This Privacy Policy explains how Steel Investments LLC (“Steel,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information in connection with Steel Building Depot online and project services.
Our Terms of Use govern use of the Services. By using the Services, you acknowledge this Policy.
Website: www.steelbuildingdepot.com
1. Who we are (controller)
- Legal company name
- Steel Investments LLC
- Brand / trade name
- Steel Building Depot
- Legal structure
- Limited Liability Company (LLC)
- Industry
- Construction / Manufacturing
- EIN
- 99-4515145
- Registered legal address
- 1851 Madison Ave, Suite 300, Council Bluffs, IA 51503, United States
- Business phone
- 712-466-3825
- Business email (primary privacy contact)
- info@steelbuildingdepot.com
- Website
- https://www.steelbuildingdepot.com
Authorized representative for privacy and operations requests
- Full name
- Juana Mares
- Designation / job title
- Operations
- Business email
- juana@storagematerials.com
- Contact number
- 818-799-8415
For privacy questions, email info@steelbuildingdepot.com or Juana Mares at juana@storagematerials.com.
2. Scope of this Policy
This Policy applies to personal information we process when you:
- visit https://www.steelbuildingdepot.com;
- use admin, sales, plant, construction, accounts, or customer portals (including admin.steelbuildingdepot.com, sales.steelbuildingdepot.com, and plant.steelbuildingdepot.com);
- start public chat or submit a website / marketing enquiry form;
- receive or view a quotation, invoice, contract, or drawing;
- upload payment receipts or project files;
- receive OTP, quote, invoice, or follow-up email or SMS;
- use a vendor, shipper, or freight-carrier upload or bid link.
It does not apply to third-party websites we do not control. Staff employment records may also be handled under internal HR policies in addition to this Policy.
3. Personal information we collect
3.1 Identifiers and contact data
We may collect:
- first and last name;
- email address;
- phone number and country code;
- company name;
- mailing or job-site location / city / state / ZIP;
- customer ID or account identifiers we assign.
Sources: you (chat, forms, portal profile), sales staff entering a lead, public records you provide, and files you upload.
3.2 Account and security data
- password (stored hashed, not in plain text);
- password-changed timestamps;
- reset OTP (stored temporarily; expires, typically within about ten (10) minutes);
- profile photo URL if you upload one;
- role (for staff: admin, sales, plant, construction, accounts, etc.);
- whether an account is active or deactivated;
- session tokens (including JWT access/refresh tokens) used to keep you logged in.
3.3 Commercial and project data
- lead and project names, job IDs, building type, dimensions, loads, colors, materials;
- estimates, quotations, version numbers, approval status, approval history, cover messages;
- invoices, line items, tax amounts, payment schedules, PO numbers, due dates;
- payment proofs (receipt files, transaction ID, payment date, amount, notes, review status);
- delivery, plant, BOM, freight-bid, and vendor-quote information tied to a job;
- notes, follow-up dates, and call scripts our staff use internally.
3.4 Communications
- chat messages and form free-text;
- emails we send or receive (including To / CC on quotations and invoices);
- SMS content we send for reminders or drop-off follow-up;
- enquiry notifications sent internally to info@steelbuildingdepot.com.
3.5 Files and drawings
Drawings, photos (including invoice line-item images), PDFs, BOMs, shipper files, payment receipts, and similar documents. These are typically stored with cloud object storage (Amazon S3 or equivalent).
3.6 Vendor and carrier data
Business name, submitted file name and URL, quoted amount, notes, and submission history when a tokenized public link is used.
3.7 Technical and usage data
IP address, timestamps, browser/device type, pages or APIs requested, error logs, and similar diagnostics. We use this to operate, secure, and debug the Services.
3.8 Information we do not intentionally collect
We do not require Social Security numbers through public chat. Do not send sensitive government ID numbers in chat unless we specifically request them through a secure process. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 18 (see Section 12).
4. How we collect information
- Directly from you — chat, forms, portal, email, phone, SMS replies, file uploads.
- Automatically — cookies/tokens, logs, and analytics needed to run the app.
- From our staff — when a salesperson or admin creates or updates a customer, lead, quote, or invoice.
- From service providers — email/SMS delivery status, file-storage URLs, payment-processor metadata if a processor is used.
- From vendors/carriers — quotes and files they upload on a job.
We do not buy marketing lists as a core practice of these Services. If that changes, we will update this Policy.
