What you type
Every calculator runs in the page. Inputs produce the result in front of you. They are not posted to CostAnswer to keep, profile, or sell.
There are exactly two exceptions, and you choose both of them.
The contact form is the first. If you send a correction, a calculator request, a complaint, or a suggestion, that text leaves your browser through your mail app to the address on the contact page. An optional reply address is only there so we can answer you. Do not put paystubs, account numbers, or medical records in it.
Asking us to connect you with a local professional is the second, and it is described under “Requesting estimates” below. Nothing about that happens unless you fill in that form and tick the box.
Analytics
Analytics are off. Nothing about a visit is measured or sent anywhere. If that changes, this page is updated first and will say exactly what is counted. The amounts you type would stay out of it either way.
Advertising
Advertising is off. No ad network, tag, or tracker loads. Leaderboard, sidebar, and in-content regions stay labeled as reserved space until a public contact address, a dated policy, and an advertising flag are all set.
Affiliate and partner offers
Affiliate offers are off. Some money tools still reserve a partner-comparison slot next to the result so the layout is stable. No partner URL loads until this flag, a public contact address, and a dated policy are set, and a real program URL is configured. Example names in the software are placeholders, not live deals.
Requesting estimates from a professional
This is currently switched off, so no page asks for your contact details for this purpose. What follows describes what happens when it is on.
Before we ask for a phone number at all, we check whether a professional actually covers your area. If none does, we say so and we do not collect your details for later. There is no waiting list.
If you do submit, we send your name, the contact details you gave, your ZIP code, and what you told us about the project to the partner we named on the form. We name them before you agree, not after. They or a professional they work with may then contact you about that project. We are paid a referral fee, which does not change your price and did not change the estimate on the page.
We send one request to one partner. We do not sell the same request to several networks. We do not send your details anywhere if the check above found nobody, and we do not use them to market anything of our own — CostAnswer does not cold call, text or email you.
Your contact details are stored apart from everything else and are never included in analytics. What analytics sees is that a request happened, in which category and which state — never who you are, never your phone number, never your ZIP code.
How long we keep things
Different records have different clocks, and none of them is “forever”.
- Your contact details. 180 days, then erased automatically.
- The record that a request happened, without your contact details: about 4 years, so a payment dispute can be settled.
- Proof of what you agreed to, and when: about 4 years. This is the record that protects you as much as us.
- Counts and totals. Kept as aggregate numbers with nothing identifying in them.
Your choices
You can ask us to stop using your details, to tell you what we hold, or to delete it. Write to the address at the bottom of this page. We will erase your contact details and keep only the record that a request happened and the proof of what you agreed to, which is what the clocks above describe.
One thing we want to be straight about: once a partner has received your request, they hold their own copy under their own policy. We can stop our use of your details and we do. We cannot reach into their systems and delete a record they now control independently, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Their policy, and the contact for it, is named on the form before you agree.
CostAnswer does not sell personal information and does not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. A referral you asked for is not a sale of your data, but if you would rather it had not happened, tell us and we will suppress your details from any future use.
Your advertising choices
These settings are stored in this browser only. There is no account, so they do not follow you to another device or another browser.
Advertising can still appear. It will be chosen from what is on the page rather than from anything about you.
Cookies
No cookies are set for tracking by CostAnswer itself. There is no account and no profile of you. Your browser may still keep its own copy of a page, the way it does for any site.
No advertising network is active, so none is setting one either.
Corrections and requests
No public contact address is listed yet. Analytics and advertising stay off until one is. The contact form still prepares a note you can copy. The form and what to copy from Technical details are on the contact page.