Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Tool Tackle LLC, doing business as "Pinch Estimating" ("we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you use the website at pinchestimating.net and pinchestimating.com, our project dispatch software, and related services (collectively, the "Service").

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account information: name, email address, phone number, password hash, role (admin, estimator, or client), and profile details such as trades, location, availability, and the estimating software you use.
• Client account & consent records: when you create a Client account to submit a project, we collect your email address, password hash, and a record of your acceptance of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (including a timestamp). This account powers your personal dashboard where you can view your submitted intakes, their current status, uploaded files, and related communications.
• Mailing address: for Estimators, the country, street address, optional apartment/suite, city, region (state, province, county, etc.), and postal code you provide. The exact fields adapt to the country you select.
• Identity and tax documents: for Estimators, images or scans of government-issued photo identification (front and back) and tax forms such as IRS Form W-9 (U.S.) or Form W-8BEN (non-U.S.), along with related metadata such as document type, country, and region. These files are stored in a private storage bucket and access is restricted to you and authorized Admins.
• Project intake submissions: when you submit a project through our "Upload Plans & Request Pricing" intake portal, we collect your "Prepared By" contact details and company info, optional "Prepared For" recipient details (GC or client company, contact, email, phone, address) used to address the bid proposal, project information (name, address, type, square footage, bid date, start date), trades requested, service type (which may include takeoffs, estimates, change orders, alternates/addenda, or bid review), turnaround need, project notes, any files you upload (plans, specs, spreadsheets, drawings, images), and an optional business logo for use on the bid proposal. Intake files are stored in a private storage bucket accessible only to authorized Admins via short-lived signed URLs.
• Project information: project documents, plans, takeoff files, bid responses, deliverables, statuses, and related communications.
• Payment information: payout details and payment status. Card and bank details for Client project payments (processed by Stripe via a payment link we email after quoting) and for the optional $120/month estimating-software seat are handled by our third-party payment processors; we do not store full card numbers on our servers. We do receive limited transaction metadata such as amount, currency, payment status, last four digits, and Stripe transaction IDs in order to associate a payment with a project and release work to an estimator. For freelance estimators, we also collect the payout contact details you provide (e.g., Found payment email/phone for U.S.-based estimators, or Wise account details such as name, email, country, and receiving currency for international estimators located outside the United States).
• Profile change history: when you edit material profile fields (such as trades, states served, software, payout details, mailing address, or identity documents), we record the previous and new values, who made the change, and a timestamp, so Admins can review and re-approve the updated profile.
• Performance metrics & tier: for Estimators, we compute and store performance metrics derived from your activity on the Service, including number of completed jobs, average client rating, on-time delivery percentage, and offer acceptance rate. From these metrics we calculate a tier (Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum), which is visible to authorized Admins (including in an internal leaderboard view) and to you on your Estimator dashboard, and which may influence the order in which project offers are dispatched.
• Profile completeness & reminder history: for Estimators, we track which required signup and profile fields are missing, whether your account is currently flagged as "Incomplete Signup," and the timestamp and count of reminders we have sent you (in-app and email today, and potentially SMS or other channels in the future) prompting you to complete your profile. This history is visible to authorized Admins.
• Status & moderation history: we record status changes on project intakes and estimator assignments (e.g., Pending, Reviewing, Awaiting Payment, Pricing Sent, In Progress, Completed, Declined), the Admin who made the change, and a timestamp. We also record administrative actions such as hiding, unhiding, or deleting accounts and records for audit and abuse-prevention purposes.
• Usage data: log data, IP address, browser type, device identifiers, pages visited, actions taken in the Service, and timestamps.
• Cookies and similar technologies: session cookies, authentication tokens, and limited analytics identifiers.
• Communications: emails and messages you send us, including support requests and replies to dispatched offers.

