numbers, issuing authorities, license status, and proof of insurance.
• Property information, such as the street address, location, characteristics, age, condition, and observed features of a property that is the subject of an inspection or service request.
• Inspection content created or uploaded through the Services, including written observations, structured findings, code citations, photographs, videos, audio recordings of voice notes, and other media captured or uploaded by Inspectors in connection with an inspection.
• Homeowner inputs, including questions you submit to the Hank AI assistant, follow-up requests, preferences, and any documents or photos you upload to your homeowner portal.
• Bid and project information, including descriptions of work requested, scope, schedule, pricing, and communications between Homeowners and Contractors through the marketplace.
• Payment-related information, such as billing name, billing address, the last four digits of your payment card, payment-method type, and transaction history. Full payment card numbers and bank account information are collected and processed directly by our third-party payment processor and are not stored on our systems.
• Communications, including the content of emails, text messages, in-app messages, voice mails, and other communications you send to us, to other users through the Services, or to our support team.
• Marketing and preference information, including communication preferences, survey responses, and feedback about the Services.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site or use the Services, we and our service providers automatically collect certain information about your device and your interactions with the Services. This information may include:

• Device and connection information, such as IP address, device identifier, operating system and version, browser type and version, preferred language, mobile carrier (where applicable), and hardware identifiers.
• Usage information, such as the pages or screens you view, features you use, links you click, the dates and times of your visits, time spent on pages, referring and exit pages, and crash or diagnostic logs.
• Location information, including approximate (city- or region-level) location derived from your IP address and, where you grant permission through your device settings, more precise location of the device used to capture or upload inspection content. We use precise location primarily to associate inspection photographs and findings with the correct property and to record where an inspection was performed.
• Cookies and similar technologies, as described in the section titled “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies” below.

Audio recordings of voice notes captured by Inspectors are treated as inspection content. We do not use these recordings to generate voiceprints or other biometric identifiers.

2.3 Information From Third Parties

In limited circumstances, we may receive information about you from third parties, including:

• Information provided by an Inspector to enable delivery of an inspection report to a Homeowner (such as the Homeowner’s name, email address, telephone number, and property address).
• Information from our service providers, such as our payment processor, authentication and identity-verification providers, hosting and analytics providers, mapping and geocoding providers, and customer-support tooling providers.
• Information from licensing or background-screening services, where applicable to verify the credentials of Inspectors or Contractors.
• Information from public sources, such as state licensing rosters and public property records.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information described above for the following business and operational purposes:

• To provide, operate, and maintain the Services, including creating and managing accounts, authenticating users, generating and delivering inspection reports, supporting the Hank AI assistant, hosting the homeowner portal, and operating the marketplace.
• To facilitate communications between Inspectors, Homeowners, and Contractors as contemplated by the Services, including delivering inspection reports and report links, transmitting bid requests and responses, and routing messages between users.
• To process payments, calculate and invoice subscription, per-area usage, and marketplace fees, remit payments to the appropriate parties, and prevent and investigate fraud or payment disputes.
• To send transactional, service, and administrative communications by email, SMS text message, or in-app notification, including report-ready notices, payment receipts, account activity notices, security alerts, and notices regarding changes to the Services, this Policy, or our Terms of Service.
• To respond to your requests, inquiries, and customer-support tickets, and to provide technical and account assistance.
• To send marketing communications about Hank products, features, and offers, where you have consented or where otherwise permitted by law. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time, as described in the section titled “Your Choices” below.
• To operate, secure, monitor, improve, troubleshoot, debug, and develop the Services, including measuring and analyzing usage, diagnosing technical issues, evaluating the performance of features and AI outputs, and conducting research and product development.
• To improve the artificial intelligence, machine-learning, and rules-based features of the Services. Where we use information you submit to the Services to train, fine-tune, or evaluate AI models, we use commercially reasonable efforts to limit such use to what is reasonably necessary to operate and improve the Services and, where feasible, to use information in de-identified or aggregated form for these purposes.
• To create de-identified or aggregated information that does not identify any particular individual, and to use such information for any lawful business purpose, including analytics, benchmarking, research, and product development.
• To comply with applicable laws, regulations, court orders, subpoenas, and other legal process; to enforce our Terms of Service and other agreements; and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
• To protect the rights, property, safety, and security of Hank, our users, and the public, including for fraud prevention, abuse prevention, and information-security purposes.
• For any other purpose disclosed to you at the time we collect the information, or for which you provide your consent.

