Privacy policy

Tool use: The calculators and checkers run in your browser. We do not need your name, phone number, street address, mortgage details, insurance policy, or bank information to show an estimate.

Permit Pathfinder also keeps its route answers and any address you enter in your browser, not in an answer database we control. A route can resume that saved copy for 30 days after the last change. After that, the route ignores and removes it when that same route opens again. Because browser storage cannot clean itself while the site is closed, an expired copy may remain on the device until the route opens or you clear the browser's site data. Read the tool'sprivacy pagebefore using it on a shared device.

If you choose to copy, print, or email a calculator result, that shared result may include the numbers you entered. That sharing is under your control; Michigan Porch does not send those details to us.

Email signups: When you join our email list, we collect your email address through Beehiiv, the platform we use to send the newsletter.

Page feedback: If you send a note, we receive the note type, message, optional reply email, page address and title, broad content type, and the time it reached us. Cloudflare also receives the network information needed to deliver the request and run its Turnstile spam check. We combine the IP address and browser user-agent into a one-way rate-limit key. That short-lived key is not attached to the feedback we store or deliver.

Hosting, security, and traffic data: Cloudflare delivers and protects the site and may process basic request, device, and security signals. Michigan Porch uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand which pages people visit and whether those pages load well. Its reports may include total visits and page views, page paths, referring sites, broad country and device details, and page-speed measurements such as Core Web Vitals. Cloudflare says this service does not use cookies or local storage, does not fingerprint individual readers, and does not log URL query strings. Calculator entries, search words, feedback messages, and email addresses are not sent to this service. SeeCloudflare's Web Analytics overviewand FAQ.

Useful-action counts: Michigan Porch also counts a small set of actions that show whether the directory is helping: opening a search result, getting no search result, using a calculator, following an official source, moving to a place or county page, opening Permit Pathfinder, and opening or sending feedback. Permit Pathfinder uses the same narrow collector to count route views and starts, call sheets reached, export choices, official-source clicks, and related-check handoffs. These counts contain only the action name, the current page path, and a broad type such asplace or guide. They do not include raw search words, calculator entries or results, Pathfinder answers or addresses, feedback messages, email addresses, URL query strings, cookies, account IDs, or visitor identifiers. The browser collector runs only on the public Permit Pathfinder host, and the endpoint rejects browser requests from other sites and fields beyond the action, path, and broad label. This signal does not run when Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track is enabled in the browser.

Ads and affiliate links: Google AdSense is planned, but ads are not currently active. If ads are enabled later, Google AdSense and other advertising partners may use cookies or similar technology to serve and measure ads. When you follow a marked affiliate link, the affiliate network and merchant may receive the click and use cookies or similar technology to attribute a later purchase.

We disclose information to service providers only as needed for their work: Cloudflare for hosting, security, storage, and Turnstile; Beehiiv for newsletter signup and delivery; and, when configured, Resend or a private webhook for feedback delivery. These providers handle information under their own contracts and privacy terms. We may also disclose information when law requires it or when reasonably necessary to protect the site, its readers, or another person's rights or safety.

Read the service providers' policies: Cloudflare privacy,Turnstile privacy,Beehiiv privacy, andResend privacy.

Feedback stored in our Cloudflare inbox is set to expire after 180 days. Copies delivered to our private email or webhook inbox are reviewed regularly and ordinarily deleted on the same schedule. We may keep a particular record longer when it is needed to finish a correction, prevent abuse, comply with law, or preserve a legal claim or defense.

Rate-limit records expire in about two minutes. Newsletter information stays with Beehiiv until you unsubscribe or it is no longer needed for delivery, recordkeeping, security, or legal obligations.

You can use the site without sending feedback or joining the newsletter. Newsletter emails include an unsubscribe link. You may also ask what personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by emailing hello@michiganporch.com. We may need enough information to verify and complete the request.

Cloudflare may set short-lived, strictly necessary security cookies such as __cf_bm to distinguish ordinary visits from automated traffic. Michigan Porch does not use those cookies for advertising or to build a reader profile.

If ads are enabled, Google AdSense may use cookies to serve ads based on visits to this site or other sites. You can control personalized Google ads in Google My Ad Center or learn more from Google's partner-sites policy.