The Photo Report And Why It Settles Arguments

Almost every disagreement we have seen about a repair comes down to the same question. What did it look like before.

Without a record, that question has two answers and no way to choose between them. With one, it has an answer nobody argues with.

The four photos that matter

The approach and the context, showing where in the property the work is and what condition the surrounding area was in. This is the one that answers a claim about damage to something nobody touched.

The fault itself, close enough to see what is wrong. A cracked cistern, a corroded valve, a failed membrane, a burnt terminal, a rotted joist end.

What was found once it was opened, which is the photo that justifies a variation. A scope written on the surface and a condition found behind it are two different jobs, and the photo is what turns that from a claim into a fact.

The completed work, from the same position as the first photo, so the two can be put side by side.

Four photos per job is not a reporting burden. It is a few seconds, and it removes the single largest cause of delay in getting a repair approved and paid.

What it settles

Pre-existing damage. A mark on a floor, a chip in a benchtop or a scratch on a door frame that was there before the work. Without a photo, it becomes the trade's problem on the balance of who is more certain.

Whether the variation was real. A scope that grew because of what was behind a wall is normal, and a scope that grew without evidence looks like something else. The photo of the opened condition is what makes the variation obvious rather than contestable. It is the same argument as [insurance repairs and the scope that gets missed](/blog/insurance-repairs-and-the-scope-that-gets-missed).

Whose cost it is. In strata, the line between common property and lot owner is decided by what the fault actually is and where it sits, and a photo of the pipe, the membrane or the junction is frequently the deciding evidence. Which is the whole of [common property or lot owner, who pays](/blog/common-property-or-lot-owner-who-pays).

Tenant damage against wear and tear. The entry condition report is the baseline, and a repair photo during the tenancy is the mid point. Together they make the exit conversation short.

Whether the work was done. Obvious, and still the reason an invoice sits unapproved for a month when the manager has not seen the property.

Why it matters more across trades

When a job involves several trades, the photo record is also the handover.

The plumber's photo of the repaired pipe is what the plasterer works from, and the plasterer's photo of the sheeted wall is what the painter is quoting on. Without it, each trade arrives, assesses from scratch, and sometimes undoes a step. One team holding the record means the next trade starts from what the last one found. That is the coordination problem in [the job you think is one trade is almost always three](/blog/the-job-you-think-is-one-trade-is-almost-always-three), and the record is a large part of how it gets solved.

It also means the fault that sits between two trades gets documented as what it is rather than as each trade's version of it, which is the situation in [when a fault sits on the seam between two trades](/blog/when-a-fault-sits-on-the-seam-between-two-trades).

What makes a record useful rather than decorative

Dated and timed, automatically, from the device. A photo without a date proves less than people think.

Wide then close. A close up with no context cannot be located afterwards. One wide shot and one detail shot of the same thing is the pairing that works.

The same angle before and after. Two photos from the same position are a comparison; two from different positions are two photos.

Enough light. A dark photo of a sub floor or a roof space is not evidence of anything, and a torch changes that.

Attached to the job, not to a phone. A record that lives in somebody's camera roll is not a record. It belongs with the job file so the next person can find it.

For owners and managers

Ask for it as a standard rather than as a favour, on every job.

A trade that photographs its own work as a matter of course is a trade that expects its work to be looked at, and the record it produces is what lets an owners corporation, an insurer or an owner approve a cost without a site visit. That is most of the week that [one contact for every trade, what it removes from an agent's week](/blog/one-contact-for-every-trade-what-it-removes-from-an-agents-week) is about.

Every job we attend carries a photo record, and it goes with the report rather than being produced when somebody disputes something.

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