Compare Data Group Ltd is the controller for Compare Builders. This notice explains how Compare Builders uses cookies and similar technologies, and how you can control them. It sits alongside our Privacy notice.
1. What cookies are
Cookies are small files placed on your device when you visit a website. Similar technologies, such as pixels and local storage, work in a comparable way. We use them to make the site work, to remember your choices, to understand how the site is used, and, if you agree, to support marketing.
2. The cookies we use
We group our cookies into four categories. The table shows which ones need your consent and which do not. Sections 4 and 5 name each cookie.
| Category | What it does | Do we need your consent? |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Make the site work, such as signing in, security and balancing traffic | No. The site cannot run without them. |
| Functional | Remember your settings and preferences so the site looks and works the way you expect | No, under current UK rules, where used only for this purpose |
| Analytics | Help us understand how the site is used, in aggregate, so we can improve it | No, under current UK rules, where used only to produce aggregate statistics |
| Advertising and marketing | Measure and support marketing, and may be set by third parties | Yes. These stay off until you accept them. |
3. Managing your cookies
On your first visit our cookie banner asks which optional cookies you accept. We remember your answer in the cb_cookie_consent cookie for 180 days, and then ask again. We also ask again if we change the choices we offer. You can change your answer at any time with the Cookie settings link at the foot of our pages. If you withdraw a choice, some cookies already on your device may stay until they expire or you delete them.
You can control cookies through your browser settings, which let you block or delete them, although blocking some cookies may affect how the site works. Strictly necessary cookies cannot be switched off, because the site cannot run without them. If you have any question about the cookies we use, contact us at privacy@comparedatagroup.com.
4. Third-party cookies
Some cookies are set by our service providers, including those in the table below, with how long each provider says they last. Where a provider does not publish a lifetime, the table says so.
Google Analytics runs on our main information pages, and only after you accept analytics cookies.
Microsoft Clarity helps us see how visitors use our pages, through heatmaps and recordings of clicks, scrolling and mouse movement. It runs on every page of the site, including our enquiry form and the pages you see when signed in. Before you make a cookie choice, and if you refuse analytics cookies, Clarity still records how you use each page, without cookies: Microsoft says it then gives each page view a new ID and does not link it to your other page views. If you accept analytics cookies, Clarity sets the cookies listed below and can link the pages you view into one visit. Whenever the Google Analytics cookies are in your browser, we pass Clarity the visitor and visit IDs stored in them, on every page, including pages where Google Analytics itself does not run, such as our enquiry form. Google Analytics sets those cookies only after you accept analytics cookies. This links your Clarity data to your Google Analytics visits. If you accept marketing cookies, Microsoft says Clarity shares data with Microsoft Advertising, to help target and measure adverts, and Microsoft may set its MUID cookie.
HubSpot, the system we keep our customer records in, runs on our public pages only after you accept analytics cookies. It never runs on the pages you see when signed in, or on a page you open from a private link, such as a quote, an invoice or an unsubscribe link. It records the pages you view and the links and buttons you click, with their wording and where they lead, and works out an identifier from details of your browser and device (a browser fingerprint). When you send one of our enquiry, sign up or download forms, HubSpot also keeps a copy of what you entered and links it to your visits. Our waitlist forms are not copied this way. If you refuse or withdraw analytics cookies, we delete HubSpot’s cookies, and if its code is running on the page you are on, we reload the page so that it stops.
The Meta Pixel runs on our public pages, our waitlist pages included, and only after you accept marketing cookies. It never runs on the pages you see when signed in, or on a page you open from a private link. It tells Meta which of our pages you view, and when you join one of our waitlists, send us a job or send us a tradesperson application, so we can measure our Meta adverts. With those it sends only the type of project or business, never your name, your contact details or anything you typed into our forms. It sets the _fbp and _fbc cookies listed below. It also keeps a few notes in your browser’s local storage: the Facebook or Instagram links that brought you here, and whether you last came to us from Facebook, Instagram or another site, and when. If you refuse or withdraw marketing cookies, it stops sending anything, we delete those two cookies and those notes, and if it is running on the page you are on, we reload the page so that it stops.
YouTube plays the films on our videos page. A film loads only when you press play, or straight away if you have accepted marketing cookies. YouTube then sets its own cookies.
Plaid runs our bank funds check. Its window opens only when you choose to verify your budget with your bank. Some of our articles and guides may also include content from another site, such as a video or a map. That content loads with the page, before you make a cookie choice, and the site it comes from may set its own cookies.
