Working in construction, you know that proof is better than talk:
Being able to show you’re on a job site, doing what you’re supposed to be doing, is always going to be better than saying you were there. Or having a way to show you followed safety protocol is better than saying it—especially if things go wrong.
You probably already use a time tracking software like busybusy to record what everyone at your company is doing. But you might not have a solution for photo documentation—a system for collecting essential photos, videos, and updates from the field as they’re happening in real-time.
Here’s why you need a construction photo documentation system and how to implement one in no time.
Documentation
We’ll get the most obvious one out of the way first: The most important reason for having a photo documentation system is documentation.
Construction sites have a ton of activity and different people working on them, which means a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong and blame to get placed for those things that go wrong.
But if you take photos of the work you’re doing and the status of the work site, including damage in areas you’re not working, you’ll be able to better prove that you’re not in the wrong.
Organization
We’ve been there: You need to find that photo for your boss, but you can’t remember if it’s buried in that email thread, in one of six work group chats, or tucked somewhere in your camera roll between your kid’s birthday photos and brisket you smoked last week.
A photo documentation system will make your business more organized and streamline communication in one central place that is:
- Separate from personal things
- Can be accessed by everyone who needs access
So, off your personal camera roll and into a shared space. This leads to our next point.
Accountability
As a construction business grows, it’s more difficult for key stakeholders to visit all their active job sites regularly.
But if you have a solid photo system in place, those decision makers can check in on those job sites via the photos the people on the ground are capturing and make decisions without having to pause all work for hours.
Another common use case where a solid photo documentation system comes into play is when installing warrantied products. Most original equipment manufacturers and building supply companies require you to use or install their products in a specific way.
The best way to prove you are is through photos. Grab photos of the products before, during, and after installation, documenting key parts of the process to prove you’re doing just that.
When You Should Take Photos
From the first site visit to the final walkthrough, you should always be capturing photos. The more photos you have throughout the process gives you a better library of proof to refer back to should you need it.
Getting your crews started with photo documentation can be difficult, so you need to explain why you’re taking photos, what photos they need to collect, and where to put them after they take them, like a shared drive.
Make sure to designate someone to oversee that photos are being taken and shared and organized into folders for each project site.
How CompanyCam Helps with Photo Documentation
CompanyCam solves your job site photo capture problems (and allows you to skip many of those steps in the section just above).
Photos and videos captured in CompanyCam are time, date, and location stamped. Photos taken on a job will automatically sort underneath the project at that location.
CompanyCam features unlimited cloud storage, which keeps your phone clutter-free and eliminates paying for a cloud storage solution to house all of your photos.
You can ensure you’re always getting the right photos with CompanyCam checklists—task lists that require a photo to be attached to the task for it to be completed.
Best of all, CompanyCam integrates with busybusy, so all of the photos you take on your jobs in CompanyCam are available to you in busybusy to add to your daily reports and progress tracking
Now you know a little more about photo documentation and its importance to your construction business and projects.
If you’re ready to learn a lot more about it, set up a demo with CompanyCam. busybusy users can get 50% off their first two months of CompanyCam when they sign up for CompanyCam.