4. SMS and Text Message Communications

If you provide us with a mobile telephone number, you consent to receive transactional and service-related text messages from us (or on our behalf) relating to the Services, including report-ready notifications, payment notifications, account-activity messages, security alerts, and similar messages. With your separate, affirmative consent, we may also send you marketing or promotional text messages.

Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies. You can opt out of text messages at any time by replying “STOP” to any text message, or by adjusting your communication preferences in your account settings. After you opt out, you may receive one confirmation message. Opting out of marketing text messages does not affect transactional or service-related messages necessary to provide the Services. For help, reply “HELP” to any text message or contact us using the information in the section titled “How to Contact Us” below. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

5. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

We and our service providers use cookies, web beacons, pixels, software development kits, and similar technologies (collectively, “cookies”) on the Site and within the Services to recognize you and your device, to keep you logged in, to remember your preferences, to measure and analyze usage, to evaluate the performance of features, and to support security and fraud-prevention efforts.

A cookie is a small file placed on your device when you visit a website. We use both session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain on your device until they expire or are deleted). The cookies we use include:

• Strictly necessary cookies, which are required for the Site and Services to function, including for authentication, security, and load balancing.
• Functional cookies, which remember your preferences and settings.
• Analytics cookies, which help us understand how users interact with the Services so that we can measure and improve performance.

We do not currently use cookies or similar technologies on the Services to deliver targeted or interest-based advertising, and we do not currently engage in “cross-context behavioral advertising” as that term is defined under applicable U.S. state privacy laws. If we begin to use such technologies in the future, we will update this Policy and, where required, provide notice and choice.

You can set your browser to refuse some or all browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being set. If you disable cookies, some parts of the Services may not function properly. Some browsers and browser extensions support a Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) signal. Where required by applicable law, we will treat a GPC signal received from your browser as a request to opt out of any sale or sharing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Because there is no common industry standard for “Do Not Track” signals, our Services do not currently respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals. Instead, please use the controls described in this Policy to manage your information.

6. How We Share Personal Information

We share personal information in the following circumstances and with the following categories of recipients:

• Between users of the Services. The Services are designed to enable interactions among Inspectors, Homeowners, and Contractors. As a result, certain information you provide is shared with other users as needed to provide the Services. For example: (i) Inspectors provide Homeowner contact and property information to enable Hank to deliver an inspection report; (ii) inspection reports, including findings, photographs, and observations relating to a property, are shared with the Homeowner; (iii) when a Homeowner elects to use the marketplace, the Homeowner’s property address, the relevant inspection findings, and related information are shared with Contractors invited or selected to bid on the work; and (iv) bid and project information is shared between the Homeowner and the participating Contractor.
• Service providers and processors. We disclose personal information to vendors, contractors, and service providers that perform functions on our behalf, such as cloud hosting, application infrastructure, data storage, authentication, security, fraud prevention, payment processing, customer support, communications (including email and SMS delivery), analytics, mapping and geocoding, identity and license verification, and AI model providers that support our AI features. These providers are bound by contractual obligations to use personal information only to provide services to Hank and to safeguard the information.
• Affiliates. We may share personal information with our parents, subsidiaries, and other affiliates that are bound by privacy and security obligations consistent with this Policy.
• Professional advisors. We may disclose personal information to our lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurers, and similar advisors where reasonably necessary to obtain professional services or to comply with legal or regulatory obligations.
• Legal, safety, and compliance. We may disclose personal information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to: (i) comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental or regulatory request; (ii) enforce our Terms of Service and other agreements; (iii) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; or (iv) protect the rights, property, or safety of Hank, our users, or the public.
• Corporate transactions. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, dissolution, asset sale, or similar transaction, personal information may be transferred to the successor or acquirer as part of that transaction, subject to customary confidentiality protections.
• With your direction or consent. We may share personal information for other purposes that we describe to you at the time of collection or with your consent or at your direction.

We may also disclose aggregated or de-identified information that does not, on its own, identify any individual, for any lawful purpose.

