Photograph with context, then detail
Take a wide shot that places the area first, then the close-up, so each photo proves where and when, not just what. A close-up on its own proves only that there was water somewhere, once.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Why it matters
A photo proves what is in the frame and nothing else. A close-up of a flooded trench could be any trench, on any job, on any day. Without a wide shot, a date and a named position, your main contractor can say it shows another area, another week, or a problem you caused. Photos also disappear with the phone they were taken on. The operative leaves, the handset is replaced, and the pictures go with it. A routine walk, filed the same week, turns a heap of images into a dated record of the whole job.
How to do it
- Set a fixed route of positions round the site, and photograph from each one at the same time every week, wide shot first.
- Take the wide shot that places any problem, then the detail, with something in frame that shows scale or location.
- Photograph every area as you hand it over, so its condition on the day you left is on file.
- Leave the phone's date and location settings on, and never edit or rename the originals.
- Upload the week's photos to the project folder by Friday, in a folder named by date and area, with a one-line note on anything unusual.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A groundworks subcontractor claims £14,000 for pumping out and re-digging a flooded foundation. At the final account, its main contractor says the flood was the subcontractor's own fault. It says the water came from the subcontractor's unprotected excavation, not the next contractor's broken drain, and counterclaims for the delay.
What happens
- The subcontractor's weekly route photos show the excavation dry and protected on the Friday before the flood.
- The Monday photos show a wide shot of the next contractor's trench with water running from it into the foundation, then a close-up of the broken drain.
- The files carry the dates and site location from the phone, and were uploaded to the project folder that week.
The outcome
The main contractor's surveyor withdraws the point, and the counterclaim with it, and the £14,000 is agreed. A close-up of the flood alone would have proved only that there was water somewhere.
To have this set up for you, see our Counterclaim Prevention service.