Terms of Use

Last updated: 23 October 2026. Effective immediately for new users; existing beta testers will receive notice ahead of any change.

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Kestrel®, a Windows desktop application for construction takeoff, provided by Alves Rowe Ltd ("Alves Rowe", "we", "us", "our"). By installing Kestrel, activating an activation key, or paying for a Kestrel subscription, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use Kestrel.

1. Who we are

Alves Rowe Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales (Companies House number 16682818), with registered office at 44 Belmore Road, Eastbourne, BN22 8BL. Our VAT registration number is GB 520 3368 24. Contact: info@alvesrowe.com.

2. Licence

Kestrel is licensed to you, not sold. Subject to these Terms and an active subscription or beta entitlement, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use Kestrel on one machine at a time for your internal business or personal use.

You may not:

Kestrel needs to reach the internet occasionally. You can work offline, but Kestrel confirms your subscription with our servers from time to time and needs to do so at least once every 5 days. If it cannot, Kestrel becomes read-only until it reconnects: your projects stay on your machine, nothing is deleted, and full use returns as soon as the check succeeds.

3. Your account and subscription

To use a paid Kestrel subscription you need to provide a valid email address and pay via our payment provider (Stripe). You are responsible for keeping your activation key confidential and for all activity on your account. If you suspect your key has been compromised, contact us immediately so we can issue a replacement.

4. Pricing, payment and VAT

Current Kestrel prices are published at takeoff.alvesrowe.com/pricing. Prices are exclusive of VAT. Where applicable, VAT or equivalent tax is added at checkout at the prevailing rate based on your billing location. Payment is taken in advance for each subscription period (monthly or annual) and processed by Stripe; we do not store your card details.

We may change pricing on renewal with at least 30 days' notice by email to your account address. If you don't accept a price change, you can cancel before the renewal date and the new price will not apply to you.

5. Free trial, auto-renewal and cancellation

New customers can start a 14-day free trial without giving any payment details. To continue after the trial, add a payment card before it ends (Settings → Account in the Kestrel app). The subscription then converts to a paid subscription automatically and your first payment is taken at the end of the trial; if you change your mind, cancel before the trial ends and you will not be charged. If no card has been added by the end of the trial, the subscription ends automatically, nothing is charged, and Kestrel becomes read-only: you can still open, view and export existing projects but cannot make changes. The free trial is available once per customer. If you have had a Kestrel trial or subscription before, a new subscription starts without a trial and your first payment is taken when you subscribe.

Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each period (monthly or annual) until you cancel. You can cancel any time in Settings → Account in the Kestrel app; cancellation takes effect at the end of your current period and you keep full access until then.

If a renewal payment fails, we email you so you can update your card, and Kestrel becomes read-only until the payment goes through: you can still open, view and export your existing projects, but cannot make changes. Our payment provider retries the payment for a short period; if it is still unpaid after that, we may cancel your subscription.

6. Refunds

Refunds are governed by our Refund Policy. In summary, we offer a 14-day money-back guarantee on first paid subscriptions and on each annual renewal. After 14 days we don't refund partial periods. Your statutory rights as a UK consumer are not affected.

7. Referral credit

If you refer someone to Kestrel using your referral link and they take out a paid subscription, you and they each receive one month free. The free month is given as credit against your subscription, not as a cash payment. Credit is applied automatically to your next invoice, before VAT, and is not exchangeable for money.

What a month is worth. One month free means one month of the plan you are on, at the rate you are paying when the credit is earned. Because our plans differ in price and billing period, the cash value of a free month differs from person to person, and the person you refer may receive a different amount from you. Neither of you is entitled to a particular sum.

When it is earned. If the person you refer takes an annual plan, the credit is earned after their first payment and is then held for 30 days before it is credited. If they take a monthly plan, the credit is earned on their second payment and is credited straight away. Their own free month is not a payment, so on a monthly plan this is usually their third month. Credit stacks and there is no limit on the number of people you refer.

How it is applied. Credit is applied to your next invoice up to the value of that invoice. Anything left over stays on your account and is applied to the following invoice, and so on until it is used up. Credit does not expire while your subscription remains active.

When it is withdrawn. If the person you referred is refunded, charges back, or we reasonably determine that a referral is not genuine (including self-referral, or accounts created to claim credit), we may reverse the corresponding credit. Referral credit requires an active paid subscription on both sides; lifetime and complimentary grants have no invoice for credit to be applied to and are not eligible.