We do not currently sell personal information for money, and we do not currently “sell” or “share” personal information as those terms are defined under applicable U.S. state privacy laws. If we change this practice in the future, we will update this Policy and provide any notice or choice required by applicable law.

7. Artificial Intelligence Features

Portions of the Services use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and large language models to identify objects in inspection media, suggest code citations, draft narrative language, summarize findings, and respond to Homeowner questions through the Hank AI assistant (the “AI Features”). We use information you provide to the Services, including inspection content and questions submitted to the AI assistant, to generate AI Feature outputs that are returned to you and, as described in this Policy, to operate, evaluate, and improve the Services.

AI Features generate outputs based on probability and pattern recognition and may produce errors, omissions, or inaccurate information. AI Features are intended to assist licensed Inspectors and to provide informational responses to Homeowners; they are not a substitute for professional judgment. For more information about the use and limitations of AI Features, please see the Terms of Service.

We do not use the content of your communications with the Hank AI assistant or your inspection content to identify you for advertising or marketing purposes.

8. Your Choices

8.1 Account Information

You can review and update certain account information at any time by signing in to the Services and visiting your account settings. If you would like to deactivate or delete your account, please contact us using the information in the section titled “How to Contact Us” below. We may retain certain information after account closure as described in the section titled “How Long We Retain Information.”

8.2 Marketing Communications

You may opt out of marketing emails by following the “unsubscribe” instructions included in the message, by adjusting your communication preferences in your account settings, or by contacting us using the information in the section titled “How to Contact Us” below. You may opt out of marketing text messages by replying “STOP” as described in the section titled “SMS and Text Message Communications” above. Opting out of marketing communications does not affect transactional or service-related communications necessary to provide the Services.

8.3 Cookies and Tracking

You can manage cookies through your browser settings and, where applicable, through tools we make available within the Services. See the section titled “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies” for more information.

8.4 Location Information

You can control whether the Services may access precise device location through the location-permission settings on your device. If you disable location access, certain features of the Services (such as automatically associating photographs with the correct property) may be limited.

8.5 State Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information, including the right to confirm whether we process your personal information, to access a copy of the personal information we hold about you, to request correction of inaccurate information, to request deletion of personal information, and to opt out of certain processing activities (such as targeted advertising, sale, or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects). The scope of these rights and the exceptions that apply depend on your state of residency and on applicable law.

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information in the section titled “How to Contact Us” below. We will need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests, which may require us to ask for information that allows us to confirm that you are the person about whom we hold information. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf, subject to verification. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

9. How We Protect Personal Information

We use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information from accidental loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These safeguards include access controls, encryption in transit, secure hosting environments, and regular review of our security practices. However, no website, mobile application, or method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials, for limiting access to your devices, and for promptly notifying us of any actual or suspected unauthorized use of your account. Email, SMS, and other electronic messages may not be secure, and you should carefully consider what information you transmit to us through such channels.

10. How Long We Retain Information

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including to provide and improve the Services, to maintain inspection records, to comply with legal, accounting, tax, and reporting obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce our agreements. The criteria we use to determine retention periods include the nature and sensitivity of the information, the purposes for which we process the information, the existence of legal or contractual retention obligations, and the risks associated with continued retention.

Inspection reports and associated inspection content may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to support the Homeowner’s continued access to the Homeowner’s own report and to comply with applicable state inspection record-retention requirements. Information that has been de-identified or aggregated in a manner that does not, on its own, identify any individual may be retained and used as described in this Policy without time limit.

11. U.S.-Based Services

The Services are operated from, and intended for use within, the United States. If you access the Services from outside the United States, you do so at your own initiative and risk, and you understand that your personal information will be transferred to, processed in, and stored in the United States, which may have data-protection laws that differ from those of your country of residence.

12. Third-Party Services and Links

The Services may contain links to, or otherwise integrate with, third-party websites, applications, services, or content. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices of those third parties. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party services you access through or in connection with the Services.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices, the Services, or applicable law. When we make changes, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this Policy and, for material changes, will provide additional notice (such as by email or through an in-product notification) where required by law. Your continued use of the Services after we post a revised Policy constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy. If you do not agree with the revised Policy, please stop using the Services.

14. How to Contact Us

If you have questions, comments, or requests regarding this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us by email at security@hihank.com.