10 Tips for better construction photography
02 - A picture can save 1000 words of legalese
In last month's column I talked about selecting the right camera for the job of taking construction photos. This month I'll focus on what pictures to take on a consistent basis. There are many uses for construction photos: documentation of construction progress; protection against litigation; as-built documentation of framing, plumbing and wiring; simplification of rework and simplification of future remodels to name a few. Which pictures to take depends in part on how you plan to use the photos in the future.
There is one situation where most contractors (and lawyers) agree that it is a good idea to take construction photos. Any time there is a change of contractors on a job you should thoroughly document the state of the job before the handoff. It doesn't matter if you are the one who is taking over the job or the one that the client has fired. Bad things happen even to good contractors. One contractor I know framed in a job and did most of the heavy work and then was fired by the client who brought in a cheaper crew to do the finish work. A thorough set of construction photos taken before the handoff protected the contractor, who had a reputation for excellent work, from litigation by the client. Most judges know little about construction. The job of the contractor and their lawyer is to quickly educate the judge about the construction issues. A lengthy discussion about soffits and corbels is sure to put most judges to sleep. A few well chosen pictures can get the point across quickly and help you defend yourself. If you can prove that you regularly take photos as a normal part of your construction process, then your own pictures should help you in court. If you don't have an established process for taking construction photos then you should bring in a professional to document the state of the job before you take it over. If you end up in front of a jury the opposing council will try to get the jury mad enough at you that they will impose a large settlement. A jury that doesn't trust you may dismiss your photographic evidence if they think the images were altered in any way. Images taken by an independent photographer will provide more credibility to a hostile jury.
Of course your chances of ending up in front of a jury are small since only about 3% of construction cases ever see a courtroom. However, having an established process for documenting your construction projects can help protect you if you ever do end up in court. You are much more likely to use construction images when doing change orders or future remodeling projects for established clients. The most important round of images you can take during the construction process is to thoroughly document the plumbing, electrical and low voltage infrastructure of the house before installation of sheet rock. It is not unusual for the furniture placement in a room to dictate the need for a new power outlet, video or data connection. Photos of how the power and data wires are routed within the walls can make this kind of change order a simple task.
Having a clear picture of how walls are framed, where the earth quake tie-downs are located, and where the plumbing and venting is located can help in many situations. One contractor I know got into a dispute with a building inspector about the location of an earth quake tie-down. In order to settle the dispute the contractor ended up having to cut a hole in a wall to prove he had installed the required tie-downs. An easily accessible photograph of the tie-down in question could have prevented the need for an expensive wall repair.
The best time to take pictures of plumbing and wiring is after your project has passed electrical inspection and before you have installed insulation or sheet rock. Some builders have one of their crew take digital pictures of all walls and ceilings just before insulation is installed. Others walk around with a video camera at this stage. By talking as they walk the video is somewhat self documenting. The main problems with video tape as documentation are that video resolution is poor compared to still images and it can take a long time to search a video tape if you are looking for a specific image.
Images taken after installation of sheet rock can be useful in finding several types of construction defects. One contractor we work with brought in a new sheet rock crew on a re-model. One room on this project had a double layer of sheet-rock in order to cut noise transmission to adjacent rooms. The sheet rockers covered over several electrical outlets and lights in that room and a number of outlets in other parts of the house. With one layer of sheet rock you can often see a bulge caused by a covered outlet or mud ring. If the sheet rockers miss an outlet on the first layer of sheet rock it is almost impossible to detect it after the second layer is installed. Because we take images at different times from the same perspective we were able to overlay those images and locate all of the covered outlets. Furthermore, we were able to help the construction supervisor find the problems over the phone. We could see the problems with our viewer and direct the supervisor over the phone to the walls and studs where the covered outlets were located. When we went back to take a final round of images we found two additional outlets that were still covered. With the images we were able to precisely locate the outlets so that they could be uncovered without any damage to the finished walls.
One last excellent time to take a round of images of your construction project is at completion, before turning the house over to the client. This is a point where many builders and remodelers bring in professional photographers to take photographs that can be used in the contractor's marketing campaigns. This is also a good time to document the home as it was delivered to the client. If the homeowner makes any changes after they move in, your photographs can be useful in sorting out construction Vs maintenance issues that might arise in SB800 litigation.
To summarize, the best times to take construction images are:
- After passing electrical inspection but before installing insulation or sheet rock.
- At the end of the project before you turn the house over to it's new owner.
- At any point where images can improve quality control or simplify future maintenance tasks.
Ken VanBree is the owner of Imaging Perspective, a Bay Area firm that specializes in as-built construction photography. Questions or comments are welcome: ken@imagingperspective.com