Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

In plain English first

We do not collect personal information when you read the site. We do not ask for your email. We do not run accounts, logins, or sign-up forms. We do not track you, and we do not build any advertising profile of you. You are not the product. You can use every tool, read every guide, and browse the whole site without giving us anything about yourself.

This policy explains, in plain language, what we do and do not do with personal information, and your rights under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).

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1. Who we are (the responsible party)

SiteKiln is a free plain-English guidance site for South African tradespeople. SiteKiln is operated by Kiln Network Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17324534), of East Lodge, Kartway House, Lugwardine, Hereford, HR1 4AE, United Kingdom (referred to here as "we", "us" and "the responsible party" as defined in POPIA). Because we provide this site to people in South Africa, we treat POPIA as applying to how we handle your personal information.

POPIA requires every responsible party to appoint an Information Officer. Our Information Officer is Scott Jones, who you can reach at hello@kilnguides.co.uk. The Information Officer is responsible for how we handle personal information and for dealing with any request or complaint about it.

2. What information we process

If you just read the site (no account)

We do not collect personal information.

• We do not ask for your name, email, address, phone number, ID number, or any other personal information.
• We do not run sign-up forms, login systems, or user accounts.
• We do not use third-party tracking pixels, Meta Pixel, Google Ads remarketing, or any programmatic ad network that follows you around the internet.

We use a privacy-first, cookieless analytics tool to understand which pages are useful. It sets no cookies, collects nothing that can identify you, and does not track you across other websites. You are not the product. See our Cookie Policy for details.

If you contact us

If you send us a message, we process whatever you choose to give us (for example your name, email address and the content of your message) for one purpose only: so that we can reply to you. Supplying this information is voluntary, but we cannot respond if you do not give us a way to reach you. We delete these messages after 12 months unless there is an ongoing conversation.

If you are an advertiser or sponsor

We process the business contact details you give us during an enquiry or booking, so that we can manage the advertising relationship.

3. Why we are allowed to process it (lawful grounds)

When we do process personal information, we rely on the grounds for lawful processing in section 11 of POPIA, which for us means:

• Your consent, for example when you choose to send us a message.
• A contract you are party to, for example managing an advertising booking you have made.
• Our legitimate interests (or those of a third party), such as keeping the site secure and replying to a genuine enquiry, balanced against your rights.
• A legal obligation, for example keeping the tax records the law requires us to keep.

We aim to meet the eight conditions for lawful processing set out in POPIA: accountability, processing limitation, purpose specification, further-processing limitation, information quality, openness, security safeguards, and participation.

4. Information stored in your own browser (localStorage)

Some of our tools save your entries in your browser's localStorage so they are still there when you come back. This may include tools like the Monthly Profit Tracker, the PPE Budget Estimator, the Quarterly Business Check and your saved guides.

What you need to know:

• Your data is saved in your browser only. It is never sent to our servers.
• We cannot see, access or recover this data.
• Clearing your browser history, cache or site data will delete it.
• The data is not encrypted and is not backed up.
• If you switch to a different device or browser, your saved data will not follow you.

To remove locally stored data without clearing your whole browser cache, you can do so in your browser's developer tools under Application, then Local Storage.

5. Cookies and tracking

The short version: we do not track you, and you are not the product.

• We do not use advertising cookies, retargeting cookies, social-media tracking pixels, or any cookie that follows you around the internet.
• We do not sell, rent or share information about you with anyone.
• Our analytics is cookieless and anonymous: it counts page views without setting a cookie and without collecting anything that can identify you.
• The entries you make in our tools are stored in your own browser's localStorage (see section 4). That is not a cookie, and it never leaves your device.

Full details are in our Cookie Policy.

6. Advertising: how it works on SiteKiln

Any ads you see on this site are not targeted based on your browsing history. We do not track what you do on other websites and use it to follow you around with ads.

Our advertising is contextual and industry-specific:

• Ads are relevant to the section you are reading, not to your personal data.
• If you are reading about insurance, you might see an ad from an insurer. If you are reading about training, you might see a training provider. That is it.

We do not:

• Use programmatic ad networks.
• Build advertising profiles based on your behaviour.
• Share any of your information with advertisers.
• Let advertisers influence the content of our guides.

Sponsors and advertisers pay for placement on the site. They do not pay for access to your information. Editorial and advertising are kept completely separate.

7. Direct marketing

We will not send you unsolicited electronic marketing. In line with section 69 of POPIA, we will only send you electronic direct marketing if you have asked us to, or where the law otherwise allows it, and every message will give you a clear way to opt out.

8. Where your information is processed (cross-border)

Our site and its back end run on managed cloud infrastructure (Lovable Cloud, built on Supabase, hosted on Amazon Web Services in the European Union, in the eu-central-1 region in Frankfurt, Germany). This processing therefore takes place outside South Africa. Where personal information is transferred outside South Africa, section 72 of POPIA requires that it is protected by laws, binding rules or agreements that provide a level of protection comparable to POPIA. The European Union's regime (the GDPR) provides such protection, and we rely on our hosting providers' contractual commitments.

9. How long we keep information

When we delete information, we delete it properly. We do not just archive it somewhere you cannot see.

10. Your rights under POPIA

As a data subject, POPIA gives you the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you, and ask who has had access to it.
• Correction or deletion of personal information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, or held without authority.
• Object to the processing of your personal information on reasonable grounds.
• Not be subject to unsolicited electronic direct marketing.
• Complain to the Information Regulator (see section 12).

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer (section 1). We will respond as soon as reasonably possible. Some requests may be subject to the procedures and fees in the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

11. How we keep information safe

In line with section 19 of POPIA, we take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information:

• Information is stored on secure cloud infrastructure.
• Access is limited to the few people who actually need it.
• We review our practices regularly and delete anything we no longer need.

If a security compromise affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

12. The Information Regulator

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, you can complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa):

• Website: inforegulator.org.za
• POPIA complaints email: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
• General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
• Telephone: 010 023 5200
• Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001

13. Children

SiteKiln is aimed at adults working in the construction industry. We do not knowingly collect the personal information of children. Under POPIA a child is anyone under the age of 18. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact our Information Officer and we will delete it.

14. Special personal information

We do not seek or knowingly process "special personal information" as defined in POPIA (such as health, race, religion, trade-union membership, or biometric information), or anyone's ID number, except where you volunteer it in a message to us and it is necessary to deal with your query.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top will change when we do. If we make a significant change, we will post a notice on the site.

16. Contact

For any privacy or question, or to exercise a right under POPIA, contact our Information Officer at hello@kilnguides.co.uk. You can also reach us through the details on our About page.