ParsReport / Guide
Job site photo documentation that holds up
What to photograph on site, and how to take photos that still answer questions months later.
Job site photos are your memory of the project. When there is a dispute about hidden conditions, a delay or a damage claim months later, dated photos taken at the right moment are often the strongest evidence anyone has.
What to photograph
- Existing conditions before you start, including neighboring property, sidewalks and anything that could be damaged.
- Before cover-up: underground utilities, in-wall plumbing and electrical, framing, insulation, waterproofing, rebar before the pour.
- Progress from the same fixed spots every week.
- Deliveries that arrive damaged or short.
- Problems: conflicts, defects, other trades' damage, weather impacts, safety issues.
- Inspections and the signed cards.
- Completion and punch list items when closed.
Make each photo useful later
- Location. A photo with no location is hard to use. Pin it to the plan sheet, or include a grid line, room number or reference in the frame.
- Scale. Put a tape measure or a known object in the shot for anything where size matters.
- Wide, then close. One wide shot for context, then a close-up of the detail.
- Date and time. Keep the original files with their metadata; do not rely only on screenshots.
- Short note. One sentence on what the photo shows and why it was taken.
Keep them organized
Store photos by project and date, and attach the relevant ones to the daily report the same day. Photos sitting in a personal camera roll with thousands of others are almost impossible to find when you need them.
Respect privacy: avoid faces and license plates where you can, and follow the owner's and your company's rules on sharing site photos.
Do it on your iPhone or iPadParsReport puts plan markups, photos pinned to the sheets, daily reports and job costs in one app, and sends a clean PDF before you leave the site. No account; your reports and photos stay on your device.
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