5. Why we use personal information (purposes)
- Respond to enquiries and operate chat, including matching or creating a customer and lead.
- Quote and sell pre-engineered metal buildings, materials, doors, and related services: estimates, quotations, contracts, drawings, and internal approval workflows (submit, approve, reject, versioning).
- Invoice and collect payment, including sending invoices, tracking due dates, reviewing uploaded payment proofs, and marking invoices paid or rejected.
- Perform the project — engineering, plant, construction, deliveries, freight bids, vendor files, and customer-portal status.
- Communicate — quotes and invoices (To/CC), OTPs, follow-ups by email/SMS, and notices to info@steelbuildingdepot.com.
- Secure the Services — authentication, deactivating staff, audit logs, fraud and abuse prevention.
- Comply with law — tax, accounting, legal claims, and responding to lawful requests.
- Improve operations — quoting accuracy, support quality, and reliability (including limited use of AI tools to summarize quotes or draft follow-up language, using project context you already provided).
We do not sell personal information as that term is commonly used in U.S. state privacy laws, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
6. Legal bases (where a legal basis is required)
If you are in a jurisdiction that requires a legal basis (for example the EEA/UK), we rely on:
- Contract — taking steps at your request before a contract (quotes) and performing a contract (orders, invoices, portal);
- Legitimate interests — running a construction/manufacturing business, securing systems, following up on enquiries you started, internal approvals and audit trails;
- Consent — where required for certain marketing emails/SMS (you may withdraw consent);
- Legal obligation — tax, accounting, and legal process.
7. How we share information
We share personal information only as needed for the purposes above:
- Steel staff with role-based access (admin, sales, plant, construction, accounts)
- Quote, approve, invoice, build, and deliver.
- Cloud database host
- Store customer, lead, quote, invoice, and log records.
- Amazon Web Services (or similar)
- Store files and generate short-lived upload/download links.
- Email provider (e.g. SendGrid)
- Send OTP, quotes, invoices, follow-ups, and internal alerts to info@steelbuildingdepot.com.
- SMS provider (e.g. Twilio)
- Send follow-up and reminder texts to numbers you provided.
- Vendors, shippers, freight carriers
- Bid, supply, or haul a specific job.
- Professional advisers
- Legal, accounting, insurance.
- Authorities
- When required by law, court order, or to protect rights and safety.
- Successor
- Merger, financing, or sale of the business, with appropriate protections.
Service providers are expected to use information only to perform services for us.
We do not sell personal information to third-party advertisers.
8. Cookies, tokens, and tracking
We use essential cookies or equivalent storage (including authorization headers and JWT tokens) so you can log in, stay signed in, and use the portals. These are required for the Services to function.
We do not operate the Steel Building Depot apps as a third-party advertising network. If we later add optional analytics cookies, we will update this Policy and provide choices where required.
You can block cookies in your browser; staff and customer portals may not work without them.
9. Email and SMS (including TCPA-style notice)
If you give us a phone number or email in chat, a form, or an account:
- we may send transactional messages (OTP, quotes, invoices, project status, security);
- we may send follow-up messages about an enquiry or quote you started, including automated reminders if a chat or lead goes quiet;
- marketing / promotional SMS only if you separately opt in (for example by checking an optional, unchecked box on our website quote or inquiry form, or by enabling promotional SMS in account settings where offered);
- marketing messages can be opted out by replying STOP, emailing info@steelbuildingdepot.com, or disabling promotional SMS in settings where available.
Message and data rates may apply. Frequency varies. Consent to marketing SMS is not a condition of purchase. You represent you are the subscriber or customary user of the number you provide.
9.1 SMS opt-in data (Steel Building Depot / A2P 10DLC)
When you opt in to promotional text messages from Steel Building Depot (Steel Investments LLC), we collect and store your mobile number, opt-in timestamp, and related contact information needed to send and honor your preferences.
We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
We share mobile numbers and message content only with our SMS delivery provider (for example Twilio) solely to transmit messages you agreed to receive, and as otherwise described in Section 7 for operating the Services (not for third-party marketing).
10. Retention
We retain information as follows (unless a longer period is required by law or a dispute):
- Customer, lead, quote, invoice, payment, and project files
- Life of the relationship plus a period needed for warranty, tax, and legal records (often several years after project close).
- Chat and enquiry content
- As long as the lead/customer record is retained.
- OTP codes
- Until expiry or use (about 10 minutes) plus a short security log.
