Photo documentation has never been easier to prioritize on your job sites without expending tons of additional time/money. Taking photos of the job site helps you market your business, litigate damages, and assist your customers with insurance claims.
Your crews aren’t the only people who should be taking photos of the job site. As soon as you send out a salesperson, you should begin collecting photo documentation. At this time, you’re taking photos for two reasons.
The first reason to start taking photos this early is to document how everything looks before any crews even arrive. This will make it easier to deal with customer disputes down the road if necessary.
The other reason to take photos this early is to help you build accurate estimates and schedules. When your salespeople take the right photos, everyone can get a crystal clear idea of what the job will entail.
Types of photos your sales person should be taking:
- Each side of the building, from a distance on the ground – These photos should show full elevation including the ground. It will give you a full scope of the structure you’ll be working on and makes great “before” photos for marketing.
- The address of the job site – This is to ensure added proof that your photos are of the correct property.
- Fascia, drip-edge, gutters, etc – These photos are helpful for creating estimates and insurance claims, as well as helping show the customers what has changed.
- Each section of the roof from on top of the roof – These will provide an overview of the whole job and “before” photos that can be used for marketing.
- All penetrations and flashing – Capturing these detail photos will help prepare your team for the complexity of the job and ordering supplies beforehand.
Pre-Production Photos
Pre-production photos need to be taken the first day your crew arrives at the site for the job BEFORE any work is started on the project.
When you first look at the list of photos all roofers need to take, it might seem like a lot of pictures – and for good reason. It’s recommended that you take a minimum of 100 photos for residential, and 300 photos for commercial.
Types of photos your crew should be taking before any work starts on day 1:
- Location where the dumpster/truck will be parked – Concrete damage is a common customer dispute. Protect yourself by capturing any cracks and damage that existed before.
- AC units or other equipment on or near the building – Protect yourself from damage claims by documenting the condition you find them in.
- Yard and landscaping – Know the original condition so you can leave it as you found it.
- Existing damage including broken windows, driveway cracks, damaged garage doors, etc. – Document all damage that existed beforehand so that you won’t be on the hook for it. Those photos can also help with insurance submissions.
- Any storm damage near the building – Any other storm damage such as downed trees will be useful for insurance submissions.
Production Photos
Once a crew begins working on a job, it’s important for them to take photos as the job progresses. Detailed photo documentation throughout the job will help you manage and monitor your crews, prove that your crews abided by regulations and job requirements, and help you explain any problems or unforeseen issues to your customers.
Types of photos your crew should be taking every day:
- Job materials as they get delivered – Take photos showing when materials arrive to keep the office in the loop. Make sure you can see the amount and quantity in the photo so you can prove to the customer that you installed what you are charging them for.
- Location of dumpster/truck – Anytime there is large, heavy equipment that has the possibility of leaving damage, make sure to document the condition of the space where the equipment is placed beforehand.
- Photos of the job site when the crew arrives each day – This will help to document daily progress and keep your crew accountable for arriving on time.
- Multiple photos during and after each stage of production or repair – These photos will document how the job was done, prove no corners were cut, and the job was done correctly.
- Photos to prove specifications/regulations are being followed – If the job has any specific requirements, such as those defined by an architect, take photos to prove that the requirements were met.
- Any issues you encounter, such as rotted decking – Have photos to explain to customers when extra work is necessary for a quality and safe job to be delivered.
- Job site at the end of each day – These photos will show the progress and condition of the job site and hold your crew accountable for leaving a clean job site.
Post-Production
The list of photos that you’ll need to take after you complete a job is similar to the list that a salesperson needs to take before the job begins. These photos will be useful for two primary reasons. First, they serve as documentation for how you left the job site in case something gets damaged afterward. Second, they’ll be your “after” photos to help you show off your work in your marketing efforts.
Types of photos to take at the completion of a job:
- Each side of the building from a distance on the ground – Make these photos similar to the ones you took at the very beginning of the job to show the transformation.
- Fascia, drip-edge, gutters, etc. – Document that all elements were left in good condition and show customers what you did and didn’t replace.
- Each section of the roof from on top of the roof – These photos are great for marketing and showcasing your craftsmanship.
- All penetrations and flashing – By documenting your quality of work, and it will help you deal with roof leak complaints down the road.
- Location where the dumpster/truck was parked after it has been removed – Doing this will help easily prove there was no concrete damage.
- Driveway – Document the condition of the concrete at the end of the job.
- Garage Door – Document the condition of the garage door in case there are any damage disputes later.
- Yard and Landscaping – Prove you left everything in good shape.
How CompanyCam Helps Crews Take and Manage Your Photos
CompanyCam (which integrates with JobNimbus and is also roofing app) was specifically designed to help companies like yours take and manage photos extremely easily. Our job management software helps with three of the four fundamentals we mentioned above: storage, organization, and communication.
Storage
CompanyCam offers unlimited cloud storage to all of our customers. With that, you never have to worry about running out of space or paying to upgrade for more. But we don’t stop there. We also handle the photo uploading automatically. That way, you don’t have to worry about sending photos anywhere or spending time manually uploading them.
Organization
When CompanyCam uploads your photos, it automatically tags it with a location and adds it to the right job. Since photos are tracked to the job, you’ll never have to dig through a list of folders to find the right one. It’s also super easy to go back and see all the photos for a job with our Project Timelines. If you need to generate reports, we’ve made that a breeze as well. In fact, our customers often tell us that our reports are their favorite feature.
Communication
CompanyCam instantly syncs the photos you take across your entire team so anyone can access them whenever needed. If someone in the office needs to check in on a project or if someone in the field needs to show a photo to a homeowner, it can be done in a matter of seconds on their phone. Nobody will ever need to send or ask for a photo again. But that’s not the only way CompanyCam helps your teams communicate. We also make it easy to draw on, annotate, and comment on your photos. Since these photos are automatically synced across your team within the roofing software, everyone can see all the information you’ve included.
Bonus: Marketing
These photos can work great in your marketing efforts. To help our customers do that even easier, we built a Before & After feature into our roofing app. This feature pairs a before picture and after picture together, making it simple to show off the transformation you created. Let us know if we missed any other photos you should be taking in the comments.