We may change or withdraw the referral scheme at any time. Credit already earned, and not withdrawn under this section, will still be honoured.

8. Accuracy of outputs

Kestrel produces measurements, quantities and exports based on your inputs: the PDFs you load, the scale you set, the finishes you assign, and any AI assistance you've opted into. You are responsible for verifying these outputs before relying on them for pricing, contracting or any other decision with commercial or legal consequence. Treat Kestrel's outputs as you would any other tool's: sanity-check before they go on a real job.

9. AI features

Kestrel's AI features are optional and off until you turn them on. They work on a bring-your-own-key basis: you supply your own API key from a third-party AI provider, and your use of that provider is governed by your agreement with them, not by these Terms.

You pay that provider directly for what you use. We do not set, control or receive those charges, and we are not responsible for the provider's availability, pricing, or the content of what it returns. Anything AI assistance produces is an output for the purposes of section 8 and must be verified in the same way as any other.

What is sent to a provider, and when, is set out in our Privacy Policy and the AI integration privacy notice referenced there.

10. Acceptable use

You agree not to use Kestrel to process drawings or data that you do not have the right to process. You are responsible for compliance with any confidentiality, copyright or data-protection obligations you owe to third parties (clients, employers, partners) when using Kestrel. If you enable the optional AI integration, separate considerations apply, set out in section 9 and in our Privacy Policy.

You also agree not to use Kestrel for any unlawful purpose, and not to interfere with, probe, or place unreasonable automated load on our licensing, update or support services.

11. Intellectual property

Kestrel and all related software, documentation and trade marks are owned by Alves Rowe Ltd or its licensors. These Terms grant you only the licence in section 2; we retain all other rights.

Your project files (PDFs, measurements, exports, etc.) remain owned by you and are stored on your own machine. We have no rights to your project content and no access to it.

Because your work lives on your machine rather than with us, keeping it backed up is your responsibility. We have no copy of your projects and cannot recover work lost from your own computer.

Kestrel includes third-party and open-source components that remain the property of their owners and are licensed under their own terms. The full list, with its licences, is installed alongside Kestrel and can be opened from the About dialog in the app.

12. Beta software

If you are using Kestrel during a clearly identified beta period, the software is provided "as is" and may contain bugs, missing features or behave unexpectedly. The warranties in section 13 do not apply during a beta period. Bug reports through the in-app Send Feedback button are welcome and acted on.

Any feedback, bug reports, ideas or suggestions you send us are given voluntarily. You grant Alves Rowe Ltd a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free right to use them to operate and improve Kestrel, with no obligation or payment to you. This does not affect your ownership of your own project files.

13. Warranties

For paid subscriptions outside the beta period, we warrant that:

We do not warrant that Kestrel will be uninterrupted, error-free, free of all defects, or compatible with every Windows configuration. We do not warrant any particular commercial result for your business.

14. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for:

15. Termination

You may stop using Kestrel at any time by cancelling your subscription. We may suspend or terminate your access if you materially breach these Terms, including any prohibition in sections 2 or 10. We will usually give you a reasonable chance to fix the breach first, but for serious breaches (key sharing, security violations, fraudulent payment, abuse of staff) we may suspend immediately.

On termination, you must stop using Kestrel and uninstall it. Your project files remain your property and stay on your machine. Sections 8, 11, 13, 14 and 16 to 18 survive termination.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top will show when. For material changes that adversely affect existing paying subscribers, we will notify you by email at least 30 days before the change takes effect; you can cancel before the change applies.

17. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or Kestrel will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, except that if you are a consumer resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in your local courts.

18. General

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable, the rest will remain in force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of that provision. You may not transfer or assign your rights under these Terms; we may assign ours to a successor or affiliate on reasonable notice.

Neither of us is liable for a failure or delay caused by something outside our reasonable control, including power or internet failure, the failure of a third-party service we depend on, industrial action, or acts of government. This does not affect your right to cancel, or to a refund where one is due.

A person who is not a party to these Terms has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of them.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Alves Rowe Ltd regarding Kestrel.

Contact

Questions about these Terms: info@alvesrowe.com.

Alves Rowe Ltd, registered in England and Wales (Companies House number 16682818). Registered office: 44 Belmore Road, Eastbourne, BN22 8BL. VAT No. GB 520 3368 24.