| Cookie | Category | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Analytics | Google Analytics. Tells one visitor from another so visits can be counted | 2 years |
| _ga_4C95GTX93L | Analytics | Google Analytics. Keeps track of your current visit | 2 years |
| _clck | Analytics | Microsoft Clarity. Keeps the same Clarity ID for you, and your Clarity preferences, across visits | 1 year |
| _clsk | Analytics | Microsoft Clarity. Joins the pages you view in one visit into a single recording | 1 day |
| CLID | Analytics | Microsoft Clarity, set on Microsoft's own domain. Records when Clarity first saw your browser on any site that uses Clarity | Set by Microsoft |
| __hstc | Analytics | HubSpot. Tells one visitor from another and records when you first and last visited | 6 months |
| hubspotutk | Analytics | HubSpot. Your HubSpot visitor ID. It is sent with our enquiry, sign up and download forms so HubSpot can link the form to your visits | 6 months |
| __hssc | Analytics | HubSpot. Counts the pages you view in one visit | 30 minutes |
| __hssrc | Analytics | HubSpot. Tells HubSpot when you have restarted your browser | Until you close your browser |
| MUID, ANONCHK, MR, SM | Advertising and marketing | Microsoft Clarity, set on Microsoft's own domains. Microsoft sets MUID only if you accept marketing cookies. It recognises your browser across Microsoft sites, and Microsoft says it uses it for advertising, site analytics and other operational purposes. ANONCHK, MR and SM help Microsoft manage MUID | Set by Microsoft |
| _fbp | Advertising and marketing | Meta Pixel, on our public pages, only if you accept marketing cookies. Tells one browser from another, so Meta can link the pages you view and the forms you complete on our site to our Meta adverts | Set by Meta |
| _fbc | Advertising and marketing | Meta Pixel, only if you accept marketing cookies. Set when you arrive from a link on Facebook or Instagram (for example one of our adverts), and records that click | Set by Meta |
| YouTube cookies | Advertising and marketing | Films on our videos page are played by YouTube, using its privacy-enhanced service. YouTube sets its own cookies once a film loads | Set by YouTube |
| Plaid cookies | Strictly necessary | Plaid runs our bank funds check. Its window opens only when you choose to verify your budget with your bank, and Plaid may then set its own cookies | Set by Plaid |
5. How long cookies last
Each cookie stays on your device for a set time, shown below, unless you delete it sooner. The table lists every cookie we set ourselves. Cookies set by our providers are listed in section 4.
| Cookie | Category | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| cb_cookie_consent | Strictly necessary | Remembers the choices you made in our cookie banner: which optional cookies you accepted and when | 180 days |
| cb_homeowner_session | Strictly necessary | Keeps you signed in to your homeowner account | 30 days |
| cb_project_id | Strictly necessary | Saves your enquiry progress so you can resume | 14 days |
| cb_funds_step_up | Strictly necessary | Remembers that you have just confirmed your mobile number with a code, so you can connect your bank to verify your budget or start our online identity check. It is set only while one of those is available, when you send us your project or enter a text code for that check | 30 minutes |
| cb_pro_idv_code | Strictly necessary | Lets us check the code we text you before our online identity check opens in your Pro account. It holds no code you could read | 10 minutes |
| cb_pro_idv_step_up | Strictly necessary | Remembers that you have just entered the code we texted you, so our online identity check can open in your Pro account | 30 minutes |
| cb_builder_app_id | Strictly necessary | Saves your builder application progress so you can resume | 21 days |
| cb_signup_prefill | Strictly necessary | Carries the name, email address and mobile number you enter on our trade sign up page to the sign up form, so they are never put in the page address. Only our sign up pages receive it, and it is removed when you send that form | 15 minutes |
| cb_waitlist_claim | Strictly necessary | Holds the one-time link from your waitlist email or text while the page that opens your project or application loads, so the link never appears in that page's address. It is set only when you open such a link, and only that page receives it | 1 hour |
| cb_trade_session | Strictly necessary | Keeps you signed in to your Pro account | 14 days |
| cb_builder_session | Strictly necessary | Keeps you signed in as a verified builder | 14 days |
| cb_dash | Strictly necessary | Shows a Dashboard link in the site header while you are signed in, and, before our launch, stops our builder waitlist message opening for someone who already has an account. It holds no sign-in details | As long as the sign-in it goes with: 30 days, 14 days or 12 hours |
| cb_cp_anon | Analytics | A random ID that links the estimates you run in our cost planner to an enquiry you then start, so we can count how often an estimate leads to an enquiry. A copy is kept in your browser's local storage. It is set only if you accept analytics cookies. If you refuse or withdraw them, we stop using it and remove it the next time you open the cost planner | 1 year |
| cb_admin_session | Strictly necessary | Staff sign-in to the admin console | 12 hours |
| cb_admin_two_step | Strictly necessary | Holds a staff sign-in open between the password and the authenticator code. It does not sign anyone in | 5 minutes |
| cb_trade_view_as | Strictly necessary | Lets our staff see a Pro account as its owner sees it, to give support | 30 minutes |
| cb_view_as_grant | Strictly necessary | A one-time check that starts that staff support view | 2 minutes |
| cb_seo_session | Strictly necessary | Sign-in to the portal our content agency uses to edit the site | 8 hours |
| cb_maintenance_bypass | Strictly necessary | Lets staff preview the site while it is closed for maintenance | 7 days |
Before our launch, if you accept functional cookies, our homepage also keeps one entry in your browser’s session storage, cb_builder_popup_seen. It remembers that our builder waitlist message has already opened during this visit, so it does not open again each time you return to the homepage. It holds nothing about you and is deleted when you close the tab. If you refuse or withdraw functional cookies, we do not set it and remove it the next time you open the homepage.
6. Changes and contact
We may update this notice as our cookies change. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. For any questions, contact us at privacy@comparedatagroup.com.