What to photograph on every job, and why the stamp matters

There are three moments to photograph on every job: the state of things before you touch anything, the part of the work that is about to be buried or closed up, and the result. Each photo needs a time and a place on it that nobody typed, because a photo without a stamp is a picture and a photo with one is evidence. This is the list I use on gate, intercom and access-control jobs, and the reasoning is the same in any trade.

Why photograph at all?

Three reasons, in the order they cost me money before I learned them.

Disputes. "You never did the power run." "The gate was fine before you touched it." "That damage was not there." Each of those is answered in ten seconds by a photo with a stamp, or not at all.

The next technician. In two years the customer will call about the same gate, and the person who goes may not be the person who installed it. The photo of the control board with every wire labelled is the difference between a quick diagnosis and an afternoon.

Warranty and chargebacks. A manufacturer asking why a board failed, or a card issuer asking whether the work was done, both want the same thing: what was there, when, and what you did.

What do you photograph before you start?

Everything you are about to change, as you found it.

• The data plate on the operator, the panel, the intercom station: brand, model, voltage, serial. You will need it to order a board, and the customer's "what do I have" question is answered from the record.
• The control board and every termination, before a single wire is disconnected. This is the photo that settles "it was wired like that when we got here", and it is the photo you re-terminate from.
• The safety devices as found: photo eyes and their alignment, edges, the loop detector and its settings.
• The gate or door at rest, full open and full close, and anything already damaged: the bent bottom rail, the cracked slab, the scrape on the customer's car that was there before you parked.
• The site: the run from the panel to the operator, the path the trench will take, the wall the station goes on.

What do you photograph during?

The part that disappears.

• The trench with the conduit in it, before backfill. If there is one photo on a gate job, this is it. It shows the depth, the conduit, the distance and the junction boxes, and once it is backfilled there is no other way to prove any of that.
• The cable run in the wall or the ceiling before the drywall or the ceiling tile goes back.
• The loop saw-cut before it is sealed.
• The strike or the maglock mounted before the door is closed up, with the wiring visible: fail-safe or fail-secure is a photo, not a memory.

What do you photograph after?

The result, and the proof it was tested.

• The finished install: operator mounted, station on the wall, reader on the frame.
• The gate at full open and full close with the new limits set.
• The safety devices tested: photo eyes aligned, the gate reversing on the loop. A short video of the gate reversing on an obstruction is worth more than a photo here.
• Programming screens, to show that programming was done and tested. Not the codes. Never the codes.
• The site as you left it: the backfilled trench, the swept slab, the customer's car where it was.

Why does the timestamp matter more than the photo?

Because the argument is never about whether the gate exists. It is about when. "Was the trench done before or after the rain?" "Was the damage there before you arrived?" "Did you test it on install day or come back a week later?" A photo that carries the time and place from the moment it was taken answers the when, and nobody has to be believed.

That stamp has to be written by the app at capture, not typed later and not read from a file that can be edited. In the Combdex camera the capture time and the place go onto the record when the shutter fires; geotagging is on by default. Turn on Stamp date and location in the camera options and the same facts are also printed into the image, so the proof travels with the file. A crop or a markup does not touch any of it, because an edit is a version beside the original, not a change to it (editing and versions). A photo taken at 9:12 in an underground garage with no signal carries 9:12 and the garage, and uploads when the truck reaches the street. The capture docs list every camera option.

Where do the photos go?

Onto the job, without anyone filing them. Shoot from inside the session and each photo is already on the session, the project and the contact. Shoot first and sort later, and the Sessions screen offers photos taken at the same place on the same day as one session, under "Suggested from your photos". Confirm it and they are filed together (organizing photos into sessions).

That last part matters more than it sounds. The reason most photo documentation fails is not that they did not take the photos; it is that the photos are in a camera roll, unlabelled, between the kids' birthday and the supply-house receipt, and nobody can find the trench when the dispute arrives eighteen months on.

What should you not photograph?

Codes, credentials, the customer's alarm panel with the master code on the sticker, anything inside the house that is not the work. A photo of a keypad code is not documentation; it is a liability. Photograph the screen that shows programming is complete, then move the camera.

A short version to put on the truck

Before: data plate, board and wiring, safety devices, the gate at rest, existing damage, the site. During: the trench before backfill, the run before it is covered, the cut before it is sealed, the lock before the door is closed. After: the finished install, open and close, safety test, programming done, the site as left.

Every photo stamped, every photo on the job. The job-site photos app shows how Combdex does the stamping and the filing, and the site photo report template is this list as a checklist. Most of these photos are taken where there is no signal, which is why offline is a requirement, not an option.