• Operate, maintain, and improve the Service.
• Create and authenticate accounts and verify Estimator identity and eligibility, including reviewing government ID and tax documentation you upload.
• Review project intake submissions, prepare flat-fee quotes, and email Clients a Stripe payment link to authorize project work.
• Match Estimators to projects based on trade, location, software, and availability.
• Calculate Estimator performance metrics and tier (Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum) and use them to prioritize the order in which project offers are dispatched and to surface top performers to authorized Admins.
• Detect incomplete Estimator signups, flag affected accounts, and send automated and manual reminders (in-app and email today, and potentially SMS, push, or other channels in the future) prompting Estimators to finish required profile information so they can become eligible to receive offers.
• Process Client project payments via Stripe and estimator payouts via Found/Wise, and track payment statuses (e.g., Quoted, Awaiting Payment, Paid, In Progress, Completed).
• Send transactional and dispatch-related emails (project offers, automated status-change notifications to the account holder when an intake or estimator status is updated, account notices, and administrative notifications such as new estimator signup alerts to Admins).
• Provide each Client with a personal dashboard for viewing their submitted intakes, current statuses, uploaded plans, and quote information.
• Allow authorized Admins to hide, unhide, or delete accounts and records for moderation, abuse prevention, and housekeeping, subject to applicable legal retention obligations.
• Provide customer support and respond to inquiries.
• Detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, abuse, security incidents, and policy violations.
• Comply with legal obligations, including tax reporting and contractor due-diligence requirements (e.g., 1099 reporting in the U.S. and equivalent obligations for international contractors).

Where required by law (for example, under GDPR-like regimes), we rely on the following legal bases: performance of a contract with you, our legitimate interests in operating and improving the Service and preventing fraud, your consent (where required), and compliance with legal obligations.

We share information only as described below; we do not sell personal information.

• Between Admins and Estimators: project details, profile data, and deliverables are shared with the parties involved in a given project.
• Service providers: hosting, database, email delivery, authentication, analytics, and payment processors (including Stripe for Client project payments, and Found and Wise for estimator payouts) that process data on our behalf under written agreements.
• International contractor payments (Wise): for freelance estimators located outside the United States, payment-related information (including name, email, country, and receiving account details) may be shared with Wise (wise.com) for the sole purpose of processing international contractor payments. Wise may process this personal and financial information according to its own terms and privacy policy, which we encourage international contractors to review.
• Legal and safety: when required by law, subpoena, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Pinch Estimating, our users, or others.
• Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to standard confidentiality protections.

We retain personal information for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward to comply with legal, accounting, and tax obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Project records and payment records are typically retained for at least seven (7) years for tax and audit purposes. Identity and tax documents you upload are retained for as long as required by applicable tax, anti-fraud, and recordkeeping laws, and may be deleted earlier on request where we are not required to keep them.

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information, including encryption in transit, role-based access controls, and database row-level security. Identity documents and tax forms are kept in a private storage bucket that is not publicly accessible; viewing them by an Admin generates a short-lived signed URL rather than a permanent public link. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

• You can update your account information at any time from your profile.
• As a Client, you can view your submitted project intakes and their current status from your dashboard at any time. Records that have been hidden or deleted by an Admin may no longer appear in your dashboard.
• You can replace or remove identity and tax documents you have uploaded from your Estimator profile, subject to the legal retention obligations described in Section 6.
• You can opt out of non-transactional emails by following the unsubscribe link in those emails. We will still send transactional messages required to operate your account, including automated status-update emails when one of your intakes or assignments changes status.
• Depending on your jurisdiction (e.g., California, EU/UK), you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or port your personal information, or to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise these rights, contact us using the details below.
• We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in jurisdictions where that is the threshold).

Pinch Estimating is operated from the United States. If you access the Service from outside the U.S., you understand that your information will be processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

We use strictly necessary cookies and tokens for authentication and session management, and limited cookies for analytics and product improvement. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling them may break parts of the Service (such as staying signed in).

The Service may link to third-party sites (including payment processors and estimating software vendors). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties; please review their privacy policies separately.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, notify you by email or through the Service.

Tool Tackle LLC d/b/a Pinch Estimating
Email: info@pinchestimating.com
Phone: 484-823-0388