- Audit / activity logs
- As needed for security and operations.
- Staff accounts
- Duration of authorization, then as required for employment and security records.
- Vendor upload tokens and submissions
- Duration of the bid/job plus a reasonable archive period.
You may request deletion (Section 13). We may keep information we must retain for legal, tax, or fraud-prevention reasons, in which case we will limit further use.
11. Security
We implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the data, including:
- HTTPS for the Services;
- hashed passwords;
- role-based access (staff see what their role allows);
- tokens for authenticated APIs;
- cloud-provider security for databases and file storage;
- ability to deactivate staff accounts.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. You are responsible for keeping your password and OTP confidential. Report suspected incidents to info@steelbuildingdepot.com or Juana Mares at juana@storagematerials.com.
12. Children
The Services are for business customers and adults. They are not directed to children under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child provided information, contact info@steelbuildingdepot.com and we will delete it where required.
13. Your choices and rights
13.1 All users
You may:
- request a copy of personal information we hold about you;
- request correction of inaccurate data;
- update email or phone;
- opt out of marketing email/SMS;
- request deletion, subject to Section 10 exceptions;
- close a portal account by contacting us.
Send requests to info@steelbuildingdepot.com. We may need to verify your identity (for example, matching email or invoice number).
13.2 United States state privacy rights
Depending on your state of residence (including, where applicable, California and other comprehensive state privacy laws), you may have the right to:
- know / access categories and specific pieces of personal information;
- delete personal information;
- correct inaccurate personal information;
- opt out of sale or sharing of personal information (we do not sell or share for cross-context ads as described above);
- limit use of sensitive personal information if we collect it;
- not be discriminated against for exercising rights.
To exercise these rights, email info@steelbuildingdepot.com with the subject line “Privacy Request” and your state of residence. You may use an authorized agent as allowed by law; we will require proof of authorization. We will respond within the time required by applicable law.
Categories collected (last 12 months, typical): identifiers; commercial information (quotes/invoices); internet/technical activity; professional/employment information (staff and vendor contacts); visual files you upload. Sources: you, your devices, our staff, vendors on a job, service providers. Business purposes: Section 5. Disclosures: Section 7.
We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than those allowed for providing the Services.
13.3 EEA / UK / similar
If those laws apply to you, you may also have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection, and the right to withdraw consent. You may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. We process data in the United States; transfers are based on contract necessity, your consent, or other lawful transfer mechanisms.
14. International processing
The Services are hosted and operated primarily in the United States. If you access them from another country, you understand your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where laws may be less protective than in your country.
15. Automated tools and AI
We may use automated systems and third-party AI to:
- help score or summarize a lead or quote;
- draft follow-up language;
- generate document HTML/PDF from project data.
These tools assist staff. They do not, by themselves, make a legal decision to deny you a building. Final quotes, approvals, and credit/payment decisions are made by Steel personnel under our processes.
16. Do Not Track
Some browsers send “Do Not Track” signals. There is no common standard for responding. Our Services do not alter behavior solely based on DNT signals. We honor required opt-out mechanisms under applicable state law when you contact us as in Section 13.
17. Third-party links
Our website or emails may link to third parties (carriers, banks, map tools). Their privacy practices are their own. Review their policies before providing information to them.
18. Data breaches
If we become aware of a breach of personal information that requires notice under applicable law, we will notify affected individuals and regulators as required, using the email we have on file and/or notice on https://www.steelbuildingdepot.com, and we will take reasonable steps to mitigate.
19. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Policy. The “Last updated” date will change. The current version will be posted on https://www.steelbuildingdepot.com or a linked page. Material changes may also be announced by email from info@steelbuildingdepot.com. Continued use after an update means you acknowledge the revised Policy.
20. Contact — Privacy Policy
Steel Investments LLC
Steel Building Depot
1851 Madison Ave, Suite 300
Council Bluffs, IA 51503
United States
Privacy and general enquiries: info@steelbuildingdepot.com
Phone: 712-466-3825
Website: https://www.steelbuildingdepot.com
Authorized representative
Juana Mares, Operations
juana@storagematerials.com
818-799-8415
EIN: 99-4515145
Please include “Privacy Request” in the subject line for access, deletion, or correction requests.
Publication note from the supplied PDF: The PDF identifies this as a working draft for publication on Steel Building Depot properties and recommends review by qualified counsel before going live.