Document layer

The one-page AI policy

Thirteen percent of New Zealand small businesses have an AI policy. You are not behind for missing it — you are behind if you copy a twelve-section generic template and expect your crew to read it. This is one page, written for a building office, with the clauses that matter in the order they matter.

Two things before you hand this to anyone. 1) Fill in the six brackets with your own details and get the date right — a dated, signed page is the whole point. 2) This is general guidance, not legal advice. If these lines find their way into a subcontract or a tender condition, your lawyer should be the one who edited them.

Use it

Print it, sign it, put it in the induction pack and the toolbox
Nominate one owner — usually the office manager, not the boss
Post it on the same wall as the site safety rules
Re-read it when you add the next tool

Do not use it

Do not paste it into a free chatbot to "rewrite it for us"
Do not send it to staff as a PDF nobody opens
Do not tick "we have a policy" in a tender without dates and names in it
Do not skip the disclaimer

The page — print this bit

AI use policy — [BUSINESS NAME]

Policy owner: [NAME] · Effective date: [DATE] · Review date: [DATE + 12 months]

1. Why this exists

AI tools save time in estimating, writing and record-keeping. They also copy things somewhere we may not want them to go. This page sets the boundary so everyone in the business is using the same one.

2. Where AI may be used

Drafting and proofreading emails, scope text and tender copy in our own approved tools
Summarising a meeting after the recording is stored properly
Checking our own templates, clause libraries and internal procedures
Any new task — first ask [NAME] whether the tool is approved

3. Never put these into an AI tool

Client or subcontractor names, addresses, phone numbers, emails or site codes
Live pricing, rates, a completed scope or a priced tender
Unredacted drawings, MSJ, RISA, structural sets or survey data
Recordings or transcripts of a variation, claim or dispute discussion
Employee or subcontractor personal information (IRD, bank account, certifications)
Anything under NDA, or that is already in a dispute

4. Approved tools

The current list lives in the AI tool ledger at nzai.online/construction/tools. Paid tools are booked through [NAME] on an admin-controlled account. Staff do not sign up to consumer plans themselves.

5. Records

Where an AI tool produced something we sent to a client — a quote, a scope, a meeting summary — the file stays where it always was, with the date and the job number. If the tool kept a copy of our content, the tool is listed in the ledger for that year.

6. If something goes wrong

Stop, tell [NAME] the same day, and do not delete anything. We assess whether personal information left the business, whether anyone outside it saw it, and what we need to tell the affected people and the Privacy Commissioner. Contact details are in section 7.

7. Details

Business: [BUSINESS NAME] · Owner: [NAME] · Policy owner: [NAME] · Contact: [EMAIL] · Privacy officer: [NAME]

Signed: ........................................ Date: ....................
Staff member: ........................................ Date: ....................

Score our firm first

Saving uses your browser print dialog — choose “Save as PDF”, A4, and include the header and footer if you want the date on it.

What is in the full pack

The page above is the one your crew signs. The rest of the pack is the paperwork around it — the parts you only need when something is asked for. All 6 documents, printable, no email required.

Document	What it is for	When you need it
This one-page policy	The boundary. Signed by staff, reviewed yearly.	Day one.
Tool ledger	Every tool, cost in NZD, data region, who owns it.	Whenever someone adds a tool.
DPA checklist	The three questions to put to a vendor in writing.	Before you pay for anything.
Redaction cheat sheet	Where to cut the identifiers before pasting.	Your estimator's desktop.
Breach one-pager	What to do the same day something leaks.	Keep in the office folder.
Subcontractor AI clause	Wording to add when a subbie is doing work for you.	Next time you issue a contract.

Open the full pack Read the PP12 decision path